Completed Fixed angle 32" monitor stand (Pinball) & Front full width controller box

[Izerous]

I like the keyboard tray idea as a controller bonus point I think for think for that. I had figured you were trying to mount something to it, but hadn't figured that you were turning it into a hideable controller.

Those clear clips I used to mount nightlights in the girl's rooms. Bought lights that looked like flowers from Ikea and used those to manipulate the wiring to kinda look like leafs and a stem instead of just a pain straight green wire.

 

[sswilson]

Soooooo..... I've changed the header from "completed" back to "work in progress"....



I was looking at this laptop stand thinking that it was pretty much the perfect height for a standing controller base, and pondering if I was going to give it the same treatment as the keyboard tray got which led to this......











I've got a pretty good idea how I'm going to adapt the little tray/shelf as a mount for this that will allow me to easily install/remove it, but the next step is to decide how I want to do the sides/front.

I intend on printing up a 3 sided corner / lockplate that'll smooth out the palm gripping surface, but haven't quite decided if I want to cover the side with plywood first or incorporate the whole side into the print (that would have to be done in two pieces).

It's not quite an upright cabinet yet, but it seems to be getting closer each day.....

 

[Sagath]

I love this thread. It's going to go in the dictionary as a definition of 'rabbit hole'

 

[sswilson]

I love this thread. It's going to go in the dictionary as a definition of 'rabbit hole'

Heh... well, that's what retirement's all about isn't it???

 

[sswilson]

Most of this weekend has been occupied in this fashion along with a substantial amount of time measuring, modelling, and remeasuring. This is an edge-to-edge print that's going onto the side, and with the first version of it, I discovered that relatively thin PLA parts left out in the direct mid-day August sun tend to melt/warp.... (I intended on re-doing this piece for the button hole anyways....



First up, the main controller body and lid got some stain.





Then (as alluded to earlier) the shelf I'd made previously was re-purposed as the controller base by building a box around it.



This is the rough plan. The base has since been painted, I've printed off a 3 piece lockbar (the metal strip on the top/front of a pinball machine) and am currently printing off new side covers. With this roughed in, I've also come to the conclusion that the wood weighs too much to allow it to be supported just by the small piece that attaches to the monitor stand so I'm working on a design for a 2X3 leg brace that'll tuck in under the main body flush to either side of the base.

 

[danmitch1]

..

 

[sswilson]

Nice! that thing looks like it can take a real beating too (protection against someone that sucks at pinball with a bad temper ? Lol.. )

Yeah, if anything it's too heavy because of how beefy I've framed it, but unless I wanted to start getting fancy with small cabinet framing it's gonna be 2X3s, 1X3s and 1/2" plywood. On the positive side, I was able to get away with a single 24X48" piece of plywood for both parts.

The second edge-to-edge side reprint is currently running.... because it's so wide, I had to grab the "clearing line" off of the print surface before the actual print got over to that side... (as opposed to figuring out how to move the clearing line from the side to the front now that I've done away with the clips).

 

[danmitch1]

..

 

[sswilson]

Image cross post from the 3D printer thread....





Really happy with how this leg brace turned out. Minor tweak to be made for the second one (lowering the side tabs), but aside from that the tolerances when it's all screwed together are going to be super tight. Probably well over-engineered but I've no doubt it'll hold together for many years to come.

 

[sswilson]

Still slogging away, but getting much closer to the end game on this...







In case it wasn't clear where I was going with this from my earlier pics....

Here's the legs finally installed and cut to length. The printed brace is secured with 5X 2" wood screws through 2 pieces of 1/2" plywood and finally into the 2X3 framing on the top (bottom in these pics) cabinet + 1 machine screw through 2X plywood where the brace hole didn't line up with the 2X3 frame, 2 smaller wood screws to the side of the pedestal (top in these pics), and then the wood + brace are secured with 3 carriage bolts through the pedestal's 1X3 side and then just the brace + wood secured by carriage bolts (I've since grabbed some shorter ones for the wood + brace holes). Once everything is stained and in place, there's also a spot for 1 wood screw on either side of the brace to secure fore/aft (they're offset from each other with the thinking that'll provide a wider link between the wood and the printed base).

Very happy with how the carriage bolts turned out. I had initially been going to grab just some standard hex head bolts, but saw these in the hardware bins and thought they'd work out better. I've got large(ish) washers + lock washers + nuts to secure them with and then am going to cap the ends with some printed thread caps.



Legs have been measured / cut to the correct height, and this front cabinet is solid as a rock! Legs have been removed and are currently undergoing stain (HD still has a few cans of $12 stain marked down to $3.50 so I even managed to get the same colour/stain... ).

Plastic trim shown isn't installed yet, but was finally checked for proper fit and seems to be fine. Still need to print off some button plates for the front as well as drill out the button holes and start wiring (which unfortunately is going to include more splicing... ).