Tragedy Strikes - 720 cabinet rebuild

Any chance you can put the plexi from the boom box on a sheet of paper, trace the outline, and mail it to me?

Oh, and measure it's thickness.. :)
 
Sure, but why don't I just make a scale template and post it here? That way everyone has it for the future??

Whatever works. I need to cut at least one for myself. I figured I'd import into DXF and cut a few and post the stuff but you'll save me that step then.
 
Whatever works. I need to cut at least one for myself. I figured I'd import into DXF and cut a few and post the stuff but you'll save me that step then.

Yeah, I'm just thinking that tracing it onto a piece of 8.5 x 11 standard paper and scanning that in will make a template that everyone can reproduce.

Edit: And have it there in 10 minutes, vs. the 5-10 days that USPS is taking for snail mail now...
 
Yeah, I'm just thinking that tracing it onto a piece of 8.5 x 11 standard paper and scanning that in will make a template that everyone can reproduce.

Problem with a scanned image is I never trust the printer settings to be accurate. But I'm sure it will be close enough and I can always see how it matches up to my boombox cover.

Thanks, Some folks just don't want to spend the extra time so I figured trace/mail would be low budget (though the mail part... LOL).
 
Problem with a scanned image is I never trust the printer settings to be accurate. But I'm sure it will be close enough and I can always see how it matches up to my boombox cover.

Thanks, Some folks just don't want to spend the extra time so I figured trace/mail would be low budget (though the mail part... LOL).

Yeah, I dig it. I added reference lines to the image, showing 1" scale. The plexi is 1/8", or as close as I can tell w/a tape measure, I can't find my calipers right now...

720PlexiTemplate.jpg

I have a PDF scan of it, PM me if anyone wants it.

Sorry for the smudges, my pen was a mess from the heat lately. You should see my fingers right now...
 
Ouch on the corner. That's what I was referring to earlier when I said that no matter how had we try, something always happens.

I didn't think I could do the U shaped vinyl on the base in one shot, so I split mine, but I did it in the back center. Somehow I got kindof a lot of dust specs on the base. And when I pulled the masking off of the sideart, one small corner came off with the masking!! I figured the chances were too high that if I tried to remove and replace it, I'd mess up the gray vinyl and have an even bigger problem. So it stayed. 😐

Best idea I've come up with so far for this issue is cut that corner off with a razor and straight edge, then replace it with the corner from a new piece of sideart. So only a slit in the sideart would be left.
 
Ouch on the corner. That's what I was referring to earlier when I said that no matter how had we try, something always happens.

I didn't think I could do the U shaped vinyl on the base in one shot, so I split mine, but I did it in the back center. Somehow I got kindof a lot of dust specs on the base. And when I pulled the masking off of the sideart, one small corner came off with the masking!! I figured the chances were too high that if I tried to remove and replace it, I'd mess up the gray vinyl and have an even bigger problem. So it stayed. 😐

Best idea I've come up with so far for this issue is cut that corner off with a razor and straight edge, then replace it with the corner from a new piece of sideart. So only a slit in the sideart would be left.

Yeah, it was really frustrating. The vinyl is really unforgiving, even a score line around the fan cutout showed through it. In order to fix it so that nothing was visible I would have had to remove the vinyl, remove the laminate, bondo the corner back up, re-apply laminate, re-apply vinyl. All of that while not damaging any of the other finished areas or vinyl. I weighed the pros and cons and decided there was no way, so it stays. :(

Speaking of sideart, nice segue:

IMG_0196.JPEG

Step one after getting everything together was to clean up the work space from spray painting last night, then change the paper on the table:

IMG_0197.JPEG

After that it was pretty much cashing in on the hard earned vinyl-laying skills. Expose a bit of the sticky side, get it close to perfect. Miss by 1/64", try to gently pull it up, lay it back down again...

It took 3-4 tries to get the boombox in the exact spot, but I finally got it there. The plexi will go back in last, after @bakerhillpins lets me know my tracing job was good enough. ;)

The aerial experience was the scary one. I got it all the way on, PERFECT. The I realized it was on upside down. The only good news was that I hadn't pressed it firmly down, so I was able to peel it off and do it over properly. I don't think you can tell at all.

