The Monitor Panel - Before Lunch!

For those of you who have been following the story, I started this blog retrospectively (as in, I wrote about stuff I'd already done) and now we've caught up - we're in real-time, baby, yeah!

This morning I started work on the monitor panel. I want this panel to be thicker than the rest (all the other panels are 9mm) so I want at least 12mm, as I will rout a recess in the rear of the panel so that the monitor will fit snug. Also, as it's near the end of January, and the last payday was a long time ago, I have purchased some Chipboard (£4 for a board of 1200mm (4') x 600mm (2')) as opposed to MDF (£8 for the same size) - the finished panel will be painted and under perspex, so it's unlikely anyone will notice the difference, plus it's similar to work with, although rougher in finish - some careful sanding with fine paper should make all of this viable.

The Process:

1. Make a template of the monitor - my template is in thick foam (it's just what was closest at hand at the time - nothing particularly special about the foam - could easily have been stiff card) - crucially cut out a small hole at the center of the template, and mark on the bezel dimensions of the monitor.
   


2. Cut the 4'x2' Chipboard panel to 2'x2' -


3. Draw lines from corner to opposite corner - - the position where these lines cross is the center of the panel


4. Lay the template on top of the panel and line up the hole in the center of the template with the position where the two diagonal lines cross (apologies for the blue rubber gloves - very messy in the garage now) - - ensure the template is square in the center, by measuring the distance from each corner to the nearest diagonal line - this process ensures the monitor will be in exactly the center of the panel - YOU MAY NOT WANT THIS - you might like your monitor a little higher or lower in the panel - this is your choice.


5. Draw around the template and using the dimensions for the bezel jotted on each edge of the template, mark out the position of the - actual screen area in the monitor - - The inner square will be cut away to show the screen, and a recess will be made using a router in the area marked as the outer square - once finished, the monitor will be recessed a few millimeters into the panel so that it doesn't move around - this recess will not be deep enough to hold the monitor in the panel, just for positioning -


6. Cut out the inner square with a jigsaw - a steady hand helps, as you need nice straight edges to mirror the nice straight edges on the screen of your monitor -


7. Take your trusty router (mine is more senile than trusty due to it's age) set the depth to approximately half the thickness of board, and rout the outer square from the panel - you don't need to be too careful as freehand router-ing is a similar process to trying to bath a cat - a "close enough" approach will do here - you can always pad the routed area with tape if needed when installing the monitor - I intend to regardless of the fit so that the monitor isn't damaged by contact with the wood and should still be worth something on eBay one day -


8. I applied some masking tape to the "bezel" (routed area) and took it upstairs for a quick trial with the monitor - fits first time and like a snug glove - very, very happy! -


9. Back to the garage, and drop the panel (minus the monitor) into the cabinet for a glimpse of the future -


10. A quick sand, a coat of MDF Primer (I have no Chipboard primer, and don't know if such a thing exists) and fingers crossed that the MDF primer does what I want it to do (seal and prime) on Chipboard.

By popping the perspex on the top of the panel - - and going close up with a rule - - I can show you the process I tried to describe in earlier postings, that I am making the "bridging" panels (monitor, control, etc.) slightly recessed in respect of the side walls (the closeup shows ~5mm) so that a final stage will be to use a flush-trimming bit in the router and bring the sides in to fit the panels, rather than make the panels fit the sides - should work.

Anyhoo, like I said at the start of this posting, we're in real-time now, I'm hungry and the primer needs 2 hours before I can sand and paint, so time for some Super Noodles and I'll catch the lunchtime news.