My Unnamed Control Panel

[Dropkick_Wally]

Hi Everyone!

I have been working on my panel for almost a year now. Since I live in an apartment and am in school I haven't had much time.  But it's finally done and I have taken so much from this board, the least I can do is give you a couple of pictures.

The parts I have used are:
Happ Super X2
Happ concave pushbuttons X21
IPAC VE X1

I tired to make a nice and glossy surface with mixed results.  The buffer I used chipped a bit of the paint on the edges away, but it wasn't too bad so i decided not to spend months repainting.  I bought the Supers at different times, so one has the IL on the bottom, the other does not.  I actually found the IL one to be inferior.  The spring on the inside does not seat tightly and causes a little bit of creaking and the odd popping sound which I find to be a little annoying.  I tried to make it a bit tighter by wrapping some thread sealer around the piece that seats the spring but it's not really working.  Anyway, here it is.  Feel free to comment and ask any questions and thanks to everyone for the posts which have informed and inspired me!

[Zeosstud]

Looks ALOT better than my first control panel, and in fact my second, now the 3rd one, I am pretty attached to it.

Well Done,

Zeosstud

[Timstuff]

Wow, that's some pretty slick work! Better than my panel, at least. I could barely get the friggin' panels to line up right on mine. 

[Dropkick_Wally]

Thanks for the comments!  Actually, my uncle helped me a bunch with the wood working part as I didn't have a table saw or any place to put one.  I learned a lot and I'm pretty sure I could do it on my own now.
Cheers!

[severdhed]

looks great...i like the plain, glossy black look.  that is what i was going for on my first cabinet, but you have better results.

[RoboG2]

Beautiful work!  What did you use on top under the paint?  On the cp I've been working on, I've had a hard time getting the top super-smooth like that.  Congrats on the great results!

[Dropkick_Wally]

Trying to get the paint look like that took about 3 years off my life!  And since I'm such a perfectionist, I see every little mistake.  Between the primer, sanding the primer, the many coats of high gloss enamel, waiting for it to cure, sanding it with 3 different grades of sandpaper, trying to fix my mistakes, polishing it and using the cleaner wax... whew!  I don't think I'll be that ambitious again for a while.  Although i think having a compressor and the proper power sander would have helped.  I also wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless the have someone with experience helping, they have the proper equipment and they are in for the long haul!  Cheers.