Repair/patch/replace piece of SlikStik Quad panel?

[jasonbar]

Howdy-

In a classic example of "leap before you look", I was attempting to transfer 3 fancyish hidden hinges from my donor cabinet's control panel to my customized SlikStik Quad panel so that I'll be able to swing the control panel up & forwards to get into the controls for maintenance & such.

I did some routing & hacking & then realized that I was going about it all wrong & now need to put back the wood that cut away...the 3 gaps are about .5" deep & 3" wide.

Pics of my "handywork":
http://www.infernolab.com/ebay/cp%20goof%20inside.jpg
http://www.infernolab.com/ebay/cp%20goof%20outside.JPG

The front face of the Quad panel (as shown in this pic http://www.slikstik.com/Images/quad_bak.jpg where 9, 10, 12, & 13 are pointing) is about 30.5" wide, 4.75" high, & .8" thick, with black laminate on both sides of the particle board.

I have since given it deeper thought & now realize that I can go w /a simple piano hinge or use the same hinges but install them intelligently (aka, backwards of how I was thinking I could use them...).


I figure I have the following options:
1 - (my preference) Replace that whole front panel.  This will require careful cutting out of the front piece & dropping in a new one & trying to make the seams look...well, look seamless...I already left a voicemail & e-mail w/ SlikStik last week to see if they can sell me a new piece but I haven't heard back.  Is there another source for laminated particle board around here?  Any comments on suppliers or difficulty level of this transplant?
2 - Drop in some wood or metal blocks & screw/glue them in & try to build up & smooth putty to make them flush to the rest of the panel, but I figure that spray-painting them black wouldn't match the laminate too well.
3 - Screw/glue some metal or plastic cover plates over the gaps.  This will be rather ghetto...

Any advice welcome!

Thanks,
-Jason

[ChadTower]

Depends on if that is paint or laminate... but if it's paint, you can just cut a new block and glue it in, then putty/bondo whatever is left, sand/paint.

[NiteWalker]

If it is plastic laminate and not melamine, as you said your best option is getting a new front panel from slikstik. But they're not the best at getting back to people...

If the panels are made of melamine just go to home depot or lowes and get a melamine shelf and cut your own new front piece.

Particle board is absolute crab btw. I hate it.

[jasonbar]

Thanks--I'm not familiar with melamine.  Here's what SS says about their panels on this page http://www.slikstik.com/quad_hard.htm:

"3/4" high density particle board construction all around.
Formica laminate on all surfaces for strong durable long lasting game play."

So, it seems to be formica laminate.  However, if nobody from SS gets back to me, I could probably get away w/ using some melamine or other material if I'm replacing 1 complete piece--the difference won't show much anyway (because this piece is mounted at angles to its neighbors, so light will  hit it differently anyway, plus this piece is somewhat hidden from view--I'm just being fussy)...

Yah, particle board is pretty cruddy.  Awful easy to cut & machine, but then again, if you took a bunch of sawdust off the woodmill floor & stuck it together, how hard *could* it be to cut it?  :]  I'm also concerned about my short hinge screws just pulling out if I open up the control panel too quickly & let it slam...that's why a piano hinge idea sounds more attractive than 3 small hinges--lots more screws to share the load across the whole joint.

Thanks,
-Jason

[ChadTower]

The problem won't be cutting a new piece, it will be getting it to fit in with the hole you cut out on the surface.  It's laminate, which means no matter how hard you try, you're not going to patch the one contiguous piece that was covering the whole panel.  Paint you could have touched up but not laminate.  You may have to pull the whole piece of laminate up and replace.

[jasonbar]

Yup, I think we're on the same page here (I probably wasn't clear).

I want to remove the entire front rectangular piece & replace it (option #1 in original post).  So there won't be any attempt at blending or matching a hole, which I know I can't do well & I know will bug me!

If I carefully cut out the entire front vertical piece (as barely shown in http://www.slikstik.com/Images/quad_bak.jpg under the curved top piece) & replace it, I just need to make sure that the 3 edges that meet up with the neighboring pieces are a clean, snug fit.  "just"...  :\

Thanks,
-Jason

[NiteWalker]

It won't be that difficult to cut. Just cut it maybe 1/16" oversize and trim to fit. If you have a tablesaw this is easy. Even if you can make a sawboard it's super easy. The only possible troublesome part is the angle on the top of the front piece. If you get a cheap bevel gauge getting the correct angle is easy. 

