TO DO: FLOORS AND DOORS.

April 23rd.

I was now mostly recovered after the eight-hole-per-player fiasco. So, to give myself some much-needed motivation I made a list. This actually worked! It is something I intend to do more on future projects. 

Having learned from the last bartop that heat can build up in a sealed-off wooden box full of hot electronics I decided, especially as this was going to family members, to make this one less burnie. This USB powered fan was meant for a Vive Pro wireless headset adapter. Never needed it in the end so decided to use it here. Only a tiny fan but all I needed was to encourage some airflow in the right place. This wasn't planned from the start so I hadn't cut a hole anywhere for the fan.

Except for this one! This is the finger hole for removing the back door. It is exactly the right size. I was thinking of cutting a chunk off the top of the door and fixing it in place permanently, in the end, I just left it the same size and mounted the fan in this finger hole.

The outside would need this cover to stop small fingers getting trimmed.

With that decided I went back to making a mess. I needed to mount the speaker volume control somewhere. The only available place was the back near the base. Marked it with a sharp knife to prevent nasty tearing.

Drilled a couple of holes for the jigsaw blade to start from.

Cut most of it out.

On the inside had to take a small chunk out of the right side of the hole to allow part of the circuit board to fit. 

To the left of the hole I had to cut all the way through. There was a chunk of board that protruded almost the whole way. I could have tried to get this to be just below the surface, but that would have been a weak point. Plus, its the back of the machine, I was in a hurry.

So out it came. A less than perfect fit, but hot glue was going to seal any gaps.

This hole contains the mystery nail. Needed a hole for the power lead. Again, with more money and time I would have mounted a kettle lead socket and an external, fused switch. But a flying lead was all I could do here. So this hole was where it was going. Sparks don't usually fly when you drill MDF. 

A little digging and one of the brad nails was evicted.

Hole drilled and countersunk to prevent hard edges cutting into the cable over time.

Marked out the holes for coach bolts and t-nuts to hold the back door in place. I had originally marked out three along each edge. Then I counted how many bolts I had in stock (hardware shops closed at this point) and decided six would be plenty.

Door in place. It fits very snugly. 

With the door in situ, I drilled through with the same drill and then took the door out and made the t-nut holes the right size. 

All my coach bolts are too long. A few sweaty minutes with a hacksaw sorted that. Rounded off the ends of the bolts with a file.

Pleased with my work. Something else to cross off that list.

And the base door got the same treatment. Note this also has a finger hole. This one will not be housing a fan but will be handy as an inlet for cool air.

Whilst I had it upside down I screwed some door stops to the base for feet. Used these before and they are perfect. 

Last job of the day, PVA the bare wood. Probably overkill but if this ever gets splashed in a puddle of something disgusting then it shouldn't swell up too badly.

And that was that day done and dusted. The list was crushed, smashed it out the park. I remember feeling pretty good about life at the end of that day. Smug face.

Pretty much all the easy stuff left to do. Should knock it out in a couple of days. What a naive idiot.