Angled Engine Control Enclosure

[BAD ORCA]

I do have a router, radial arm saw and table saw along with the skills to fabricate something like this. As I see it, there would only be four pieces, a front flange, 2 sides, and the back (which would have 2 horizontal heat bends forming a shallow bottom and a deeper top). What would you recommend for an adhesive to join the pieces together?

It depends how you make it. If you have a strip heater or can make two sharp linear bends then it would be three pieces (see drawing). A trapezoid shaped back piece, a top for it and the flange. If you cant do the heatbend then you could cut the sides as separate pieces and glue them on. In this case it would be four pieces plus the flange.

A router with a flush trim bit works great for cutting this. We use the cheapo Diablo flush trim bits from Home Depot. Perfectly good flush trim bits for cutting plexi. For table saw or radial arm saw use a straight set blade, not offset. I would make a control panel like this from 1/4" cell cast plexi.

For home DIY gluing, Weld-On #3 would be sufficient applied with a hypodermic needle. I would probably caulk the back of the glue joints as well with Sikaflex or something similar to get it water tight if thats important. Hard to get watertight glue joints with retail solvents.

For the flange, just route out the center and glue it on as one solid piece. A large flat sanding pad with 60 grit sandpaper will be necessary to flatten the edges of the front surface before gluing on the flange if you cant cut the sharp angles. You want as much edge/surface contact as possible before gluing.

Its not hard to make, afternoon job. Standard hole saws or a router and hole templates will cut holes for gauges.