Control Panel Started

Well I have finally gotten around to starting the Control Panel for my Arcade Machine and here's what I did this weekend.

I cut the Control Panel from a piece of MDF (8mm Thick) using a Circular Saw that gave me a nice clean line on the cut. Next I had to trim the Control Panel, as it was 5mm to wide for the cabinet, so I got out my trusty Jigsaw and trimmed away.

Now that I had my Control Panel cut to the correct size to fit into the cabinet, I applied my template to the Control Panel only to find it was to wide!!! I had made a BIG mistake, the width was out my 40mm. I scratched my head for a while and then realised that when I was originally measuring the Cabinet I had included the sides in my measurement (20mm each side), as I was going to do an extended Control Panel and not a fitted Control Panel as I am doing now. Anyway I got around this for now by just lining up the ends of the template to each end of the Control Panel with the center overlapping.

I clamped down the Control Panel on top of a scrap piece of MDF and drilled pilot holes. I drilled all the Button and Joystick Holes (except the top 3 Control Buttons: ESC, ENTER and PAUSE) using a 1 1/8 Inch Spade Bit. I was more then pleased with the results as all the holes lined up correctly, not like my Test Control Panel I made. I Sanded down the rough edges and then did some test mounts of the buttons and their placements.