ScottCade

[ThePaul]

I just spent the weekend building my control panel and have no one to show it to. I suppose I'll start this thread so anyone who is bored at work like me can view my progress and flame me  

I have absolutely no woodworking skills. I'm a computer scientist not a carpenter, but I had to give it a go anyway. The biggest problem I am facing so far is that I don't have any tools. So that pushes up the budget quite a bit, which doesn't help things with the wife.

My Cab won't be anything new or exciting to most people here. I will be copying designs from other people who I think did a wonderful job in construction. My artwork will be mostly taked from others on these forums who are also amazing at what they do.

Anyway here are some photos of my control panel. I suppose I'll update this thread each time I make some progress... which could be a week or ... a year.

If the controls look kind of strange it is because they aren't mounted, just stuck on for the photos.

[GameDork]

Looks good so far!!!

[whammoed]

Good job, you're on your way.  I was in the same boat as you as far as no experience (besides wood shop and messing around as a kid) and limited tools.  Good tools are expensive but definitely worth it.  I was able to make a cabinet that people couldn't believe I actually built myself.  Just give yourself some extra time and maybe some spare wood for those inevitable mistakes.

[pathdoc2]

Looks like you recessed your trackball mounting plate, always a nice touch.

[ThePaul]

Pathdoc, yes I did as I will be using 1/8 lexan to cover the artwork. I don't have a router yet, but I used my dremel with router attachment for the trackball plate. I will be buying or renting a router for the next step (cutting the lexan and t molding slot).

[Bomber]

Looking good - especially like the recessed trackball mount.

Oh yeah - and Brad Nowell is a legend.

[ThePaul]

Pretty much have the CP finished now, except for wiring it up   As I said before nothing new or original here.. not even the artwork. By the way thanks Snaaake for letting me use this one (you probably don't even remember sending me the file it was over a year ago I think).

[mikroman]

Love the artwork, keep up the good work  

[whammoed]

Looks really cool I must say!
Does anyone else find the position of the track"ball" funny?  I know I need to grow up.

[Goz]

Looks really cool I must say!
Does anyone else find the position of the track"ball" funny?  I know I need to grow up.

Haha I didn't notice, you'll be playing with his track ball.

Awesome job on the CP.

-Goz

[ThePaul]

Yeah I guess I am all up on Raiden's nuts .. litterally =)

I did realize the positioning long before I made the CP, but I kind of thought it was funny and left it .. heh

[Soulcon]

::Escuse newbie question ::

What is holding on the Plexi on your CP? The Buttons? I didn't see any retainer screws and the Tmolding is spot on.  It looks gorgous and would love to know how you accomplished that.

Thanks if for the time!

-Soul

[ThePaul]

Just the buttons secure the lexan to the CP. I had planned to use 4 bolts after reading how others had problems with their lexan not staying down tight.

To get the T-Molding lined up right I used scrap pieces of lexan, scrap piece of 3/4 md and a scrap piece of T modling. Then I just did some dry runs to get my router depth set perfectly.

I put the 3 piece sandwich together, MDF CP, Artwork and Lexan and used some clamps to hold it in place so I could cut the holes and trim the sides of the artwork with an exacto knife. then I popped in the buttons one by one and undid the clamps. It seems really secure at that point, but the edges of the lexan would lift up very easily.

Next I put the T-Molding on ..making sure to keep tension on the access and I used a rubber mallet to set it in. Basically I used the T-Molding as a wrapper to further secure the lexan to the CP. Since the Lexan sits flush with the edge of the Tmolding there is no way to lift up the lexan even if I wanted to (which I kind of do to get some little dust specs out that are buggin me).

Anyway I was concerned most with trimming the artwork and it turned out to be very easy. I did screw up with the positioning and you can see a little white line at the top right hand corner (white paper where the art slid down before trimming). I think I'll have my bezzle overlapping that part in the end so I'm not to worried. Also I am able to print the art at my work so I can redo it as many times as I want.

[Soulcon]

Thanks ThePaul now I have some head way on where I can go with the Contrrol panel. Granted mine is a mini CP but I was thinking of making the whole PLexi, art, cp direction you went. Thanks again and I hope mine will come out half as good as yours did.

-Soul

[DaemonCollector]

What is your artwork printed on? It looks great

[ThePaul]

We have a plotter here at work to print posters and GIS stuff. There are two different type of paper rolls, one is like regular printer paper and the other is glossy. I used the glossy one. I'm not sure of the details really.. I am not really the person in charge of the plotter I just have access to it over the network

[ThePaul]

I added the hinge and velcro this evening. One thing is for sure.. that velcro holds strong! I have to pry it open ... anyone else using this method might take a tip from me and use less than I did.... although it will keep any prying hands out of there for sure!

