Control Panel overlay or not?

[slug54]

I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel on
my cab project, Or as my wife likes to refer to it as
Tim the Tool Man Taylors " Hot Rod ". I have a couple of questions about Plexiglass C-Panel overlays.

Part of me wants to paint it black put a couple coats of poly on it and go , No plex no labels quick and easy.
I have designed my own front end and I have graphics to indicate which controls to use.So Im not sure if labels
for the controls would be needed.

the other part of me wants to print out cool graphics
and control labels and place them under plex.

I guess my questions are these.

1.) Is everyone happy with the way they did there panels.

2.) Is the amount of work to do plex justified by the result?

3.) Is there any  good way to do simple graphics and labeling without using a plex overlay?


My control panel is 3/4" MDF with rounded over edges.
my controls are 3 joysticks 1 Oscar spinner and 1 happ 3" T-ball with plate and 16 buttons.

                       Thanks in advance
                           Slug54

[ArcadeFX]

Plexi was well worth it for me.  I don't have cup holders and I put cups, bottle and what not on it.  It wipes off easy.  Looks really good with a nice graphic under the plexi.  I don't have any labels at all just a graphic.  Here is a photo of mine.



I did not find it that much extra work to make the plexi cover.   I thought about not using the plexi at first then thought if I was going to do it I should do it right the first time.

Glad I did it.

[Agent Davis]

I printed out my own overlay and then covered it nicely with contact paper.  Unless you have kids or something that are going to wreck the hell out of your panel then contact paper works just dandy.  But, plexi is very nice if you can do it.  If you do it nice I'm sure you'll feel like it was well worth it.  I just don't have the resources to do a plexi cover.

[slug54]

Thanks for your input guys I do have a question about both of your control panels.

ardadefx how is your plex held down? is it with the buttons only? and you have rounded corners on your panel. How did you cut the plex to fit? Laminate bit in a router maybe?

Agent Davis You said you put contact paper over your graphics. I take it this was clear contact paper, I didn't know there was such a thing . Whered you get it?

                               Thanks
                               Slug54

[Agent Davis]

Yeah, it's clear contact paper.  Contact is actually a brand name and it's what I got.  They carry it at just about any hardware I would think.  I got it at the local hardware.  I did go to Lowe's a couple days later and they had a real big roll of it for about $4.  It was a different brand, but it's all pretty much the same stuff.  If you use it, take your time and work from one end to the other to get all the bubbles.  It looks a tad bit foggy at when you look at it, but it's just like the scotch tape that goes on clear.

[Agent Davis]

I also had a panel before I made my own that had plexi on it.  It had a few carriage bolts holding it in.  If your cp in rectangular, one in each corner should do it.  Your controls will hold it down too.

[DanU]

Something to keep in mind, picking graphics for your cab is sort of like choosing a tattoo. Think about it, it's going to be there for a while. That's why my whole cabinet is still just black!

[ArcadeFX]

Slug, ss you can tell from the picture that are no bolts visiable at all.  I think this looks much better.  Yes, it is held down with the buttons. I have two kids ages 8 and 4 and it is holding up just great.  

I would cut all straight edges with a plixiglass cutting knife.  You jus score the hell out of it then snap it.  It works very nice.   For the rounded corners I used a rotary saw.  I bought one for about 60 bucks.  I also used this to cut all the holes in my plexi for buttons, joysticks, spinner, and trackball.  Here is a link to the saw I bought.

http://www.dremel.com/html/home_fr.html

Let me know if you need any more details.