Plexiglas

[scofthe7seas]

So, I put my control panel all together, got it all set, all wired, raring to go. I set it in place, and start fiddling around with it, and it’s working, but….
There is a buckle in the center of the Plexiglas. At first I tried to ignore it. It wasn’t a big deal, I didn’t notice it when using any of the joysticks. But then… It’s right above the trackball, and again, hard to notice, but when I use to bottoms towards the top of the cp, and my arm is resting in the center.. pop-pop. Ugh.
I so don’t want to remove every button and either get a new one, or re..(bend?) something to this one and set it back in. Any tips on something like this? I have a few weights resting on it right now, pushing down on the buckled areas. With them in place you can’t tell anything is wrong, but I’d rather prefer weights to not be on my CP when I play. My next option will probably be tiny black screws strategically located to blend in with the black art under the Plexiglas.
Any tips from the pros on something like this? Is the weight idea something that should go over well?

[TopJimmyCooks]

I'm not a pro but most likely your buttons are pushing against the side of the button holes in the plexi.  You will need to figure out which buttons the bulge centers between, remove those buttons, sand or dremel the inside edge of the plexi holes for more clearance.  If it's thin lexan you can even do it with a utility knife.  If your lucky, the buttons may have just clamped the bulge in when you tightened them the first time, and will relax if you loosen and retighten them. 

[mytymaus007]

I would get the smallest black carrage bolts possible. How do you have the plexi secured as of now. Are you just relying on the buttons and trackball. I guess it depends on how wide the panel is but i dont think thats enough to keep it in place if your a hard core player. Check out this control panel 6 bolts. Just becareful when screwing the holes in the corners, make sure you have a new bit.

[VanillaGorilla]

Yeah, thats why I abandoned plexiglass and frankenpanels. If you have a trackball installed without carriage bolts thru the plexi top, and esp. if you are using thin plexi, the stuff is usually gonna buckle. its due to the large hole drilled for the trackball.

Often the heat produced when drilling that hole out is enough to warp the plastic ever so slightly. You could try warming it up with a hair dryer, and placing weight on it to flatten it out.

[scofthe7seas]

Yeah, I was going to loosen all of the buttons and controllers tonight if the weights don't help. Maybe it's as simple as a bit of pull from some of them, and after being loosened I can shift it slightly to flatten out. If that's a bust, I will try the weights again with all the keys loosened. This hair dryer idea intrigues me. I might look into that, but if it's the track ball hole, that would be way easy to fix, right? Just pop that off and make the hole a little bit wider? It does seem to be an issue around the trackball for the most part.

Yes, it's not bolted on or anything right now, just held down by the buttons.
You guys think I should use bolts instead of small black wood screws? That's surely an ignorant question.

[TopJimmyCooks]

Alluding to Myty's post on the sharp drill bits- you can easily crack plexi or lexan with countersunk screws.  you need to carefully countersink all the way with a countersink bit that matches the angle of your wood screws' heads, then just snug tighten the screws.  The angle under the screw head is a wedge forcing your plexi to split at a weak point (the screw hole opening) and can break it easily, especially near the edge.  If it won't affect your gameplay/handrest area, consider a cap head allen screw or something where the underside of the head is flat and rests on top of the plexi.  I have taken pan head screws, "painted" them black with a sharpie and had good results.  The sharpie will handwear off over time though.

[RandyT]

So, I put my control panel all together, got it all set, all wired, raring to go. I set it in place, and start fiddling around with it, and it’s working, but….
There is a buckle in the center of the Plexiglas. At first I tried to ignore it. It wasn’t a big deal, I didn’t notice it when using any of the joysticks. But then… It’s right above the trackball, and again, hard to notice, but when I use to bottoms towards the top of the cp, and my arm is resting in the center.. pop-pop. Ugh.

If you want it to be right, you will need to take the steps to fix it.  A hair dryer or magic incantations won't be very useful.  The only thing that may help, that doesn't entail taking it all back apart, would be to loosen everything on the panel and seeing if the problem goes away.  Then, starting closest to the high spot, start tightening things back down, one by one, noting where the problem comes in.  If you can do this without the problem coming back, congratulations, it was just being stressed by the controls.  If not, then one of your holes is too small, and is pushing the plastic where it doesn't wish to be.  Acrylic also expands and contracts with temperature.  It could do it enough to cause a buckle.  Usually, mounting holes are made with about .020" of clearance to allow for expansion.  You may need to pull your parts and enlarge the holes.

