Project Quercus - Control Panel 2

[wilno45]

Saleem btw - If you are going to use the U-track on your panel I would recommend the bezel as the housing
that you cut a hole for is wider at the base. You don't want a gap at the top I am sure and you sure as hell
don't want to have to file it all down. Don't know about the Happ one.





Nearly forgot the 1/2 player start buttons!



Cheers

PS. You are on page 2 drventure, we are going to need some progress pics!  

[wilno45]

Guess who forgot to set the depth properly on the flush trim bit and had to redo a panel. 

Not the end of the world but damn, I was upset at myself. I was rushing and it's my own fault.

Had an hour or two this evening and knocked  another one up.







Broke my forstner bit as well when I dropped it. Just need to route out the top panel buttons to 29mm.



I also knocked my sandwich on the floor, that's three so I hope it's over now!

[kop]

I love the idea of a clear CP.

This should look awesome when done. 

[wilno45]

Thanks kop,

About March 2015 at this rate... 

[wilno45]

Just the 6mm holes to drill now, I am going to have to find someone with a drill press
though.









Needs cleaning up of course and there are some tiny scratches but hopefully I can polish them out with
not too much bother.

cont...

[wilno45]

Couldn't resist a test fit.





Room looks better now too, garage is freezing and under an inch of plastic shavings.



Cheers

[HaRuMaN]

Needs more cowbell. 

[wilno45]

Was going too well and the inevitable happened. Found an engineering comp. up the road who drilled the holes for me
but one of the must have had a hairline crack in it that I couldn't see. Just lining up the panels to screw in the trackball
when......











Bugger

[emphatic]

Damn shame.   

[javeryh]

Ouch.  That sucks.   

[wilno45]

Yeah, very annoying but it's only a setback I suppose.    I still have one more piece left so will
give it another go and try drilling myself this time. The top piece is ok still and I can use the
bottom pice as a template and I can mark where the holes are for the new victim piece.

Drilling 8mm is ok with the bit I have got however - 16mm without a drill press and cooling doesn't
give good results. Maybe I should have done it in a two step process to begin with.

Also cutting two different button hole sizes was a bit of a waste of time. When
the buttons are on you can't tell the difference any how!

Cheers

[Epyx]

Aye bad break

I recommend creating a wood template and placing this over top of the plexi with a solid piece of MDF/Wood underneath so it is sandwiched.  Then drill through the center of the holes with a small 1/2" forstner bit...then just using your router's flush trim bit to trim it flush with the template in careful passes.

[javeryh]

Yeah, very annoying but it's only a setback I suppose.    I still have one more piece left so will
give it another go and try drilling myself this time. The top piece is ok still and I can use the
bottom pice as a template and I can mark where the holes are for the new victim piece.

Drilling 8mm is ok with the bit I have got however - 16mm without a drill press and cooling doesn't
give good results. Maybe I should have done it in a two step process to begin with.

Also cutting two different button hole sizes was a bit of a waste of time. When
the buttons are on you can't tell the difference any how!

Cheers

Are you using a regular drill bit to make these small holes?  If so, that is the reason the plexi is cracking!  The tip of the bit is what matters - I'm not sure of the technical term but all I know from experience is that regular drill bits crack plexi more often than not.  Using a (double fluted?) step drill bit gets me fantastic results every time!  I think ordinary drill bits are single fluted - look at the differences in the tips!





I hope this helps and hopefully someone with a little more knowledge (regarding the name of these bits) will chime in but I'd hate to see you try again and crack another sheet of plexi!  It's all about the right tool for the job!  

[wilno45]

Thanks for the advice guy's but the bit I have got should be ok as it's designed for acrylic.

I drove to a wood working shop up the road to see if they had a drill press which they
didn't to be directed to a local engineering company who did. Lady behind the desk
said I couldn't use the drill press because of health and safety but they could do it for
me for a small charge.

Epyx - I am going to use the bottom piece that's broken as a template as its a perfect
match to what I need, minus the crack of course!

Cheers

[wilno45]

Well the top panel has small cracks now so it's pretty much done for too. Thats just from gently screwing
in the bolts so you can imagine what a two player game of SF2 would do to it.

Option 1 - Stay with the plastic but try 15mm of Lexan with 2mm acrylic on top.

Option 2 - Pippy oak, found a place that sells beautiful stuff. Either a thin layer of acrylic on top or non at all.

Both would cost about the same @£25.

 

[HaRuMaN]

You gotta do the clear CP.  I've seen one done before... and it looked HOT! 

[drventure]

Boy, if you can pull it off, that'll look fantastic. But dang that stuff looks tricky to work with.

[wilno45]

I did like how it turned out until ....

Never worked with polycarbonate/Lexan. I believe it scratches more easily but if it's less prone to
cracking and bullet proof in some cases -  it might be worth it?

[Gamester]

Maybe do polycarbonate with a thin sheet of plexi on top for scratch resistance?

If you did it that way, you could even experiment with sandwiching some sort of translucent artwork in between...

