Day 39 - Polycarbonate

The polycarbonate arrived (I bought 2mm). I bought this as it is supposed to be easier to cut than acrylic but scratches easier. One piece for the control panel and one piece for the two halves of the marquee (the marquee is sandwiched between)

First we taped where the cuts were going, put some thin wood below to strengthen and support it and used the jigsaw with a metal blade to slowly cut the plastic in half. Harry did the cutting as he is a master builder and I was too scared. Remember to keep the backing tape on.

After drilling all the holes (except trackball) into the MDF (18mm)  it was off to Calla's workshop to drill the holes with the 28mm wood spade bit.





First we placed the polycarbonate below the MDF control panel and taped it up tight with gaffer tape, then we placed another piece of MDF below that (making a polycarbonate sandwich) and clamped it. The idea is to stop any vibration when cutting.




We set the drill speed to it's lowest (500rpm) and went slowly through the mdf into the polycarbonate (thereby making everything match up exactly).

Some holes couldn't be done (too far for the drill press to reach), so I did these back home with the hand drill on slow speed. The idea being to go slow but steady resulting in scraping away of the polycarbonate rather then forceful drilling.

While we were there he soldered wires onto my little switches (for pause and power) and showed off his magic tricks by twisting the wires in a drill.

If you're ever in the need for a high quality but cheap guitar pedal (diy or built) then visit him at http://pedalparts.co.uk/, international delivery too :)



This is the finished article (with covering tape on).