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CP design -> build strategies
leapinlew:
--- Quote from: Chris G on May 07, 2007, 11:54:51 am ---CP Sketcher looks cool, but seems like it might take a while to draw out all the locations from the measurement list. I'll give it a shot, though. If I ever get the cash for Illustrator, I'll give that a try too. Thanks for the feedback, guys.
Chris
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I do like you did for your first one. Print out a full sized one on a large piece of paper and use a punch to mark my drill locations. I've also taped my controls on and punched them that way. This works fine if your using a generic CPO graphic.
This was on a generic CPO. Here is the result
Chris G:
Nice - looks like that worked out pretty well.
javeryh:
I just do it the old fashioned way - I measure the center points out on a piece of MDF using a ruler and t-square. Then I just use a 1-1/8" forestner bit to drill out the holes.
I'm thinking of making a template ala Knievel for the next one though because I'm building a traditional MAME upright and I'm actually going to end up building three of them (probably not all at once though).
moriartyds:
--- Quote from: Chris G on May 04, 2007, 01:23:58 pm ---I'm curious how you experts go from CP design-mode to CP build-mode.
I ended up designing in Visio. First I tried printing it out on multiple sheets of letter paper and taping them together. That didn't work very well. Then I found out that my wife has access to a plotter at work, so I was able to take advantage (I'm mean that in a negative way - I feel bad) of that opportunity to print a full-size version. From there, I attached the printout to the wood and simply poked holes through the paper to mark the various control locations.
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You don't go into much detail about why Visio didn't work, but i did something similar and it worked fairly well. As long as you can create an image (using CP Sketcher or Visio or whatever), you can use your tool of choice (I used GIMP, but you can probably even do it in Visio). Here's the steps I took:
- Determine your printer margin sizes (e.g. 1.0" on sides, .5" on top/bottom).
- Create gridlines on your image the same size as your 'printable area' on the paper. For example with the above dimensions on an 8.5 x 11" paper, the printable area is 6.5 x 10, so the grid lines are 6.5 x 10.
- I then cut and pasted the area inside each grid into it's own document.
- Then I printed each document (no scaling). I used printable gridlines just to make sure I got it right. If the ends of the image are smaller than one page/grid box, you can just create cut lines for that page.
- If everything works, you can cut along the border/gridlines for each document and reassemble and tape it down and it should be a perfect fit.
- From there, you can use an exacto knife to score out the cutting lines, or for screw holes/button holes you can just mark the center and cut after you've removed the guide.
miles2912:
The Kinkos solution was the easiest for me. For a few bucks they blew up my normal 8.5" X 11" print out to the actual size. I then taped it on the pre cut CP top and CENTER PUNCHED all the holes. Trackball was pretty simple. After tracing the square I just kind of figured out how the big egg shaped cut out would fit, went slowly and enlarged it where I need to test fitting all the way.
All the center punched holes drilled real easy with a forstner bit.