Continued the test fit of the brewery controller today. Learned some lessons. Making is problem solving right?
First the good. The laser engraved copper looks amazing, and the layer of copper adhered to translucent blue acrylic worked exactly as I planned.
And, most of the parts fit as expected.
But, some things didn’t go as well….
Unfortunately, the bracket for the main circuit breaker didn't fit in the cutout (which matched the website's description.)
I tried to Dremel out the hole, but that ended up chipping the acrylic and looked pretty bad. And finally, as I tried to push the circuit breaker in, the entire front panel snapped!
In addition, some of the 110V outlets didn't quite fit in the holes I cut. That might still be fixable with the Dremel.
So, lessons learned:
1) Buy all of the equipment and measure it myself before sending files out to get laser cut.
2) Maybe do test-fit cuts with a cheaper material before getting the real thing.
3) As cool as the copper-adhesive on acrylic looks, I think I need something stronger. Plus, the copper was a finger print magnet. Also the adhesive was very strong... when I first touched it to the blue acrylic, it wasn't movable again. Lots of room for error.
Next steps....
I'm going to get the front panel laser cut again.
But this time I think I'm just going to do it in metal. I haven't decided if it will be aluminum or stainless steel yet.
I'm a little worried that the engraving won't be as visible, but I can maybe use some ink to highlight it.
I can still do the fun cutout thing, just by attaching some blue acrylic behind the letters.
So, learning opportunity, and getting closer!
Nate Martin