Wiardgroup

Hi Tom/Seth
   i was tickled to see the red transparent VCS. The yellow legends
were a great cosmetic choice. As to plexiglass Wiards... (and i'm
vying for the title of 'Most egregious double-standard of the year'
here) ... i really think it would be a bad idea. 
i use plexiglass in my DIY work for several reasons, and all of them
are compromises. (in order of priority)

-i have access (via a friend) to piles of FREE scrap from her
production runs. Plus, she uses a special class of plexiglass that
drastically mitigates it's rather unsuitable tendency to foster static
charges.

-i'm horribly inept at metal fabrication and i have no appropriate
tools for it either. i do have decent tools for plexiglass (a
'prosumer'-grade dremel will do 85% of the tasks) and i can fabricate
a custom frac-size panel in about 30 minutes. Cutting, Drilling and
shaping is easy, but joining (properly) is a nightmare, requiring
nasty chemicals and very specialized jigs and tools.

-even with its static resistant properties , it insulates and
sometimes i squeeze things in a bit too tightly. The fact that a PCB
can bump up to a panel without shorting out has saved my bacon in more
than a few instances.

-when i build a one-off gadget i usually just put the indicator LED's
on the PCB. Later when(if) the PCB gets promoted to the 'big show' and
merits a panel. It makes my life simpler to use a panel through which
i can simply see the already PCB-mounted LEDs. i don't have to
relocate them. Sometimes this saves quite a bit of panel space too,
because the light  be observed between (even sometimes BEHIND) panel
controls. It allows me to exploit 3 dimensions in my panel layouts.

All of these traits would just make life harder for Grant.

The pro's of plexiglass don't really do him any good in a production
design environment and the con's would just eat his lunch , quality
wise...

At the dimensions of the 300 series, if he used standard 1/8" stock,
it would bend so much that he'd have to add rails to stiffen it or, if
he used stiffer, more robust, 1/4" stock, he'd have to take-on the
hassle of countersinking panel controls with a router.
 Plexiglas is fragile...believe me! My rig is a hothouse flower and
95% of my modules will never leave the studio. One or two small panels
in rack of aluminum are what i consider an 'acceptable risk' for a
rack that actually travels. 
 If you try to customize Plexiglass with a garden-variety drill (with
low RPM and high torque for chewing through wood), you're almost
guaranteed to shatter it. 
At the end of the day, i have a lot of DIY fun with plexiglass but
those experiences have convinced me that it's anything but a sane
choice for a professional production instrument. By that standard i'm
content to declare my stuff: Toys!
;'>

a Wiard is most definitely NOT a toy!
...and that makes it even MORE fun!

-doc




--- In wiardgroup@yahoogroups.com, "Tommy DOG" <mrsvomit@...> wrote:
>
> I can now safely say that I could totally see Wiard in clear blue
> plexi...  Infact I think it would be really great looking.
> 
> Maybe the 1200 in green.
> 
> TD
> 
> --- In wiardgroup@yahoogroups.com, "denshiblocks" <denshiblocks@>
> wrote:
> >
> > 
> > Ebay item number: 280163594663
> > 
> > a little plexi frac module.  sorry to spam your list grant, but i
> > thought at least dr. mabuse might enjoying seeing it ^_^  
> > 
> > someday when i have a bit more loot and time i would like to fill a
> > red pelican case with red plexi modules (using red banana cables)! 
> > yeowzers!
> > 
> > take care all
> > seth
> >
>