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Plexiglas
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:
--- Quote from: scofthe7seas on April 20, 2011, 11:23:31 am ---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.
--- End quote ---
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:
--- Quote from: RandyT on April 20, 2011, 01:55:16 pm --- Acrylic also expands and contracts with temperature. It could do it enough to cause a buckle.
--- End quote ---
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!
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