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Cutting trackball hole in plexiglass (revisited)

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pointdablame:
Yeah, I was going to try either a car wax or rubbing compound.  I have some tape designs on the case and I'd like to get rid of them.. so much for "no mark, less sticky" masking tape   :(  If not... I guess I'll be sanding and painting again  :'(

sofakng:
So... umm... any suggestions for my problems mentioned a little ways up?

I've spent waaaay more than I planned to, so I'll probably not buy any new bits or anything, UNLESS you guys highly suggest I do it.

Like usual, my concern is appearance and even though this is my first cab, I really want this to look nice.

Do you think it will look OK with an extra large hole like mine?

ThePaul:
I ran into the same problem this past weekend. I have already cut my CP (button holes football shape etc..) and now came the time to cut the Lexan. Everything was simple until it came to the trackball. Like you guys my flush trim bit had a little gap between the bearing and the cutting blades.

I took two scrap pieces of lexan and clamped them down over the track ball mounting plate (which is bolted into its proper position on the CP). The extra thicknes of two pieces of lexan rather than one was enough to let the bearing ride the TB mounting plate as a template and cut the top piece of lexan perfectly. The middle piece did not cut smothly, it melted a bit since it was positioned where the gap fell in the router bit.

Now I had one scrap piece of lexan with a perfect 3" copy of my TB mounting plate hole and one piece that was kind of jacked up. I threw the jacked up piece away.

Now I clamped the scrap piece with the perfect hole and my non scrap good piece of lexan to the cp (order was MDF-ScrapLexanwith3"hole-Good Lexan with no 3" hole yet). After drilling a pilot hole for my router bit in the good piece of lexan. I now had enough surface for the bearing to ride (the TB moutning place and the scrap piece of lexan.

My TB hole came out perfectly. As sofaking found the black lip is exposed although it sits flush with the lexan. I could have used the spacer that came with my TB, but then the amount of exposed ball would be less. I think I like to expose maximum ball ;)

sofakng:
Well, it shouldn't look too bad.  At least the lip is black so it matches most cabinets :)

Another strange problem I had for some reason is that after cutting the trackball hole in my plexiglass, my trackball mounting plate had some plexiglass melted onto the inside of it.  It's quite sharp but only amount a centimeter wide.

It's very hard to explain... It's taking FOREVER to file off too.  It didn't permanently damage it, but I'm really not sure how it got there...

ras2a:

--- Quote from: Pixelhugger on July 27, 2004, 12:32:55 pm ---
--- Quote --- What about something like this Dremel stuff (http://www.dremel.com/productdisplay/display.asp?sku=421&color=cc9900)?
--- End quote ---

That looks like it would work.


--- Quote --- I also found this http://www.dremel.com/productdisplay/display.asp?sku=520&color=cc9900 which is for hard plastics. Does anyone think this might work, or is there too much risk in chipping?
--- End quote ---


cheers
I would stay away from a "solid" polishing wheel for plastic. It's not so much a risk of chipping but a risk of "warbling" or creating smooth divets in the plastic (which I even managed to do with a CLOTH wheel around a chipped button hole I was trying to polish back to normal. Granted I was a bit heavy handed and persistent, but if it can happen with cloth, I imagine it's far more likely with a solid polisher.

I'll see if I can find the name of the stuff I used. I got it at a local plastics store. I'm sure it's available online as well.

I don't think it would work on painted plastic... it removes too much. Maybe a mild car wax?

--- End quote ---

I'd like to 'bullnose' or smooth the trackball hole also but was gonna opt for sanding (very fine wet and dry...wet).  However after seeing Pixel's SUPERB effort I don't think my idea will work.  I dont have/cant afford at this stage a dremel.  Is there ANY other method I can use to get the trackball lip smooth (not frosted) and chamfered?

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