The only real concern I have is that with the hinge in the back .. I will most likely run into a problem after it is installed on the cab. I'll have to cross that bridge when I come to it though.. I wasn't going to rely on the front wall (the least sturdy of the 4 walls) to support the CP which is quite heavy.

[Soulcon]

Nice work bud do those Piano hindges come in like 14 inch lengths?

You did a great job bud I seriously Can't wait to see it all put together and running .

-Soul

[ThePaul]

Soul, the smallest length of hinge I found at Home Depot is the one I used that is 30 inches (I think). But you can take a hack saw to it and make it whatever size you want, the functionality of the hinge will not be changed by cutting it.

[Soulcon]

Sweet ThePaul to the resue again thanks bud. I was wondering how I was going to make the control panel accessable. With such a small CP I didn't want to clutter it with a couple of huge hindges and some nasty looking locks. So you have saved the day with your cutting idea and your Velcro. I love these forums .

-Soul

[ThePaul]

I love these forums too. None of my ideas are original. Just a culmination of studying these boards for over a year  

[dema]

Looks really cool I must say!
Does anyone else find the position of the track"ball" funny?  I know I need to grow up.

I thought the exact same thing. I love the graphics but I couldn't stop laughing about the fact that Raiden has elephantitis. I bet he gets 'testes' when he loses his matches.
Har Har.

[Witchboard]

Do you think you'll have a problem with your hinge placement when you get your CP on your cab?  I noticed that a majority of the panels open out away from the monitor.  Yours will open towards the monitor.  Will you have to leave a gap as not to have your CP push against your monitor/glass when you open it?

[ThePaul]

Witchboard, yes I think I will have a problem with that. I thought about this for a long time before buying the hinge and installing it. The problem is that the front side of my CP box is the least sturdy of the 4 walls. I think it probably would have worked, but my CP is very heavy and after all the work I have put into it.. to have the CP box break apart or something due to a front hinge placement.. would be heart brekaing. Another positive is that if I can get it to work on a cab, then I can put a keyboard and mouse inside the CP box.. there is plenty of room in there for that.. and with it opening from the front .. there is easy access.

The 2 options I'm considering now are

1) Use the slant of the cab (the monitor will be at an angle so the cab will slant away from the cp) and perhaps cut a slot where the hinge is.  The image below shows a rough sketch of the idea with an exagerated "slot" for the hinge.

2) If the first option doesn't work I will have to figure out a way that the whole CP box can slide out away from the cab a few inches to allow enough room for the lid to swing open freely.

[Soulcon]

Wouldn't it be cool to have it run off a pully system run by a motor? Imagine if you will you press a recessed buttom and the whole control panel slides out two inches and then opens its lid to allow all your beautiful work to be seen. hmmmmmmmmm Maybe add a Smoke machine and a strobe light and we could get down right medieval .

Sorry got a little carried away .

-Soul

[ThePaul]

LOL soul.. I'm still trying to figure out how to crimp a friggin wire!!

[Witchboard]

Another positive is that if I can get it to work on a cab, then I can put a keyboard and mouse inside the CP box.. there is plenty of room in there for that.. and with it opening from the front .. there is easy access.

That is a good way of looking at it.  I agree that there seems to be plenty of room to stash your keyboard in your CP.

The 2 options I'm considering now are

1) Use the slant of the cab (the monitor will be at an angle so the cab will slant away from the cp) and perhaps cut a slot where the hinge is.  The image below shows a rough sketch of the idea with an exagerated "slot" for the hinge.

2) If the first option doesn't work I will have to figure out a way that the whole CP box can slide out away from the cab a few inches to allow enough room for the lid to swing open freely.

I think I would probably focus on your second option.  It would look a lot cleaner and you wouldn't have to worry about anything falling in the gap behind your CP.  It will also help to hide the bottom of your bezel and glass.

I plan on building a fighter for my second cab.  I'm going to have to find where you guys get all these high res images of fighting characters.

[ThePaul]

No matter which way I go there won't be a gap. If I have to I will make a spacer out of MDF to cover a gap and hold the bezel/plexi in front of the monitor. We'll see how it goes. Will be a month or so before I get to that bridge.

Talk to Snaaake about graphics, that guy is amazing.

[Witchboard]

Yeah, he seems to be the one with all the high res stuff.  I must stalk him.