Build Your Own Arcade Controls Forum
Main => Main Forum => Topic started by: chucklepie on May 06, 2013, 08:11:34 pm
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Hello,
So the trade-off as I saw it was acrylic for durability but easier to crack or polycarbonate for easier drilling but scratches more. I picked polycarbonate, the price was the same too. I also followed various peoples advice to end up with what I did.
Firstly, I bought two pieces of poly (cheaper than four) at the correct width and double the height. One to be cut in half for the marquee, the other for the control panel (and a spare in case I broke it as it was the same price). Both 2mm.
1. To cut the poly in half I first taped around where the cut was going to be made (electricians tape) then placed it on some spare 3 or 4mm ply I had spare and clamped it then with my mate (who did the cutting) used a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade while I held it all down firmly to stop any vibrations. The jigsaw was done in spurts maybe half an inch at a time.
2. We drilled a pilot hole for the trackball using a drill bit for metal and jigsawed the hole. We went a bit faster this time as it was obvious the poly wasn't going to split.
3. For the rest of the control panel I first drilled all the holes for the buttons in the wood, placed the poly beneath this exactly then used gaffer tape to stick the poly to the wood. Then placed another bit of wood on the other side to make a poly sandwich.
4. For most of the holes we used a drill press at 500rpm using a standard spade wood bit 28mm and went slowly through the poly, kind of scraping not drilling.
5. For the rest we couldn't reach with the press so simply clamped it to the workbench and used a drill on slowest speed.
Note, for the joystick I used 22mm and this drill bit was old and didn't work as nicely, so the best tip I can say is use a new sharp wood spade bit with low rpm and go steady with not a great deal of force.
I've a video that'll be ready in a day or two.
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I use a little bit of WD40 on the plastics when I use a spade bit.
Makes life a little bit easier and safer. ;D
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Selfie made a thread in woodworking about how to work with plastics. Scraping is the key.
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,119165.0.html (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,119165.0.html)
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I know, that's where I got scraping from :)
But I thought I'd post exactly how I did it with polycarbonate including sandwiching, etc and it seems a nice new sharp spade bit is a lot better than a blunt one which is what was stated in Selfie thread - from my experience anyway.
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I know, that's where I got scraping from :)
But I thought I'd post exactly how I did it with polycarbonate including sandwiching, etc and it seems a nice new sharp spade bit is a lot better than a blunt one which is what was stated in Selfie thread - from my experience anyway.
The Sharp spade bit has a tendency to crack from my experience. You should add your experiences to Selfie's thread. Then that thread could be the holy grail of plastics!
(http://sighroll.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/themoreyouknow.jpg)
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Maybe that was for acrylic?
I found the blunter blade cut the poly in chunks which suggested it was not a smooth operation, whereas using the sharp bit produced a lovely long line of poly like what you'd get from peeling an apple in one go.
Either way, cutting and drilling poly is no more difficult than wood and the jigsaw went through it like butter.
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Maybe that was for acrylic?
I found the blunter blade cut the poly in chunks which suggested it was not a smooth operation, whereas using the sharp bit produced a lovely long line of poly like what you'd get from peeling an apple in one go.
Either way, cutting and drilling poly is no more difficult than wood and the jigsaw went through it like butter.
Spot on. Polycarb is a lot softer than acrylic and the swarf bends away from the cut material unlike acrylic where it breaks
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Here's it in the cp, copied from another thread. If I can cut it, anyone can :)
(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yfaM8I2JU1c/UYhOlyspPMI/AAAAAAAABNg/bAa1x_hSxuQ/s1600/20130506_192811.jpg)