Panels inGatorfoam - 1
U
singall cut-to-order, 1/2”Gatorfoam® from
, I just built a21” x8' double-level "L" extension to
myNScaleMooers JunctionRailroad, and Iwas looking
for away tomountmy typical Plexiglass® fascia/control panel
to theextension.
This resulted inmyeliminating thePlexiglass, and comingup
witha fascia/control panelwithout theextensiveworkand
A uniqueway to
create control panels
without resorting to
Plexiglass ...
Making control panels from
Gatorfoam
– JohnC. Tyndall
Model Photos by the author
1. Gatorfoam control panel.
cost of Plexiglass. 1/2”Gatorfoamwas already runningaround
theperimeter of theextension.
Figure1 shows a1/2” x2-3/8” x3-1/2”panelmockup.
Pushbuttonson thispanel aremounted to just the veneer,with
thebackside veneer andfiller removed.
Figure2 shows recessedbuttons, useful intight aisles, by just
turning thepanel over.
Toaccomplish this, I useda1"hole saw (2) toallow control of
drilling. Itwill not ‘walk’ likea spadebit. Theadditional upside
is themandrel’spilot bit (3) is 15/64”. I realized inworkingwith
myPlexiglasspanels that the threadson thepushbuttons Iwas
using fromAll Electronics (
item#MPB-1B)
wouldfit througha1/4”hole, but I couldnot finda tap in
either SAEormetric thatmatched the threads. The veneer of
2
2. Gatorfoamwith recessed buttons.
MRH-Apr2014
