Alright I think it's time for an update, so this one I have had progress on for the last 3 weeks but been keeping it under the table until I got a little more results to show.
My custom Aluminum switch panel! Yes I have been thinking this over for a long time, I want to take the center console next to the shift (on the automatic) it has that little cubby hole that no one can ever seem to find a use for... I decided originally to put a 6 or 7 switch panel length wise... Which would look good but I have seen someone do it before and I wanted to instead make something completely unique and more complicated of course. So I figured out I could fit 9 switches! Yep that's a lot right?? Well first things first, you could just cut the plastic and lay them in there but it's going to look like crap and leave gaps all over... So I planned on making a level surface mount the switch panels from OTRATTW's in.
I started off by taping off the piece I plan to work on and drawing the panel dimensions in...
I knew to do it right I was going to have to buy a big chunk of aluminum to mill... And well McMaster Carr made it worth it, I bought this piece of L12" x W5" x H3/4" for $24.00
Next I secured 3x of the switch mounting panels from OTRATTW's website
There isn't going to be much of an edge mount to work on so I will have to narrow it down quite a bit
Draw it out, and plan mounting.
Then it was a matter of test fitting!
The inside will be hollowed out to make working on the curved edge much easier
The first step was to cut the length to the correct proportion which I used a metal cutting saw for, the second step was to hollow out the underside which we begin using my dad's new mill for!
It is manual control not cnc, but we plan to later on to add computer operated controls. All the cuts had to be done the hard way which meant learning how to use it.
It took me quite a while to get this far just going a little at a time... layer by layer
Unfortunately I made a few bad cuts, but this was just a rough cut and will be cleaned up later
Remember this is 3/4" thick so I had to cut away quite a bit and left about 1/8" of width between top and hollowed inside
Next step flip it over and drill holes for the corner
There was a lot of cutting then re-positioning and making sure everything stayed square, unfortunately again I made a bad cut notice the bottom right... But luckily it will be covered up by the panel
I didn't want any sharp corners cutting my hand as I reach for the switch so I tried my dad's curved mill end, it's not very big so I kind of cut a little too deep and now I have this ridge but the whole thing is getting sanded and filed so I will smooth it out in the end
Test fitting the switch panel
I also fixed the inside by really taking my time and cleaning up the edges
So finally I have to curve the whole piece to match the curve of the center console, to find this angle I wrapped a pencil with tape to get the desired height and ran it a long the edge of the plastic
It's exciting to make it happen!
I used a file and rasp to get this far!
Test fitting again...
Sorry no pictures of it on the piece with the curve yet, I ran out of time... But to show you how much aluminum I really removed!
So next if your wondering what switches I am going to use I will have an Air Compressor, Front Locker, Rear Locker on one panel. Second panel is Bumper Light Bar, Roof Light Bar, Backup Light Bar. And last panel will be Side Lights, Undercarriage Lights and last will be a Kill Switch (to kill power to all the Lights at the same time, that way when I see an oncoming vehicle on the trail I don't have to flip each individual switch I just hit one to turn it off).
If anyone wants to see another picture at a certain angle or something just let me know I have lots of them!