HELP - Putting it together - front panel woes!

[drunton]

So after nearly a year of putting these things together, I now have 2 A12's, 2 N72's, 2 J99's, and 2 A12-bastards with Forssell JFET opamps, Yamaha input Tranny and older steel core Jensen output.

They all work - and sound fantastic! but, I have never put the front panel on my CH01.

Since all 8 are done, I want to put it together and am having problems. The threads for the pots/Grayhill switches are binding on the front panel. I even took one card out of the chassis to make sure it wasn't the combination of 8 and alignment issues.

I even had to "screw in" the power switch, because it had the same binding problem.

Anyone else have this issue?

What is the suggested fix - open up the holes with x-acto to get rid of paint overspray or the next bigger drill bit (recommended sizes)? I really don't want to screw up the screen printing.

Suggestions are welcome, umm... needed! It's time to make this thing pretty rather than just sitting in the rack...

[tele_player]

It's just paint buildup in the holes, the holes are correctly drilled in the metal. I carefully ran through them with the first drill bit that wouldn't slip in easily.

[Category 5]

You don't have to worry about scratching up the units. The powder coat is pretty durable. I used an X-Acto with very little efort. tele used a drill and neither of us messed up the front panel.

Good luck and enjoy. Keep in mind once you rack it your beautiful work will al be covered up. No more admiring the PCBs.

...and your friends will never believe you built it.

Shane