OK - this post is going to show a little "behind the scenes" of my thought process for figuring out the front panel for people that may be interested in the inner workings of a lunatic. The design is kind of intricate as you can tell from my last set of pics and I had a few options to consider on how to arrive at a finished product that not only looked good but was also functional. Remember, my goal is to mount both a 17" LCD monitor and two speakers behind this panel with only about 1/3 of the monitor actually showing through a layer of plexiglas in order to display the various marquees.
The challenge was where exactly to place the monitor. The panel itself is made out of 1/2" MDF. If I was to simply mount the monitor to the back of the panel and cut the holes, the cross section of the panel would be visible and in my head I just didn't think it would look right with the monitor set that far back - especially given the angle that most people would be viewing the marquee from (looking down).
Potential solutions:
1.
Monitor behind front panel. Cut slightly oversized holes in the front panel for the viewable marquee area and speakers. Cover the entire panel with black laminate and cut openings for the marquee and speakers to exact dimensions. Mount the monitor to the back of the panel with a 1/2" piece of plexiglas filling the gap between the laminate and the front of the monitor. Mount the speakers directly to the laminate.
- Pros: Nice laminate finish on the front surface; speakers basically flush mounted.
- Cons: Potentially ugly 1/2" gap between monitor and front of panel; need to laminate many other panels for uniform finish.
2.
Monitor flush with front panel. Cut holes in the front panel exactly the size of the monitor speakers. Cover the entire panel with black laminate and cut openings for the marquee and speakers to exact dimensions. Mount the monitor to the back of the laminate with a 1/16" piece of plexiglas filling the gap between the laminate and the front of the monitor. Mount the speakers directly to the laminate.
- Pros: Nice laminate finish on the front surface; speakers basically flush mounted. No gap between monitor and front of panel.
- Cons: Structural integrity is low (to the point where I worry about the unsupported laminate area bowing outward). The black laminate is very thin and would comprise a large majority of the front panel (meaning, it won't actually be laminated to anything); need to laminate many other panels for uniform finish.
3.
Monitor almost flush with front panel. Cut holes in the front panel exactly the size of the monitor speakers. Cover the entire panel with 1/8" hardboard (instead of black laminate) and cut openings for the marquee and speakers to exact dimensions. Mount the monitor to the back of the 1/8" hardboard with a 1/16" piece of plexiglas filling the gap between the hardboard and the front of the monitor. Mount the speakers directly to the hardboard.
- Pros: Structural integrity should be fine. Cheaper because I don't have to buy laminate; can glue to MDF when assembling cabinet instead of relying on screws through laminate.
- Cons: 1/8" gap between monitor and front of panel and the speakers. This is fairly thin so maybe no big deal; would require painting instead of laminating - finish not quite as nice.
Option #1 was a non-starter for me due to the 1/2" gap as previously described. My first instinct was to try Option #2 because I really want the monitor to be flush with the front panel. So I cut the holes in the front panel as shown in my other post and ordered the laminate from Home Depot. Of course, things never go as planned. When I opened up the box of laminate it was cracked into about 10 different pieces so I had to return it and with a 2 week lead time, I was annoyed. However, this also gave me the opportunity to inspect the durability of the laminate and that's when I started to worry that Option #2 wasn't going to be structurally sound.
I shot Arroyo a PM to get his thoughts and he indicated that structural integrity would worry him too which confirmed my instincts so I started thinking of alternative solutions and came up with Option #3. It's not perfect but if you think of the 1/8" hardboard as a replacement for the laminate, it starts to make sense. The only real negative is the 1/8" thickness of the hardboard itself. But then the more I thought about it the more I realized I didn't want to paint that much so I decided to try and make Option #2 work... which I did, but not exactly as described!
So after all that... I didn't end up using any of this.
But it was time well spent because the solution did present itself.