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Step 3Faceplate 1: Mark and cut
At last! actual work! I recommend picking the most difficult part of a design and building around that. Its a fundamental of Experience Design, for example, high end car manufacturers start a new car design with the driver seat and build the rest of the car around that part. In this case it's going to be the front panel (aka face plate) and the box will form around that central component.
I roughly laid out the required switches and a bottle cap for the volume control, then marked up the back of an old aluminium sign with a ruler, square and scribe with rough dimensions. Once happy with the over all size I get to power up the tools. I started by swapping out the wood blade on the 10" Bandsaw for the metal blade.
I donned my wear eye & ear protection, as with any power tool, and cut two identical pieces for front and back.
Using the band saw to cut the faceplate & backplate
Note that I'm guiding the piece through the bandsaw by hand, this will result in an uneven edge. This isnt much of an issue in this case as the faceplate edges will be hidden in the box. If you want to cut a straight edge then you can clamp a piece of wood to the bandsaw table to act as a fence.
Update
Great tip in the comments below from user Tyler Durden... he writes: "When I build stuff that has panels with switches, etc., I use a very easy technique for laying the panel out for cutting. I start by making a scale drawing in a CAD program. I place switches, displays, controls etc in the drawing with cross hairs at the hole centers. When I have decided it looks the way I want, I print the scale drawing out at full size with a laser printer. Then I spray the panel material with adhesive and press the printed drawing down on it. Next use a punch to mark the hole center locations. Then i drill holes and if there are square cutouts for LCD displays I cut those holes last with a saber saw. Finish up by using a reamer to clean off the sharp edges and then wash the paper/glue off."
I will definitely use this method in future.
Reference;
Eye & Ear protection
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_protection
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earmuffs
Band saws
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Band_saw
I roughly laid out the required switches and a bottle cap for the volume control, then marked up the back of an old aluminium sign with a ruler, square and scribe with rough dimensions. Once happy with the over all size I get to power up the tools. I started by swapping out the wood blade on the 10" Bandsaw for the metal blade.
I donned my wear eye & ear protection, as with any power tool, and cut two identical pieces for front and back.
Using the band saw to cut the faceplate & backplate
Note that I'm guiding the piece through the bandsaw by hand, this will result in an uneven edge. This isnt much of an issue in this case as the faceplate edges will be hidden in the box. If you want to cut a straight edge then you can clamp a piece of wood to the bandsaw table to act as a fence.
Update
Great tip in the comments below from user Tyler Durden... he writes: "When I build stuff that has panels with switches, etc., I use a very easy technique for laying the panel out for cutting. I start by making a scale drawing in a CAD program. I place switches, displays, controls etc in the drawing with cross hairs at the hole centers. When I have decided it looks the way I want, I print the scale drawing out at full size with a laser printer. Then I spray the panel material with adhesive and press the printed drawing down on it. Next use a punch to mark the hole center locations. Then i drill holes and if there are square cutouts for LCD displays I cut those holes last with a saber saw. Finish up by using a reamer to clean off the sharp edges and then wash the paper/glue off."
I will definitely use this method in future.
Reference;
Eye & Ear protection
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_protection
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earmuffs
Band saws
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Band_saw
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