Cutting The Control Panel

To patch up the swiss-cheese control panel, I decided to get a piece of sheet metal and cut it in the shape of the current control panel and bolt it in from behind. I decided against cutting the whole front of the current CP out because I wanted the added support of what was left of the of the current 16ga metal CP on top of the 22ga sheet of steel that I was using.

I used the old plexi as a template and started cutting away.



Once I had the sheet, I affixed it behind the old control panel and drilled out the bolt holes (and P1 P2 buttons), so I could bolt it down and plan out the button holes.


I used a premade template I got off of Pleasuredome and taped it down using MK3fan's pictures as a guide. I realized that when I put the templates where I wanted them, the fierce punch buttons perfectly aligned with one of the original buttons. Once the templates were taped down and the sheet metal was bolted behind the CP, I started adding more holes.


If it looked like swiss cheese before, well it looks like a sponge now!


With buttons and a stick in place, I can see that things are lined up okay. Except I need to file down some of the round holes so I can fit the square pegs (joystick's carriage bolts which weren't fitting right).



Also, because of some gint holes in the CP, two of the buttons are only supported by the underlying 22ga sheetmetal thus making them shorter than the others. This isn't a problem if I'm using plexi (which I plan to), but I'd kind of like to fill in that extra metal. The extra mass will make it stronger and dampen some sound when hitting those buttons


To make some pieces to fill in the gap, I slide in a blank piece of sheet metal and mark out the areas that I need to fill.



Cutting out the pieces I need



Two pieces of the filler sheet metal I need are stacked behind the button and line up level with the old CP. I was way off with my measurements and cutting, but it's close. All it really has to do is raise up the button and support the plexiglass area surrounding the button. I'may fill in the small gaps with wood filler, but then again, I may not. Once the Control Panel Overlay and plexiglass is in place, it will be impossible to tell that there's a mess under there.