Re: Cabinet ideas sought-First post!(long)
1999-09-14 by T.J.
> I recently got two pair of 21U rack rails as I plan to move my growing MOTM > in to a Moog 35 style cabinet. I'm not sure whether I'll go fine wood or > plywood/Tolex. This will probably take me several weeks to plan and build, > but I thought I'd ask for general comments from those who have already built > your own cabinets -- basic things you've learned now that you've done it, as > well as a few specific questions: Hi everybody, I built my synth cabinet out of "Black Walnut", and I have a few small pics if anyone is interested in viewing them. My project is more than 50% done, so it is starting to look like a real synthesizer. I found my wood vendor in a local flea market type mart. He had found an old walnut tree in someone's barn, and was planing on buying it if enough people wanted some. Told him what I needed, gave him the dimensions, and in about two weeks he had my wood ready, cut to size. Charged me only $50.00. Cool! Here's a pic of the awesome walnut he sold me. http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Frontrow/4877/minimod2.jpg I wanted to build this Minimoog style and chose 3/4" plywood for the bottom, painted black with 45 deg. angles on the sides. The walnut shape is Moog Modular like, 6" deep at the top, sloping to 10" at the bottom. And 27-1/4" wide (same width as a Minimoog). About 28" high and 1/2' thick throughout. A cool feature I added was a 2 1/2" valance panel in the front, so a keyboard placed in front of the unit would not block any modules.Two pieces 3" x 27-1/4" are used as dividers to hold the modules. For the back I used a piece of 1/4" Birch plywood I'll stain and finish in walnut. All of the pieces are held together with wood glue and angle brackets screwed in from the inside.Here a pic where you can see the brackets. http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Frontrow/4877/minimod4.jpg (looks nice with that Moog 950 under it) To mount the modules I used 3/32" aluminum 2" x 27-1/4" strips. Then I bent them 90 deg. at 1/2" in to make an "L" . On the 1/2" surface I drilled holes where the modules would go, then placed "tinnerman"(sp?) clips for 6-32 screws. (Saw these on the back panel of a Minimoog). I purchased a 1 lb.bag of black 6-32 screws at a surplus store for a buck. Then added black nylon #6 washers so the screws wouldn't scratch the panels. Also painted the 1/2"part black. These strips were then drilled and screwed into the wood. If you look close at the blank spaces in this pic you can see the aluminum strips. http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Frontrow/4877/minimod8.jpg (how do you guys spell alternative controller?) OK,so I cheated and threw a Minimoog in the top, a few patch-points for the Mini in the center. I did leave enough room for 7 double width MOTM modules, and few odd sized custom modules.(have 5 MOTM's and growing) So what do you call this thing? A Mini-MOTM? http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Frontrow/4877/minimod7.jpg The cabinet seems strong enough, and the modules help reinforce the structure.( a back panel is critical ) As far as going on the road, I'll have to build or buy a flight case for that. Anyhow I hope this helped someone trying to do the same. Nothing looks as good as fine wood. And I believe an instrument should look as good as it sounds. My $0.02. Hope everyone that wanted to was able to download the pics. Someday I'll put them on a page or something. Terry Ok,one more. http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Frontrow/4877/minimod6.jpg