More Fun Making it Than Playing it.: ALL THE EUPHEMISMS

YES! I know I said I was going to get on with making an arcade control panel to go into the new desk modular slot, but I decided to aim for an easy win first. There were reasons...

The arcade panel I want to make will be two-player. That means at least 550mm wide and probably more. The desk, for reference, is 1000mm wide. The steering wheel was very sturdy in its slot, but I was concerned that a two-player panel, being wider, and having two idiots whanging about on it, and leaning on it when getting up, would probably need extra support.

So the first picture you see here is the two pieces of wood that go under the front edge of the desk. On the right, you can see the original slot and in the centre is a whole new slot! This one is smaller and will be on the right and left of the larger centre slot. I cut the outside of the slot with my table saw and carefully chiselled away the rest of the wood.

Test fit time. It took a while to get the wood to fit correctly. I wanted another super tight fit. I had erred on the side of caution when making the initial cut which left quite a lot of wood to remove with a file and sandpaper.

Worth the effort though. Still needs more removed here.

And with the parts put back under the desk here is a test fit. It is really tight. I got bored of filing the slot, instead I turned to my hand plane and made the pieces that go into the slots thinner with that. Still, a lot of work to get it right, but in the end...

... they fit perfectly.

So this is the configuration I am shooting for. Throttle to the left, stick to the right, keyboard in the middle.

I cut some spare bits of MDF to the width of my desk. There will be a join in the centre but I intend to cover this whole thing in vinyl so it shouldn't matter. Need these edges rounded off. All the shelves and side desks I have recently installed I have done in this same way, with rounded edges. I will regret this later when I come to stretch the vinyl around that curve!

I jigsaw the curve outside where the dust can blow away. Then go around all the edges with a round-over bit in my palm router.

Here's the centre join. Looks bad there!

Started to round over the edges then remembered I had not sanded the curve to be smooth. Makes a difference as the round-over bit rides along the edge and any lumps and bumps are left in the end result.

Planning where to put the stick and throttle. I decided to move it all left and leave a space on the right side for my mouse. Behind you can see some long narrow boards, these will be going under the front and side edges to keep everything from flexing.

A long time ago I made a mounting system for these sticks. Totally forgot that I had 3d printed some inserts to go into the holes where the rubber feet used to attach. There are only two on each.

Here is a closeup. I glued these in place with superglue. Some of them have worked loose and will need fixing before I attach these. I ended up using epoxy resin to fix all of them in place. I don't want them to work loose again.

A template for drilling through the fixing holes.

Here is one of the inserts. The nuts are actually cut from an old electrical outlet or light switch socket. The screws I will use are an unusual size, 3.5mm, basically what you use for power sockets and light switches. I have exactly four of these handy (without robbing them from around the house) and they are all very long. A few minutes with a hacksaw and a file and we are good to go.

The base support ready to glue. MDF is tricky, the edges are very porous, and a good trick is to work some PVA (not mustard) into them and let it dry for a while. Then stick it as intended. I didn't use any fixings for these parts, they are not bearing any weight. Glue on its own will suffice.

Glued these side parts in place first (after very careful measuring). You can see a couple of holes in each side of the tops here, they are for cable management.

After leaving the sides to dry overnight I glued the front edge the next morning. All the clamps!

Added a small board, behind the centre of that front edge, to give that part some strength over the join.

The centre support ready to be glued and screwed into place. This will be taking all the weight. It will also be holding the two halves together so all the fixings!

Now that's done...

... a test fit. All good so far. Only has the centre slot in play here though. It would probably be strong enough like this, but I don't want it to probably break.

That centre join is worse on this side than I realised when I fixed the parts to the other side. That will need addressing.

I carefully placed the side supports in place and screwed them into the back of the extension desk. I didn't glue these. If this expands with weather and ageing I want to be able to get these off easily to move them if I need to. The first time I slotted this into the desk it jammed. I yanked it out and gave the supports a rub over with some Briwax. Lovely stuff. Now they slide in and out like butter.

Crappy polyfiller. This dried in seconds.

A couple of quick coats of primer. Mainly on the front and side lower panels. Gave the rounded over edge a coat to give the vinyl something to stick to. The top surface already had a coat of PVA and a smoothing rub down.

I picked this up on clearance from B&Q ages ago. Cost £3.50. Bargain! Finally found a use for it.

Not exactly a dust-free area. But I am not after perfection here, a few small bumps won't bother me.

One edge peeled up. I managed to cut it a little short in length and ended up stretching it a little to make it fit.

A hairdryer to get the corners looking neater. They will never be perfect, I don't have the patience or skill, but they will pass casual inspection.

Starting to like what I see.

The cable holes. I stretched them with the handle of a screwdriver and lots of heat, then sliced a star into the middle and stretched that down and round. Had to cover a few small bits with scraps of vinyl but it looks ok.