I want to recess the control panels behind the Masonite fascia. The panels are Masonite with sheet styrene laminated on the front side. I plan to attach 1/2" x 3/4" wood strips to the front edges of the panels using contact cement and screws.
But I haven’t figured out how to attach the framed panels to the back side of the fascia without using screws driven from the front side of the fascia which I don’t want to do. Will contact cement hold to the rough back side of Masonite? Using wood glue might work but I don’t know how to hold the panels in place until the glue sets. Any ideas?
You could use woodworking clamps while the glue dries, or if you happen to have a brad nailer all you need is a couple of brads per piece to hold the wood until the glue is dry. The brad heads will barely show, and if you want them totally invisible use a nail set to drive them just below the surface and then apply a little filler and paint. They can be made to disappear completely.
I’m not sure about the wood glue. It’s generally for pieces that won’t flex much. The problem is mounting it to that flexible fascia. If it’s like most – like mine, anyway – pushing against it while working or operating will flex it. This will cuase the glue joint to fail, IMO, buit maybe worth a try.
I have one panel that’s in a curving part of the fascia, enough so I couldn’t use screws, but epoxy instead. Fortunetaly the way the framing is set kind of holds it in anywa, because I redid the epoxy 3 times before giving up and letting it just float in there.
Is the desire to avoid screws from the front cosmetic or something else? They can be countersunk ever in thin panels. And you can install some sort of edging to cover them. They certainly be more reliable than glue.
I hadn’t thought about the fascia flexing but I think you are right. Thanks for mentioning it. I’m beginning to think screws are the way to go with edging to cover the edges.
What I would do is attach the wood pieces that recess the panel to the fascia first. Use any type of glue, white glue, carpenter glue, Gorilla glue, construction adhesive. Since the panel isn’t in place yet, its eas to clamp the boards to the fascia while the glue dries.
After the standoffs are in place screw (not glue) the control panel to the wood standoff’s from the back. By just screwing the panel in place it allows you to remove it to revise the controls or track layout.
DUH! Excellent idea. Why didn’t I think of that? What do you think of the flexing concern? Should I use something like caulk rather than glue since the caulk would have some flexibility of its own?
You only want to use caulk here for cosmetic issues. It has virtually no strength. Gorilla or one of the other advanced formula glues, preferably one that promises some residual flex, might help. And don’t forget hot glue. Done right it will be plenty strong in this application unless it’s a really large control panel.
Just don’t forget about the flexing of the fascia. It’s possible you could frame in around or behind it to eliminate the flex, similar to what Dave proposed. But if you combine flex with any glue that sets hard (vs flexible) you’ll likely have a failure at some point.
Depending on the weight of your control panels, you might consider Velcro. I got a reel of it (a 3M product?) a while back and used it to attach everything to the front fascia of my last layout. Even my largest waybill box full of waybills and assorted other junk that they collect never budged. I even would store tools for short periods in it when fixing something on the layout since I didn’t want to set them on the layout. When I tore the layout down, I found removing the boxes darn near impossible. I even broke one trying to pry it loose. I don’t know how it would work in your application, but it worked well in mine. Just a thought.
I like the Velcro idea. In keeping with my desire to recess the panels, I could glue Velcro strips to the front of the panel frames and around the inside edge of the facia openings. The Velcro should be sufficiently flexible to allow for flexing of the facia. I think contact cement might be the glue of choice for attching the Velcro strips. Any other glue recommendations? (I know one can get self sticking Velcro strips but past experience tells me it would not be strong enough in this application.)
Is an excellent idea. If you still feel carpenter’d glue won’t hold to the rough/ porous backside, attach w/ Pliobond rubber cement. Do 1st coat the masonoite and let dry. This will allow the glue to seal the rough surface. Then coat both sides and clamp in place when dry/ tack to touch. Yellow glue masonite to pine strips should work fine though.
My panels aren’t attached to the fascia. They are supported by frame members attached to the benchwork joists. The fascia is only a removable cosmetic overlay - removable in panels and pieces to allow access to the electricals and mechanical linkages it conceals.
While I can understand the desire to avoid screws on the front face of the fascia I don’t agree with it. Thanks to my background in aircraft maintenance I believe that access trumps appearance. A few visible screws - or a whole lot of visible screws - are a small price to pay for easy access to potential problem areas.
If you are building for a museum or public display you might have a different opinion. So be it.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with vertical control panels)
What is your layout base made from, plywood, foam?
Could you attach angled brackets to the bottom of the layout and screws into the strips on your panel? This would be suspending it from the layout, rather than relying on he facia for support. Even if it is foam, you could attach a piece of plywood to it or run a board between two supports, then attach the brackets.
I’ve always just used the self-sticking strips from the roll. I’ve put them on hardboard, 2x4, and plexiglass. They have always held just fine as I mentioned above. I don’t remember cleaning anything but the plexiglass ahead of time and I used alcohol swabs to prep that. The wood and hardboard, I believe, had it stuck on with no prep.