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Main => Woodworking => Topic started by: Disgrntld on July 30, 2009, 10:47:28 pm

Title: Minimum plywood thickness and t-nut height
Post by: Disgrntld on July 30, 2009, 10:47:28 pm

I'm building my CP from 5/8" plywood + 1/8" plexi. I plan to bottom-mount my P360s. I will be using countersunk t-nuts to secure them. I want to route out enough of the plywood so that the joysticks sit at a proper height (which I've read is about 3/8" recessed). I'm worried about two things. First, how thin can I go on the plywood? Would routing 3/8" (leaving 1/4") be ok? Second, how tall are t-nuts? I'm worried about hitting them from below.

Title: Re: Minimum plywood thickness and t-nut height
Post by: Disgrntld on August 01, 2009, 12:00:17 pm

I'm disappointed I didn't get any replies. Guess I'll reply to myself in case someone needs to know in the future...

After tons of research, I expect t-nut height to be the limiting factor. The shortest t-nuts I could find were 1/4". I don't know how sturdy using a 1/4" tall t-nut in 1/4" material is so I plan on leaving 3/8" plywood instead. With 1/8" plexi, that makes my total joystick recess 1/2" instead of the 3/8" that I wanted. Hopefully it won't sit too short for my tastes.

Title: Re: Minimum plywood thickness and t-nut height
Post by: Franco B on August 01, 2009, 12:32:15 pm

Could you not top mount them? I found some info for you in [this (http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=72612.0)] thread.

Title: Re: Minimum plywood thickness and t-nut height
Post by: Disgrntld on August 02, 2009, 01:22:31 am

Thanks! I hadn't seen that thread. I had ruled out top mounting because I presumed the screw heads would show. However, Knievel talks about using tapered head screws and that he can get them flush. That seems kind of iffy to me but I'll try tomorrow.

Also, does anyone know where to get P360 mounting plates? I didn't even know that was an option. I like the idea of being able to put in more washers to adjust the height.

Title: Re: Minimum plywood thickness and t-nut height
Post by: miles2912 on August 02, 2009, 04:20:22 pm

Most of us make the cabs out of MDF.   Plywood is not as easy to work with.  The only good news is that it is cheap and you can experiment with it to get the heights you need.

Title: Re: Minimum plywood thickness and t-nut height
Post by: Disgrntld on August 02, 2009, 07:12:13 pm

I made everything out of 3/4" MDF except the CP. On the CP I used leftover 5/8" birch plywood for two reasons. One, because with 1/8" plexi on top it will equal 3/4" and be t-moldable (to coin a phrase). Two, it's substantially stronger than MDF.