So today I decided to go ahead and start cutting the front panel. I did it the way I described in an earlier post: first cutting the pockets, then profiling the holes and outline, and lastly lasercutting the bend lines. But I got impatient and made about every rookie mistake in the book. here’s the rundown:
Cutting the pockets; so far so good. Although, because the plywood was slightly warped, I had to press it down against the wasteboard. This way the bit couldn’t cut all the way through. Remember, 2 pockets are 2mm deep on a 3mm board of plywood, so I didn’t have a lot of wiggle room. It got tedious pressing down all the time and I just put 2 heavy blocks of raw aluminium on it. Cutting time was about 30 mins.
When I did the profiling cut (with a 0.8mm endmill – for relatively sharp inside corners), I bumped into a clamp. It was on the first depth pass so there was damage but not too deep. Good thing this side will not be seen when assembled. The bit survived and I restarted the profiling operation.
Rookie mistake 2: Because I am milling into the ‘underside’ of the frontpanel, I had to mirror my toolpaths. Somehow I did just that for the pockets, but forgot to do it for the profiling operation. I was pretty fast to see the mistake but the damage was already done. The hole for the USB hub was on the wrong side… I generated new toolpaths and finished the cut anyway. I figured I could still test dimensions and the like even with a faulty frontpanel. After profiling I sanded the rough edges.
Fitting the tablet into the recess was PERFECTION!
And here’s a picture of both sides:
Buttons fitting:
I also did the lasercutting part, even though I already knew the piece was no good. Better to experiment on this piece than fucking up again next time. And fucking up is what I did. The alignment was pretty straightforward. I squared the workpiece to the Y-rail with a thick piece of oak I had. The hole I made in my lasercutter also came in handy for this.
Sadly, the pockets I milled were too deep and made the wood too brittle. Good thing I did the test on this bad piece after all.
Next try in a couple of days 🙂