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plastic overlay
deano728:
I created a new control panel with a trackball and had artwork created. I went to home depot to get some thin lexan to cover the artwork, but the thinnest they had was .93 and it is too thick. What is the best way to cover CP artwork and still make it work with a trackball? Is there a place to buy thinner plastic? Contact paper seems pretty cheesy, but I am stumped...
Ginsu Victim:
How low is your trackball? I wouldn't think that plexi or lexan would make it unusable.
Do you have a Lowes anywhere close? They carry a nice selection of both.
deano728:
I bought a trackball mounting plate and it is a 2 1/4 trackball. The mounting plate is flush with the wood, but it just seems like it would lose something if the lexan added a little thickness to it. I will try lowes tomorrow. The plastic overlay on the old control panel that came with the cab is almost half the thickness of the stuff I bought, so I am sure it exists somewhere. Does plexi come that thin?
boogieman:
If you can't find it locally, you can always check somewhere online, like mcmaster.com or usplastics.com. They do make it pretty thin.
DaOld Man:
I put very thin plexi on my very first control panel.
That was not a good idea. It is very easy to crack, also it expands and contracts with temperature changes, even to the point that it bows up.
I put the cp together in the house, then took it outside to the garage to mount. It was probably a 10 degree difference. The stuff immediately bowed up and looked crappy. There were like pockets between the wood and the plexi.
Just a word of caution.