[scofthe7seas]

I was thinking of trying the unscrew everything next. See if it is being pinched by something, and if not, maybe try the weights again with everything unscrewed and loosened, in case the Plexiglas is somehow bent (??).I actually started unscrewing a few already to see if the issue was immediately visible.
 VanillaGorilla got me all excited about the hair dryer thing. That sounds like it would make it easy, and I like that.

I'm sad about it not being a thing that will work.

[VanillaGorilla]

Acrylic also expands and contracts with temperature.  It could do it enough to cause a buckle.

Hence the hair dryer suggestion. Its not magic, just plain old thermal expansion. If the panel is warped from heat, or binding tension, heat may again reverse it. Heat may force the panel to shift, without having to remove everything. It costs nothing to try, and wont damage anything. It just may save you a bunch of time. We used to use hair dryers for all manner of adjustments to door panels, dash boards, moldings, etc in the auto body repair field, back when I was a technician. No better feeling than getting paid 4 hours to strip a door down to repair a buckle, when you just point a heat gun at it for 10 minutes and it fixes itself. Same goes for exterior body moldings and ground effects kits.

Instead of weight after heat, you might try 'quenching' the plexi with a large frozen 'something'; (deep dish pizza, steak, bag-o-ice), to force the retention of any changes that the heat might impart.Dont knock it till you've tried it!

[scofthe7seas]

Consider it not knocked! Incidentally, I checked on the weights, and some of the buckles have smoothed out. There is still a bit of one in the center, and I will probably end up unscrewing all of the buttons tonight, but at least it's promising!

[RandyT]

Acrylic also expands and contracts with temperature.  It could do it enough to cause a buckle.

Hence the hair dryer suggestion. Its not magic, just plain old thermal expansion. If the panel is warped from heat, or binding tension, heat may again reverse it. Heat may force the panel to shift, without having to remove everything. It costs nothing to try, and wont damage anything. It just may save you a bunch of time. We used to use hair dryers for all manner of adjustments to door panels, dash boards, moldings, etc in the auto body repair field, back when I was a technician. No better feeling than getting paid 4 hours to strip a door down to repair a buckle, when you just point a heat gun at it for 10 minutes and it fixes itself. Same goes for exterior body moldings and ground effects kits.

Instead of weight after heat, you might try 'quenching' the plexi with a large frozen 'something'; (deep dish pizza, steak, bag-o-ice), to force the retention of any changes that the heat might impart.Dont knock it till you've tried it!

Anything gained as a result of thermal expansion will just be lost again when it cools.  To fix this issue with heat, one would need to heat the plexi sufficiently to change the material distribution across the distance of the buckle.  Based on my experiences with the material, it ain't gonna happen.  Besides, it needs to contract in this instance, not expand.

Something else to consider with acrylic, it's brittle.  If it's binding, and you force it to expand, the result may not be movement, rather a nice crack for your efforts.  IMHO, it's much safer to loosen everything and see if you can re-position it without the stress.  Any other "quick fix" will come back to haunt you.

[scofthe7seas]

Well, regardless of what I would have ended up doing, I planned to loosen it all to see what was going to happen. Which I did. My concern regarding further steps to be taken were founded on the possibility of warped Plexiglas, which apparently was not a thing to worry about because as soon as I started loosening things on the left side of the CP, the buckle popped out, and came up on that side. Continued to loosen buttons in that direction and Tada! No more buckle. My fingers are tore up though. I swear I don't remember those buttons being that tight when they were screwed on! I finished last night, now it's time for testing to make sure I didn't mess anything up.
Thanks for everything guys!

[RandyT]

My concern regarding further steps to be taken were founded on the possibility of warped Plexiglas, which apparently was not a thing to worry about because as soon as I started loosening things on the left side of the CP, the buckle popped out, and came up on that side. Continued to loosen buttons in that direction and Tada! No more buckle. My fingers are tore up though.

BTW, if you have a lot of buttons, this will be the best two bucks you'll ever spend.  You may not need it often, but when you do, your fingers will thank you.

[scofthe7seas]

I had thought about getting one on my last order from you, but figured I wouldn't need it. Next time!