Build Log (Part 2)

Time to cut some wood!  This cabinet is built of 3/4" MDF.  I bought a 4x8 sheet from Home Depot and had them make all the straight cuts for me.  It saved me time, ensured straight lines in all the important places, and best of all I was able to fit the pieces in my car.

Given that I have only a circular saw and a drill, the fewer cuts I had to make were better.  Right off the bat I got thrown off my SketchUp plan, because the angled marquee area and slanted back were going to be challenging.  So I settled on a more boxy look.

Much of the early construction went quickly: everything was assembled with wood glue, plus screws using pre-drilled and countersunk pilot holes.  Before long I had a baseplate, control box, and lower back attached to one side.  I also had to take steps to stop some cracking from putting screws into the MDF the wrong way...

While thinking of how best to cram everything in, I had a bit of inspiration: while the left side of the cabinet would be fixed to the bottom, the right side could be hinged to open freely.  I could attach the monitor to the right side, computer to the left, and then clamshell the whole thing shut.  This way I would have plenty of room to build everything in, and if something should happen to break or need maintenance I could open it all up again without having to undo a ton of fasteners.

Still, it was a tight fit, and packing everything in place required some hackery on the component circuit boards.  I cut the USB and parallel ports off the motherboard, rerouted the monitor power switch, cut potentiometer knobs down, and even had to move the PS/2 port to another spot.  All these things got in the way of the front of the screen matching up right with the cabinet.  Of course, had I extended the back another inch or so, it would have fit easily.  Guess my SketchUp plan had pretty tight tolerances!