Well another lesson learned the hard way.... Do NOT use Plexiglass (acrylic) for control panels. It's too brittle and very easy to crack. After spending hours and hours on our panel, framing it, painting the frame, sanding, and painting a few more times, I broke it while drilling holes in it for the LED's. Even drilling pilot holes, using several bits working up to the final size hole, the bits catch and crack the acrylic. A couple of them were very small and I could live with, but the final one was about 6" long right through the roundhouse area. Its toast!
Went and bought a sheet of Lexan after reading some stuff on the net. It cost twice as much, but is several times more durable and stronger than acrylic. I put a small sheet through a grueling test of holes and bends. Dull bits, holes right next to each other, pilot holes, no pilot holes, the whole nine yards. So I'm off to get a big sheet of Lexan tomorrow from Lowes and build the panel AGAIN!
Originally Posted by Anthony:
I will now use plexiglass and with RR track attach the track schematic to the back of the glass as you have done.
