So, I got my custom cut acrylic piece today in the mail. Cost was $32 which included shipping. The place used was http://www.pololu.com. Create an account, free, and then click the link on the left that says Custom Laser Cuts. The piece was in my hands in two days and I chose the cheapest options which were 5 days to process and then ship! Nice. It came bubble wrapped and in an official US mail priority mail box. Very well protected for shipping.
The file you’ll need to upload I’ve hosted at:
http://www.zshare.net/download/56586519657675bb/
If there are problems with downloading the file, let me know of a better place to host it.
Now for my review. It came EXACTLY as ordered. Which is great. The only problem I have is that I ordered it at 1/16th" thick. That’s 1/16th of an inch thick. This is about twice as thick as the standard art on the stick. Not the metal plate, just the artwork layer.
That being said, it sits taller than the outer plastic red trim/bezel that runs around the artwork. You can feel it with you fingers that it is not flush (even) with the height of the bezel. This may be considered minor. Depends on you.
The ideal way would be to have a piece cut that is 1/32" thick. That is half the thickness of the 1/16th. However, this place online does not offer 1/32.
The great part about an acrylic cover is that is is not tied to any piece of art work. So, you could print out at Kinkos or where ever all day on just regular paper, or at least not laminated, and come home and switch it out and still have a nice hard, clear top.
I’m very pleased, but the 1/32" thickness would have been nice. EDIT I don’t think acrylic comes in 1/32" thickness. It would be to flimsy to work with. Could be wrong. I think at that thickness lamination and other options are the route to go. I’m still investigating online though.
MODS: Some people have asked if the layout could be changed to 6 buttons by deleting the holes for the last two; yes that can be done. Can the cutout over the turbos be deleted? Yes, but there is a slight plastic ridge around the turbos that is part of the black plastic housing that they sit in…so the acrylic wouldn’t naturally sit flat over them. I suspect that once the screw are in there really wouldn’t be much of a ‘bump’ but that is for you to decide. You would also lose access to the Home button…so…you’d have to handle all that through a separate controller when playing.
P.S. The brown paper on it that you see simply peels off when you’re ready to apply it. I haven’t printed up artwork yet, so I’m leaving it on to prevent it from getting scratches and such.
I’ll take more photos this weekend when I get a printout of something to put underneath it. I’ll peel off the brown wrapping and put it on my stick to show everyone.
