the making

i have started to make the components using chemi wood for the balk of the two halves, cut using circular saw and bandsaw, along with laser cut acrylic for the inlays, a void will be milled out for the inlays to slot into. the control pad will be CNCed with the round button lathed the other buttons laser cut.
I did most of the work on the mill, i used it to cut out the voids for the laser cut inlays, by using the mill i could create the exact depth for the inlay to slot into. It was also used it to create the textured aluminum sheet that sits in the lid, this was done by skimming across the top of the aluminum using a boring tool set to a 30mm width.

But unfortunately on the last pass the aluminum became unstuck and lifted slightly in the corner and the boring tool caught the edge and mashed it up. you can just about make out the circular pattern on the surface.
The second time i attempted to make it i used a larger sheet, i used double sided tape again but this time i screwed down each corner. i made a bigger area that i cut the final rectangle from, this worked much better and i have a piece that fit snuggly into the lid.


the lathe was used to make the one large button, the hinges and the crew, all turned out of chemi-wood.

the D-pad was CNCed in chemi-wood, a 3d model was created in Rhino 3D then exported to Excalibur where the tools and cutting speed and number of passes were chosen then this information is taken to the CNC and used to cut out the object.


the rest of the peices were cut out using a laser cutter or by hand.

to make the step down sections in the lid i made a former that out of chemi-wood and acrylic, then in placed carbody filler in the void of the lid i then pressed the former in to the carbodyfiller the create the step down fomation.


the result was better that i thought it would be and only needed a small amout of cleaning up and filling.

i used carbody filler to make the beveled edge around the screen.


once everything is stuck together the final priming and sanding can commence, there is not a great deal to do but it is fiddly and you have to wait for the paint to dry enough before sanding but i can work on other areas such as the graphics and images for the screens.


i had to mill out the area for the hinge to sit into, i also had to cut the hinge in half so that i could attach each piece to each side of the console so that it will be a working hinge. just means more sanding and filling.