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paulscade - First Build - MAME - Blastoff!
paulscade:
I'm back in business.
After the artist said no, I decided to go with the theme that I first considered at the beginning of my build... a space theme.
One of the considerations was that space photos (Stars, Shuttles, Space Stations, etc.) are available in high resolution for free.... all over the NASA sites.
A few hours [over a few days] with PhotoShop and a >350MB file later.... I came up with my CPO.
I took the PhotoShop file on CD to my neighborhood FedEX/Kinkos and spent a little time explaining what I wanted and how it was going to be used. For printing media, I was amazed at how many different media types that I could specify. The girl behind the counter first recommended a laminated photo paper. While this looked good, I thought that it may be a little too thick. I don't want my Plexiglas sitting too high on the panel.
I chose their "inside banner paper". It's sort of a plastic photopaper... relatively thin. It's glossy and doesn't rip if you try to tear it.
http://www.fedex.com/us/officeprint/storesvcs/osg/detail_indoor_banner.html
I paid $30 for my photo quality, 17.5" x 29.5", Control panel Overlay.
The comet in the center is part of the area that is being cut out... so my lighted trackball will have it's own tail. ;)
paulscade:
I started work on the control panel again over the weekend.
I mounted the hinges and ran into a bit of an "issue". While my tests seemed to indicate that the hinges would work without any modification, I found out otherwise when I actually mounted them. More on that in a minute.
The hinges came with these small wood screws. While that might be fine for a cabinet door, I thought that the weight of the panel, fully loaded with controls, might be a bit much for a few tiny wood screws... especially if I end up opening and closing it all the time to show off to friends. ;D
I wanted the screws to go through the wood where I could use a washer/nut to insure that I get a solid hinge.
For the top screws (going through the CP top) it was easy. I countersunk the screws on the top knowing that it would be covered by the CPO. After I tightened them up, I knew that they weren't coming loose any time soon. I plan on leaving that side of the hinge connected all the time (i.e. when I remove the panel top to make wiring easier, I'll remove the set of screws that hold the hinge to the CP box).
For the screws that hold the hinge to the CP box, I wanted to go through the box (for strength)... but... that would be to the front side of the CP box.... not so pretty. Counter sinking would have worked there too...
But what happens later when I need to remove the CP top? The top screw heads won't be accessable... they will be behind the CPO and Lexan. The front screw heads won't be accessable because I will have filled in the countersunk holes. I didn't want to take a chance of the screw heads (or nuts, depending on which way I go) spinning around when I tried to tighten them up.
I must have stood in the isle at Home Depot for 30 minutes thinking of a way around this. Then I found the obvious answer.... T-Nuts (of course, I could have used these for the top too... duh). It meant that I had to drill out a countersunk hole a little bigger than I wanted... but I would figure out a way to fill that up later. The T-nut solved the problem of a spinning nut once the countersunk hole is filled in.
Now about those hinges.... once everything was bolted together, I had an interference problem. The CP top was hitting the edge of the CP box as it hinged upward. It wasn't much but it was enough to make me want to fix it. The fix was to route off the inside edge of the CP box. I had a 1/2" round router bit in the collection so I chose to use that. Once I routed off the front edge, I thought that it looked pretty good... so I routed the entire inside edge of the CP box.
I mounted the hinges back and everything moved smooth as silk.... just what I wanted... strong and smooth. For the final touch, I'll probably connect a chain or something to keep the top from hinging back too far.... to keep some of the pressure off of the hinge.
Here's the routing that I had to do around the inside edge of the CP box:
The panel opens pretty far:
I put on the first coat of paint... there will still be some sanding and additional painting... it's still a little rough around where I filled in the t-nuts:
Since this is going to have a 3/4" black T-molding around it, I masked off the slots that I cut in the CP box... after I remove the tape... I'll paint a black edge around the bottom so, if the molding center is off at all (it shouldn't be with all the measuring that I did), you won't be able to tell.
predator314:
I love this cabinet. I'm building my first cab and it's the UAII design as well. Glad I can follow along with this thread (with it's great detail) as I am way behind you in process. Hope you don't mind if I steal some of your ideas, cause I think I'm gonna ;)
Bender:
Lookin' good so far!
What kind of hinges are those?
never seen ones like that before
thatitalian:
--- Quote from: Bender on September 23, 2008, 09:46:32 pm ---Lookin' good so far!
What kind of hinges are those?
never seen ones like that before
--- End quote ---
I am also interested about these hinges as they are screw in ones and am having difficulty in finding a decent pair!