Your amp looks great David . I have been thinking of using perspex or lexan for my xbosoz front panel. You have inspired me to do so. Do you have any tips to cutting drilling or polishing/frosting the lexan. I have found a supplier that will cut to size and drill but the lexan they offer isnt frosted. I think I may atempt driling as it may reduce the cost or equal it with the purchase of a new drill bit.
regards
dave
regards
dave
Here's a trick for drilling/milling/sawing Lexan and Plexi...
Try a decent flood or puddle of ageneral purpose household cleaner on the tool. I use either Formula 409 or Fantastik spray cleaner. The key is sharp tools... you want a drill that is either new or at least has not been used on aluminum or steel. Any heat that goes into the product (from a dull tool or failure to lubricate & cool) will show up as a heat check or crack the next day....BUMMER!
Try a decent flood or puddle of ageneral purpose household cleaner on the tool. I use either Formula 409 or Fantastik spray cleaner. The key is sharp tools... you want a drill that is either new or at least has not been used on aluminum or steel. Any heat that goes into the product (from a dull tool or failure to lubricate & cool) will show up as a heat check or crack the next day....BUMMER!
dhole said:
Thank you dhole for the kind comments.
Actually working with Lexan type products is really easy, especially when compared to aluminum or some types of wood.
Acrylic or Lexan can be easily cut on a table saw, drilled, and sanded.
As chipco3434 noted, sharp tools and in some cases lubrication for cutting is required. Here's the best part of Frosting the surfaces, it hides imperfections in working with the material. Keeping Lexan type plastics clear and free of burn marks, abrasions, and scuffs takes practice and extra care for clear panels. For example, if you want the side edges polished smooth and clear the panel needs to be cut slightly over sized and carefully wet sanded for what seems like forever. Evrey minor-minor ripple nick and scuff will show up in clear panels. In my opinion frosting looks better than clear and covers over any minor imperfections. Panels can always be removed and resanded as needed for maintaining the appearance.
I went to Tap Plastics here in the Bay Area and ordered a clear 14"x6 1/8" panel that was 1" thick for $21usd. They cut it to size inside of 10 minutes I was out the door.
For frosting acrylic plastic:
1) Have your front panel cut a 1/16" over for width and length.
2) Sand the surface with an ORBITAL sander with 100-120 grit paper. Sanding is done dry and not wet.
3) Make any surface holes with a forstner bit, and prefferably on a drill press. If you are countersinking hex cap screws like mine, use the pilot hole tip created by the forstner bit to drill the through hole.
4) Sand all surfaces again, and hand sand insides of any large holes like recesses for switches.
BTW, Lexan/acyrlic can be routed with designs and lettering.
Feel free to contact me if you have an other questions.
-David
Yes heat polishing works well and takes a little experience to do well. Acrylic sheets can be easily formed into boxes by by heating a line across the material to soften it and then bend it. There are straight line heating elements available for this purpose. An easy to work with glue is also available that nicely welds acrylic panels together to make square boxes and internal dividers, or PCB and component mounts.
If I remenber correctly, the typical melting point for acrylic or Lexan is about 180 degrees F. I'm getting an idea for a cool xBosoz premap case.
-David
If I remenber correctly, the typical melting point for acrylic or Lexan is about 180 degrees F. I'm getting an idea for a cool xBosoz premap case.
-David
David,
Excellent writeup, and thanks for sharing!
I'm considering this approach using the same heatsinks for a pair of mono blocks. Do you need to take the bends into consideration for the dimensions used in the .fpd file? I noticed your case was dead on - even lined up perfectly so that the top panel was flush with the heat sinks.
Thanks,
Paul
Excellent writeup, and thanks for sharing!
I'm considering this approach using the same heatsinks for a pair of mono blocks. Do you need to take the bends into consideration for the dimensions used in the .fpd file? I noticed your case was dead on - even lined up perfectly so that the top panel was flush with the heat sinks.
Thanks,
Paul
Uncle Paul said:
Hi Paul,
If I remember correctly, I added 2mm to account for the bend. A local precision sheetmetal shop bent up the chassis into form. One item I'd change next time is to increase the triangle cuts on the fold corners. The sheetmetal shop had to increase the diaginal cuts to fold-up the chassis correctly.
I also changed XLR connectors after the chassis was built and had to drill new mounting holes. Consider having FrontPanel Express drill the main XLR holes and then drill the mounting holes afterwards to allow for more flexibility in the choices of XLR connectors.
The round head 1/4" hex caps that hold the heatsinks to the chassis were a perfect choice. At first I used standard hex head fasteners, but did not like they way they protruded, and switched to the small round top hex caps instead.
They chassis has no flex what so ever and is tough as nails. Originally I indended to add chassis stiffeners along the bottom, that's what the parallel rows of small holes were for, but they are not needed. I'd still use the large vent holes across the bottom though.
Good luck with your design,
-David
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