I have wanted to work on my cab all week long. I was getting very good at cutting measurements that were actually the measurements that they were supposed to be. Somehow that changed during the week. I was probably way too tired to be working tonight. I just could not get a cut that was 25.5 in wide. With this particular cut, you can only make this mistake a couple of times before you’ve blown a whole sheet of MDF. I can repurpose these pieces for the pieces that need to be just a straight 25 inches. For me, it was the frustration of trying, and trying, and trying, and just kept cutting it wrong. I finally got a piece to the right size. Yay!!! Well sort of.

You see, I have a habit of wanting to see how things I make are going to look. I just had to see it. I put the sides, top and base together. Remember that it is channeled, with angles, so there is some natural strength without any glue or screws. I had assembled it on its side. I then got the harebrained idea of wanting to see it standing upright so I could see it at full height. I really do not know what I was thinking. I started to lift it up from the top. It was holding firmly. I decided to go for it. When it got to about 45 degrees gravity took over and it unassembled itself. Now as you might know, MDF by nature dents easily and crushes when dropped and it lands on a corner. Add to this the laws of Murphy, it dents even more when the object happens to be the above mentioned 25.5 inch piece that I spent so much time trying to get right. Now I have a totally mashed corner, hurt pride, and a wee bit of exhaustion.

Yup, I am done for the day.

Well, I am happy. I actually got to work on the cab tonight. It is taking a lot of time but it is fun. I am working on the cabinet sides. I guess it is my own fault; I wanted everything to be curves on this thing. I wanted no sharp corners or totally straight lines. So it is a lot harder to figure out measurements. After a lot of shaping, I finally have it coming into to a nice form. The sander really does nice work with MDF.

I had one near casualty. I was cutting the scoop out for the monitor area. While I was cutting everything started to slow down. I applied more pressure and eventually it became easier again. When the piece cut free I realized the reason for the slow down. I had cut right through the saw horse (Note to self… don’t do this. ). Tomorrow, I will clamp the other side to this one and route it into shape.

Since the control panel is the center piece of the whole thing, I decided to start there. Here is my first draft of my CPO (Control Panel Overlay). The second image is a pseudo mock up of the button layout. My idea is that the right player will have a 7^th button below the main buttons to the lower left. This can act as hyperspace / shield for a Gravitar, or Asteroids type layout. The left player will have a button above the main set to form a diamond for Vanguard. I always liked Vanguard but I really suck at it.

For the graphic design, I tried to capture the feeling of 80’s machines in general. It’s kind of like an abstract construct of a Space Invaders type thing. My intention is to also make a stencil for this and then do a spray version on the side of the cabinet, like the look of the old Williams games.
I made a desktop CP (Control Panel) a few years ago that I liked, but the spacing was a little too close together. I need to look at CP Sketcher and make the grid smaller so I can scoot them a little closer and still keep the alignment.