Would make it more difficult to achieve a nice finished edge though, I suppose.

Just brainstorming.

[Epyx]

If you did it that way, you could even experiment with sandwiching some sort of translucent artwork in between...

That would be awesome...some type of non-intrusive etching for example.

[wilno45]

Thanks guys

Lexan sample pack is in the post.......

[RobbyMac]

There is a vinyl product (adhesive backed) called etchmark. It simulates etched glass. The idea being, you cut out whatever letters, logos, shapes you want and stick it onto glass (or plex) to give the glass an etched appearance.

This vinyl is 2 mil. thick, so it will create a thin airspace between the two panels.

Alternatively, you get get a reverse cut decal (mask) and sandblast one of the panels instead. I'd say sand it, but it may be difficult to get a crisp edge up against the mask with sandpaper alone. THis effect might get you an edge lighting affect that could be good or bad depending on what you are aiming for. However, without even lighting all around the panel, it might be 'sporatic' rather than evenly lit.

[wilno45]

Etching has long been in the back of my mind during this project. I have a little Dremmel engraver and a few
ideas for the future.

For the time being though I am going to "test" the poly samples when they turn up with drilling and how they hold up with csk hex screws
in them etc. - make sure they are not going to crack so easily.

I spent ages researching how to polish the edges of the acrylic but the funny thing is once I had routed them
out for real and given them a light sanding the machined look really grew on me. I think Lexan has a dark edge
to it which might look really good too.

Thanks for all the input, won't get a chance to do anything till next week now.

Cheers

[wilno45]

I know this is not new news or anything but Lexan is a piece of pish to drill compared to acrylic.

The picture shows a 12mm thick piece that I got in a sample pack the other day. Was like drilling
through a bit of hardwood although I did use the acrylic bit I had.





I think a solid 15mm piece could look really nice with a rounded over edge, would just need to polish out
any scratches every once in a while.

Cheers

[wilno45]

Whilst I wait for the plastic to turn up I decided it's time to mount the monitor at last.

The little one now crawls at a frightening pace towards anything remotley dangerous
so I needed to get it out of harms way.

First I had to route out a couple of mm on either side so it would fit.







Quick sand and coat of oil....... lay it on it's back and hope it all fits!





Doesn't stick out at the back.   Was worried it might.

[HaRuMaN]

 

[wilno45]

Got to get the height right now and screw it on.

Cheers

[javeryh]

Wow - looks great.  You are really good with the woodworking.  Too bad you have to cover the monitor - this cab would look really cool if you left it totally open!   

[wilno45]

Thanks, just learning as I go and taking forever my time really,  

Routing wood is actually a bit harder than plexi I discovered because of the wood grain - got away with
it though (just). I can't use my wood inserts/now epic collection of machine screws to hold the monitor down
as there is not enough clearance between the holes in the metal frame and the edge of the wood - even
though It's an almost a perfect fit width wise.  

Night all

[painterinfo]

That monitor in there looks great, can't you just put some big fat washers on the other side of the wood. That way it would not matter if the holes are too close to the edge, if monitor can't move sideways then the holes could even be slots in the wood?

[drventure]

Very nice! This continues to be a very interesting build. 

[wilno45]

Good point painterinfo, the monitor sits quite nicely where it is under gravity. It won't need much to
hold it in place to stop it slipping down. The picture of it lying down makes it look a lot cleaner than
it is in real life - I need to get one of those compressed air cans and give it a blast.

If I get a chance to do anything tonight I'll take a couple of pics.

Thanks everyone.

[wilno45]

Added the bottom "support" nearly forgot about it, almost couldn't find the wood glue after all this time.



Still like doing this....adding the dowels - sad I know.



All in all I am pleased how the monitor looks framed at last.







Cheers

[ammitz]

Amazing

[saurian333]

Been away from the forums for a while; no time to browse at work anymore. :

Looking very sharp.  I can't wait to see that CP done.  I finished wiring mine recently, and it looks like crap, so it'll be interesting to see one wired nicely enough to be visible!

[JZSlenker]

Wow, this is such a cool project.  I love wood working so being able to see the structure of this thing is great.  Do you plan to light the interior or use any cool wiring (colors etc)?

[wilno45]

I will definately add some form of lighting inside and probably light the trackball aswell.
Not sure on cable wrap yet etc. - I still need to buy an i-pac and another joystick too.

The plastic I have ordered will be enough for the CP, CP front, CP back (to help support the top),
marquee and the top (I'll put some 120mm fans on).

I want to use car speakers - I think they will suit this project more than PC ones. I would like to
mount one of these somewhere too.







Thanks for all the kind words...

Cheers

[JZSlenker]

I have the Lepai amp in my cab and it works great.  The volume knob lights up blue - FYI

[wilno45]

Thanks JZSlenker

I've never mucked around with car speakers before - glad I am on the right track.

[wilno45]

Got the CP done at last (almost) and screwed down.





Was going to hinge it but will do that to the bottom panel instead.









Cheers