HIC Help

Hi, i've finally started work on the frame & sides of my HIC. I've had the front panel sitting around for years, but never got round to it. I've got a couple of questions i'm hoping someone can help me with.

I've got the blueprints from the HIC group, & am about ready to cut out the holes for the side panels. I've got the long edges of each side panel marked out, with the appropriate rounded corners, but i can't work out what shape the short sides of each hole is meant to be. In the pictures i've seen and on the blueprints, it seems to be slightly curved, but i can't find out how much of a curve it's meant to be. i don't want to get it wrong so that when i eventually get side panels they don't fit properley. Anyone know what shape they should be?

Can anyone suggest somewhere/someone I can get some side panels from? Having not bought anything from anyone on RPF before i'm not sure of reputation & quality. Also, what sort of price is reasonable for a set of side panels, possibly with greeblies etc. I'd rather not have to do too much work to clean up rough castings, but also don't really have a lot of money so can't go crazy.

Lastly, I got the front panel cheap as it was slightly warped. It's apparently 'cold-cast' aluminium. The edges of the panel are all flat & straight, but the flat strip, round the edges, bows upwards a bit towards the middle of the casting. I suppose i can live with it if i have to, but wonder if anyone has any suggestions. Can this stuff be heated up with a heat gun & straightened out?

Any help or suggestions anyone can give are really appreciated.

Al

I did this to help the warped edges of my front panel.

HIC Tutorial

As for the shape pf the size holes, trace whatever control panels that you have.

I saw that one member here cut his control panels out of MDF. He actually had them carved out on a CNC machine. I would love to have those CNC files myself. I'm willing to pay or trade for them. They were not 100% accurate, but I thought they were outstanding and more than good enough for me and any other casual observer. I started a thread specifically looking for them and hoping somebody might chime in, but I haven't had much luck getting a response so far. I'm keeping an eye on it and hope somebody will eventually post something.

I'm also hoping to see what responses you get for control panel options. I'd love to know what else is out there and what the price ranges are. Good luck!

There's been several runs of panels done over the last couple of years, both here and on the yahoo group. You may want to post a WTB on both boards if you haven't already.

As for the CNC, I'm fairly certain we used the same blueprints available at the HICBuilders group (see below for a link).

Thanks CE. I feel pretty stupid because I've looked all over the HCBuilders group, but I haven't been able to find the blueprints for the control panels. I've found the blueprints for the box itself, and that's going to be a great resource, but I'm having difficulty finding blueprints for the control panels. Am I just blind?