23. Model railroad control panels pt 2, Creating the graphic overlay and initial build

[@ThisWorks4Me]

Great video Larry. Your punches remind my of something from my work, Trephine bone biopsy needles. Funny how we can repurpose tools to model railroading. Also, it's a good idea to wipe off excess yellow carpenters glue with a wet paper towel. The glue is water soluble. Stain doesn't adhere well to to glue. By wiping off with the wet towel, no problems with your finish.

[@MRR_Shadowolf]

Enjoying this series immensely. I have seen some videos of folks and their layouts and they order the panels from other sources, albeit not cheap. This seems like something I can even do! Thanks for sharing this!

[@flyboy2610]

I have found it a good idea to wear rubber gloves when working with 3M-77. That stuff sticks to EVERYTHING!

[@TheDCCGuy]

Yes, and the overspray forms a nice coating on the hairs of your arms so wear long sleeves!

[@mikeruzicka5669]

Thank you for these videos about making control panel. I have a suggestion for marking the location of the holes. Before punching out the holes in the overlay, tape the overlay to the hardboard, then mark the center of each hole with a center punch & hammer. This method makes it easier to keep the pushbuttons & LEDs centered to the overlay.

[@TheDCCGuy]

I’ll give that approach a try on my next control panel, thanks.

[@skyjim777]

A couple of different approaches. Take a piece of board that’s larger and go ahead and stick the face to it. Use a fine tooth saw to cut close to the edge but not on it. Use a belt sander to sand the rest off with a fine grit. Something like at least a 220 or higher. Then gently and slowly drill the holes. Now, it might muck your face up some as you drill but the front edge that holds the switch in place will cover that up. The advantages to all of this is you don’t need a punch and you don’t have to worry about trying to get your face to line up with predrilled holes. If you are concerned with the face tearing by the drill bit, use a hobby knife to remove the part of the face where the hole is.

[@danvollmer6459]

To minimize the tare-out on the back of the hardboard when you are drilling you can set a piece of scrap wood underneath the hardboard as you drill. The helps support the hardboard so it minimizes tare-out. Love your videos.

[@TractorMonkeywithJL]

Good job. I would recommend drilling with the panel laying flat on a sacrificial piece of plywood. That prevents tear out on the back side of the panel.

[@TheDCCGuy]

Yep, if you look at the piece of plywood I use for my video workbench you will see lots of sacrifice holes left over from drilling.

[@TractorMonkeywithJL]

@@TheDCCGuy I'm copying your idea to make a panel to switch off power to sections of my layout.

[@TheDCCGuy]

Great idea, it can make trouble shooting and working on the layout a lot easier.

[@mikeruzicka5669]

@@TheDCCGuy If you have a piece of scrap that fits within the "frame" on the back of the panel, so the sacrificial piece is directly against the hardboard, it will greatly reduce tear out.

[@TractorMonkeywithJL]

For your viewers reading the comments, I found a hollow punch set at my local Harbor Freight store for making holes. The set my store had is a 6 piece ranging from 3/16 up to 1/2 inch. They carry a 9 piece but didn't have one in the store. Just tried it and it worked well.

[@TheDCCGuy]

Great tip, I may run down to my local store and pick up a set for future use, my old ones are getting a bit dull and beat up.

[@thomasgrassi8817]

Great Tip was trying to figure out where to get something like this I just ordered to Hollow punch set from Harbor Freight Online Thanks for the help

[@randybusse1206]

Hi Larry, enjoying your videos greatly. I seem to be having trouble getting my polarity to witch. Not understanding how the current flows against the diode to change the polarity. I have everything matched to your vidio.

[@TheDCCGuy]

Electrons only flow in one direction through a diode. Wire them in opposite orientation and only one will light at a time. Experiment with how you connect them and you’ll see.

[@scottpandorf8768]

Hi Larry, thanks for putting this together. One thing, you talk about the software for designing your diagram but never tell us what you use.

[@TheDCCGuy]

Scott, I used a very old copy of Adobe Illustrator I picked up off eBay several years ago. But as I said just about any drawing program should work for you.

[@johnwinstanley9538]

Get a manly hammer or brad nailer