Got busy today and after doing a good cleaning on the big Whit I decided to get the new panel mounted to the stove. The relays and timers are still a couple weeks out, but getting the side of the stove drilled so the new bracket and controller could mount. With the side panel open for cleaning it was a snap to locate and drill/tap the two mounting holes in the RH side of the stove. The bolts thread in from the inside and tighten up, then the bracket slips on and is held by two wing nuts. The angle of the panel came out real good, plus the side panel can be opened without stuff hitting the wall. Looks so INDUSTRIAL The plan at present is to leave the factory controller in the unit and just unplug and mark all the original wires. Basically abandon in place. If the factory control should ever be needed it would be there. I will just close the original panel door and all is good. Ah yessss, just a lazy Sunday afternoon.
The enclosure is very light being aluminum and the "waffle plate" bracket weighs maybe 1/3 of a pound "maybe" The tread plate is aluminum also and only 3/16 thick. Decided to go with the alloy so It did not need to be painted. Very light weight actually, just bulky due to the need for a bunch of room inside the box for all the goodies that need to fit.
Having been married to a structural welder, I always think of plating as being at least 1/2" thick - which is like a ton per sq/inch (20+ pounds per sq/ft anyway ). Don't know where I came up with "waffle" plating - I know it's Diamond plating . Not enough yesterday morning apparently
Ahhhhhhh yesssssssssssssss. Caffeine, America's DRUG OF CHOICE Diamond plate (Also known as TREAD plate) is available in Steel, Aluminum and even Plastic. Also available in a wide variety of thicknesses too. When designing the mounting bracket I started with a sheet of cardboard and made several "mock ups" to get the size and shape just right I wanted a slight angle away from the stove to allow the original control panel door to open and close and to tip the new panel slightly rearward at the top to make viewing and access as "Ergonomic" as possible. The entire assembly needed to be stable and not wiggle around or pick up vibrations from the room air fan and possibly cause noise to be transferred and or amplified. Looks, ahhhh well that's another story. There is a metric buttload of stuff gotta go in the box. Six 2 x 2 x 1 inch cube relays/timers/controllers plus several terminal strips and a lot of wiring. Not to mention, it's nice to have room to work and be able to access stuff if need be. Amazing what can be stuffed onto a printed circuit board, Sadly though, once a component fails, the board is junk. With this box, every component can be replaced, and quickly. Sits sipping coffee and watching the side of the stove sag from the weight of the massive control box