IMG_0198.JPEG

That's it, all the prep and procrastination done. The next updates should be of final assembly!
 
Nice work. Looking good. I remember holding my breath and dropping the boombox plexi in place.

I had to use a pretty low wattage bulb in the boombox so only the overlay was backlit and not the whole cutout area.
 
Like DXF file for cutting on a CNC? I've got access to waterjet tables.

I could convert my work into a .dxf, but I'm not sure how smooth the converting process will treat it. I draw things up in Adobe Illustrator and can easily export as DXF or DWG. But it sure seems to chopchopchop the smooth radiuses. (Radiaii?)
 
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7940 S Valley View, Ste 100
Las Vegas, NV 89139


I could convert my work into a .dxf, but I'm not sure how smooth the converting process will treat it. I draw things up in Adobe Illustrator and can easily export as DXF or DWG. But it sure seems to chopchopchop the smooth radiuses. (Radiaii?)
Wait? You have a Vegas address?
 
ROFLMAO. Not sure how the hell that happened, but that's a Goodwill off the Strip that I visited today and found an awesome car scissor jack, tow hitch pin, and little color LCD for only $6 all together. :D Don't remember copy and pasting that, but there it is. :ROFLMAO:
 
Yeah, it was really frustrating. The vinyl is really unforgiving, even a score line around the fan cutout showed through it. In order to fix it so that nothing was visible I would have had to remove the vinyl, remove the laminate, bondo the corner back up, re-apply laminate, re-apply vinyl. All of that while not damaging any of the other finished areas or vinyl. I weighed the pros and cons and decided there was no way, so it stays. :(

Speaking of sideart, nice segue:

View attachment 828123

Step one after getting everything together was to clean up the work space from spray painting last night, then change the paper on the table:

View attachment 828124

After that it was pretty much cashing in on the hard earned vinyl-laying skills. Expose a bit of the sticky side, get it close to perfect. Miss by 1/64", try to gently pull it up, lay it back down again...

It took 3-4 tries to get the boombox in the exact spot, but I finally got it there. The plexi will go back in last, after @bakerhillpins lets me know my tracing job was good enough. ;)

The aerial experience was the scary one. I got it all the way on, PERFECT. The I realized it was on upside down. The only good news was that I hadn't pressed it firmly down, so I was able to peel it off and do it over properly. I don't think you can tell at all.

View attachment 828126

That's it, all the prep and procrastination done. The next updates should be of final assembly!
Car wrap vinyl is different than printed cpo art. Sticking printed art down and then lifting it again is risky! It can damage the art. The best way to lay those is clamp or tape one end in place, then flip the other side over, remove backing, and rub it down on slowly. After half is down, remove the tape or clamps, flip the other side over and repeat. I'm sure I've seen dozens of howto's for this here but it's the tried and true method. You're lucky your stick and remove method worked out!
 
I could convert my work into a .dxf, but I'm not sure how smooth the converting process will treat it. I draw things up in Adobe Illustrator and can easily export as DXF or DWG. But it sure seems to chopchopchop the smooth radiuses. (Radiaii?)

I'll just have someone at the office import the file that @DougUSMC passes along and go from there. Thanks @jawhn
 
I'll just have someone at the office import the file that @DougUSMC passes along and go from there. Thanks @jawhn

Sent!

And the last update of the weekend:

I had to do a bit of repair work as two of the speaker wires were torn in half. I twist them together inline, soldered them, and covered with heat shrink:

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After that the monitor went back in. Two facts about that monitor: 1) It's a tight squeeze, 2) It's a HEAVY mofo!

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After that I spent a couple of hours finishing things up. The bezel was installed, the glass, both metal trims. Power brick, boards, wiring, CP, etc.

It's ALIVE!!! Going to have to replace that bulb, it's blasting right through the overlay in a not nice way.

IMG_0201.JPEG

Side art on:

IMG_0203.JPEG

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And back in line with its siblings. Current lineup:

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You can tell everything else has been neglected for too long. I didn't even realize that the SH and X-Men marquee lights were out!

There are a few tweaks to be done, but they're not happening today. I think we've been playing it non-stop since I turned it back on. I almost had to fight off the children just to unplug it long enough to get it in place!
 
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