I managed to get the wood for my facade and the Plexiglas has been ordered from eBay here, so the next project is now definitely underway (hence starting the build log!)
I bought some reasonable looking 2x4 (yeah, I know!) from B&Q. The reason why I chose 2x4 was cost
combined with the fact that I could inspect every plank of wood. The packs of planed wood were all sealed up in the shop and they looked just a little warped, which would have caused me headaches when building a supposedly flat DJ Facade! The plan was to saw each 2x4 in 2, in order to give me some 2x2(ish)s. I tried making a jig to chop the wood, but due to my lack of patience, I didn't quite get the cutline right. It was only a mm off, but that meant that one bit was +1mm and the other was -1mm, resulting in a 2mm difference
I therefore created another jig to flush trim these irregular sized bits. Firstly I attached a few of the offcut blocks of wood (=same thickness) at a set distance (43mm) from a straight edge (pic #1). Then I could flip it up the other way, and put the block of wood to be flush trimmed to 43mm wide in the gap (where my thumb was in the first pic). I was then free to flush trim my wood to a nice regular size (2nd pic):
FYI: The green edged bit of ply is my straight edge and I'm using a flush trim bit with the bearing at the top of the bit.
After rounding over the edges of all bits of wood with a R6.35mm bit, I then moved on to how to cut the groove for the Plexiglas. After much messing around and thinking of using the saw sled, I wasn't happy that it would be accurate enough. However having the saw sled set up gave me the idea of making a jig with saw table properties - like an upside down saw table. If I clamped down the saw and ran the wood through it, I could get that accurate cut that I was after. I think a video may explain it better.
And yeah, I kept calling the saw a drill
The key to all of this was to get the wood running along a track from which it couldn't deviate... normally this would be done with a fence and holding the wood with hands or a push stick. As my access prevented me from holding the wood the whole while, I just used lots of offcuts in order to hold the wood in a set place as it ran through the saw.
For the eagle eyed among you, you may notice that I am feeding in the wood round the wrong way (this was when I was doing a 2nd, deeper pass).. I therefore ended up with 2 grooves on the bit of wood in the vid!! My concentration was on shooting a (bad) video to show you what I had done! I should have been concentrating on my (bad) woodworking instead
After cutting the groove, it seems to be somewhere about 2mm wide, but the Plexiglas is 3mm wide. I was going to move the saw over by a mm, and pass all the bits of wood through the jig again to make the 3mm groove required. However, I decided that it would be best to have the Plexiglas in hand before I attempt this for the very same reason why you should have driver in hand before making a baffle
After the Plexiglas groove cut, I will be making a 45° cut which will join up with the plexiglass cut about 2/3rds the way down the cut. This is where I will be mounting my LEDs as they only have 120° dispersion - i.e. 60° each way. If I pointed them straight down, I think a lot of light would not hit the acrylic and the light wouldn't get to the edge of the Plexiglas. This way I think there should be a nice bright spot on the edge, fading toward the centre - I will test this when I have the Plexiglas to be 100% certain.
I may well use black vinyl or even card to stick on silhouettes onto the rear of the facade. I am not sure if it will show through to the front with the LEDs however. I was also thinking of routing my 'speaker' logo very shallow on the front of the Plexiglas. I have not even a mm of the stuff spare so I cannot test to see how well it would take a route - as such, it probably won't get done! If I was edge lighting the Plexiglas, a routed logo would look amazing. I am unsure how much the light from the LEDs will internally reflect, which would be required to get the glowing logo effect. All this talk of internal reflection reminds me of the FTIR (frustrated total internal reflection) see-through touchscreens. When I first saw one of these I couldn't quite make one, but now I have all the woodworking skills I need
This is what I am on about:
To make one of these all you need are strips of IR LEDs, Plexiglas, a projector (ideally short throw), a webcam and a PC/laptop to control it all. Despite this they retail for about $5000 (a markup similar to DJ Facades!) It really could be an ideal project for someone on here, so I thought I should share it amongst you guys... I'd love to see a build thread of one of these (hopefully MY build thread at some point!). If you want more info search for "FTIR touchscreen". Having one of these for 'posh' gigs like weddings or corporate gigs would look very, very impressive.
Sorry for derail there, hope it helps/inspires someone
Meanwhile...
After running through all this jig making today, I can really see the advantage of a saw table!! I could have had the planks of wood chopped up to an exact size and all the grooves cut in under an hour I reckon. As it is, it has taken me a whole day to get to this point. I would buy one tomorrow if I could, but as ever it comes down to £$€¥. It sucks being unemployed... I think I'd better get another IT contracting job so I can buy me some new toys! 6 weeks off has been great fun, but as I am now running out of money fast, it is quickly becoming not fun! I've got another pair of Otops to build yet (and the 5th and 6th T30, and that touchscreen etc etc etc
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Good on you for starting your facade build! I'm about to post some pics of my progress. I can tell you that I'm already sort of wishing I went with plexi. My center section is roughly 40" square; that is a lot of exposed fabric. If I don't fab up some kind of "carrying case" for it soon, I can see the fabric getting ripped and/or dirty. It DOES look pretty nifty in it's new, prisitine-white state, however. 
I didn't realise that PSUs also have a -12V and the LED was 12V, so I got it coming on with the full brightness that it should do! 
The PSU must be one that I have pulled from a PC, but it is obviously on it's way out. I will have to swap it for another one!