| Project by Kaytrim | posted 305 days ago | 1302 views | 2 times favorited | 10 comments |  |
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I was lucky enough to get this beautiful wood from a fellow member of WoodNet.net. All the boards were 1/4″ thick and about 3″ wide. Two of the 6 boards were a near perfect grain match. I decided to use this match to make the top of the case. Because of the narrowness of the boards this also determined the depth of the case.
I wanted this case to be one of my full custom hardwood case. Each control in the case gets some form of the main wood from the case. To that end I took one of the small cuttoffs from the case sides and passed it through my bandsaw for veneers. I had just loaded my bandsaw with a new blade as wide as it could handle and tuned it up for the blade. Surprisingly I was able to get 3 veneers out of the 1/4″ thick piece. After some sanding and a few coats of polyurathane they were ready to be cut and inserted into the buttons.
Thanks to another member of WoodNet.net I was able to procure a small turning block to match the rest of the case. This I had planed on using to make a normal sized ball top. However due to one dimension being just a tad small and a slight misalignment of the center I ended up with a small balltop. This top is 30mm instead of the standard 35mm. With the size and scale of the case I think that this was a happy mistake. As you can see I also make a Bubinga dust cover to match. Because the top panel was only 1/4″ thick I decided to show the mounting screws and choose solid brass.
The corner blocks needed to be just as nice as the main wood. I also wanted it to contrast to give the case some character. I went to my small but growing stash of special lumber. What caught my attention was some Curly Spalted Maple. After carefully choosing the section of the Maple board I cut out the corner blocks. With even more care I laid out and cut the case corners and glued these 3/4″ square blanks into the resulting spaces.
One final detail is the bottom panel. The Bubinga was so beautiful from both sides I wanted to show it off. I had sanded and polished both sides of the panel prior to assembly. Then drilled the holes for the controls. After the finish coat of polyurathane was applied and dried I installed a clear plexiglas bottom panel.
-- Computer programmer by day, fine woodworker by night. Custom made joysticks for Console Systems and Personal Computers.
10 comments so far
alanealane
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174 posts in 782 days
posted 304 days ago
My Man Kaytrim!!
Let me be the first to say WOW!
Congrats on finding such sweet bubinga.
...and how on earth did you get three slices from a 1/4” thick board? That’s amazing.
Keep it up! Let me know if you need more bubinga like this. Got a few nice pieces on the rack…
Take care!
-- Lane Custom Guitars and Basses
Kaytrim
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56 posts in 467 days
posted 304 days ago
I am always on the lookout for Luthier quality material. Shoot me an email or PM and we can discuss further. That is the type of wood I love to work with because of the end result as this piece shows. The resaw was a small piece about 3” x 5”. I went free hand and supper slow. My little 9” bandsaw was setup perfect it also helped that bubinga is so hard.
-- Computer programmer by day, fine woodworker by night. Custom made joysticks for Console Systems and Personal Computers.
WispWoods
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41 posts in 318 days
posted 304 days ago
Great work Kaytrim!
What brand was the blade you were using?
Is the small control board a custom design, or is that an off the shelf part?
-- - You begin thinking less, and feeling more.
Douglas Bordner
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3424 posts in 956 days
posted 304 days ago
One of a kind and beautiful!
-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.
Kaytrim
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56 posts in 467 days
posted 304 days ago
WispWoods, I don’t remember the brand of the blade it was one I picked up at my local Menards. IIRC the blade was a 3/8” with 4tpi. After sanding with my ROS the resulting veneer was less than 1/16” thick. I still have one of the flitches. The control board is available at LizardLick.com for $40 assembled or as a kit for slightly less.
-- Computer programmer by day, fine woodworker by night. Custom made joysticks for Console Systems and Personal Computers.
DannyBoy
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442 posts in 757 days
posted 304 days ago
Nice!
-- He said wood...http://hickbyassociation.blogspot.com/
ShannonRogers
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370 posts in 680 days
posted 304 days ago
Great job. I have been waiting to see how this one would come out.
-- Check out my blog and podcast "The Renaissance Woodworker" at www.rogersfinewoodworking.com/blog
savannah505
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978 posts in 478 days
posted 303 days ago
Okay, it’s very nice looking, now, what the hell is it for???!!!!!!!! My buddy and I are looking at this wondering what it’s supposed to go to.
-- Dan Wiggins
Kaytrim
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56 posts in 467 days
posted 303 days ago
Dan,
This joystick is made to connect to a personal computer or a Playstation 3 console system. There are professional gamers that play fighting games like Street Fighter in tournaments across the world. They are my customers. Here is a post in my blog that goes into a little more detail. I was also a guest on The Sawdust Cronicles and go into quite a bit of detail about these and other topics.
Thank you for your question as I am sure that there are others who are asking themselves the same thing.
Michael
-- Computer programmer by day, fine woodworker by night. Custom made joysticks for Console Systems and Personal Computers.
getneds
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146 posts in 248 days
posted 165 days ago
i’m a gamer and never even considered this. Thats an awesome job, possibly a project in the future. Love the wood also one of my favs. Keep plugging, stuff looks great.
-- Woodshop supplies at bulk discounts. www.getneds.com