Who's making their own metal CP's?

[morton]

Hi there,
Wondered who out there was making their own CP's. I am in preliminary stages of a build plan, and am leaning towards a metal control panel like in traditional cabinets, but want to hide any and all screws, which means the hinge and tabs for the lockdown would need to be welded or something. I assume a JB Weld would be vastly inferior and not work, but was curious what kind of tricks and tips some of the CP makers here may have when working with metal panels... it's been a few years since working with sheet metal and welding... I figured out the bending, but the welding equipment is no longer available to me. Any help is appreciated... thanks in advance.

[yotsuya]

I do, but I embrace carriage bolts.

[NIVO]

I countersunk the heads on my metal panels. I didnt want to have any showing either but its what i settled on, then i just locked down the panels with thumbscrews. Pics here if you want an idea of how it turned out http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,55220.msg541305.html#msg541305  im satisfied and its smooth.

[Nephasth]

If you can find other uses to recoup the cost, invest in a stud welder.

[surface tension]

I recently moved our control panels over from countersunk to captive studs. However, with this comes a slightly more expensive painting process over powder coating as they need to be filled. But for the clean look it is totally worth it.

It sounds like you're making the panel yourself, so I'm not sure if this helps.

[acvieluf]

I had my own made, between a local shop, and a friend.  He did flat head metal screws, drilled in so they were flush.  The were ever so slightly visible through the artwork.  But for amateur work, it was quite nice.

Build thread here: http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/topic,147793.40.html

[Mike A]

Couldn't you hold the CP down with magnets? Has anyone tried it?

[8BitMonk]

I had a local metal shop do the bends, hole punching and weld the hinge on. I use magnets (from Haruman) to hold mine closed, they work great. For the joysticks I bought under-mounting brackets that I JBWelded to the inside. Full thread with more pics of the CP is in my signature.

[acvieluf]

Couldn't you hold the CP down with magnets? Has anyone tried it?

I didn't try, as i already had the original clamps attached to the cabinet.  It made more sense to use those.  I haven't tried the magnet approach, but i can tell you that this baby isn't moving ANYWHERE as is, now.

[NIVO]

you can do that for sure. Or velcro, and indeed it works as well.