[jasonbar]

Nitewalker-

No tablesaw, but I do have a circular saw & I could clamp down a fence to cut straight.  I've got a bandsaw @ work, but no fence to cut straight.  We've got enough mills at work--I can probably bribe a machinist w/ some beer to cut it nice & square.

I'm not sure what you're getting at with the angle--all the corners are cut square to the large face--no angles required...?

Here's a decent pic I found of the classic panel's insides--it's the same type of construction as my Quad.
http://ooine.com/image/arcadew-1.jpg
http://www.retroblast.com/photos/controllers/slikstikinside.jpg

Thanks,
-Jason

[NiteWalker]

Where the front piece meets the control panel it's straight cut? Usually the front piece is angled to match the slope of the control panel.

[jasonbar]

Ah, I see what you're thinking.  Nope, straight.  Right angles.  No slope.  That is, if I put my Quad unit on my work bench (which is horizontal), the top face of the control panel (where all the buttons & sticks are) is also horizontal.

The cabinet (used to be Simpsons, then Neo Geo) has an angled cut where the control panel slips in, which gives it a little downward slope (10-15 degrees or so?).

Thanks,
-J

[NiteWalker]

Ah ok so the angle is on the cabinet and not the control panel. That makes it a lot easier. All you have to do is cut it square. Not difficult at all.

[jasonbar]

Good thing I'm really busy & moving really slow on cabinet construction.

SlikStik just wrote me back to follow-up on an inquiry I had in DECEMBER.  It was the perfect opportunity to re-bring up my request for a replacement front wood vertical panel.  A few days of e-mails back & forth & $50 later, my piece o' wood is ordered & should arrive soon--wish me luck on a seamless transplant!

-J

[NiteWalker]

$50!

They  you good there...

[jasonbar]

$30 for part, $20 for shipping.  Cut to size.  Exact match to the rest of my panel.  Placing oddball orders often costs more for what you're getting relative to their mass-produced products.

I looked around at local stores for my own melamine & found only plain white melamine & Home Depot had it in black but w/ fake woodgrain veneer.

Given that my time is my bottleneck & not my $, it will be worth it to me.

-J

PS--yah, the price is a bit steep though. :]

[NiteWalker]

Glad to hear it'll be fixed at least. Let us know how the fix goes.

[jasonbar]

Roughly 1.5 months after my order, my replacement SlikStik Quad front face arrived.  It was wrapped in a huuuuge tube, with about 2  Sunday editions worth of newspaper!

To my pleasant surprise, they also included the interior bits of wood that help bracket it to the top piece & on which the bottom panel rests when the panel's assembled.

Looks like a perfect match--they left the protective sheet on the outer face of the laminate board & taped over the ends to prevent splintering or peeling.  Very thorough.


I'll try to get it put in this weekend.  I just need to be patient & it ought work out ok.

-Jason

[jasonbar]

Repying to my own post.

On Saturday, I installed the replacement panel (of laminate wood w/ pressboard interior bracket pieces installed) that I got from SlikStik on Fri.

It's PERFECT!  Hooray.

The old front piece came out pretty easily--I sawed most of it out, leaving the edges where it met up w/ the diagonal pieces.  It wasn't directly attached to the top panel (the piece w/ the buttons & stick), just via a handful of small bracket blocks.  They must've used some fancy glue between adjacent side panels--a hammer & chisel got off the remaining scraps just fine.  Both panels also have a small slot cut in them & there's a hunk o' wood jammed in between them to sort of "key" adjacent panels to each other.

I got out my gorilla glue, lined up the keys, let it sit for a while (keeping an eye on it while playing Spy Hunter to wipe out the bits of foaming Gorilla glue that were sneaking out the front, and I was good!

I added a couple of steel L-brackets to reinforce it, since the cheesy little pressboard bricks that act as L-brackets just crumbled when I tried to run wood screws through them.

There were thiiiiiin gaps on the sides of the panel.  A little spackle & black Sharpie made those disappear.


I'll have pics soon--I want to wrap up a few other details: I cavemanned up a couple of under-panel keyboard-holder brackets & Plasti-Dipped those in a bright yellow last night--those should be ready to install today, & I just ordered red T-molding yesterday to use instead of the standard black.


-Jason