Build Log (Part 3)

Building the control panel itself was probably the most time consuming part of this entire project.  Again, I only had access to a drill and circular saw (plus hand tools), which made forming this panel a tedious process.  First, I had to knock a large square hole out, so I could drop the joystick into place.  This was done by using a drill with paddle bit to carve most of the form, and then I used a chisel and sanding block to shape the rest into a squareish outcome.  A router or jigsaw would have made this trivial.  Once the joystick was in place, I drilled the rest of the holes using a paddle bit.  Plexiglass clamped between the panel and a scrap wood ensured nice hole cutouts for the overlay.

Artwork posed its own particular challenge.  I wanted a cohesive theme, but simple.  Since this is destined to be a fixture in the office break room, I thought "The Water Cooler" made a suitable name for it.  The art would be a combination of yellow and blue water themes.  After some iterations, I arrived at a marquee and panel overlay.  These were printed at Office Depot (marquee on transparency, overlay on cardstock with glossy finish).  I also created little button labels to place on the overlay under the buttons.  At the time it seemed easier to use separate labels than to try to include them in the panel art itself.

With only 8 inputs, using a full blown input device would be overkill.  I cracked open a PS/2 keyboard and rewired the circuit board so that buttons and joystick would act as keyboard inputs.  By mapping the key matrix I was able to set it up so that no input blocks another: all buttons and a direction can be registered simultaneously (this is how you get into the service menu, actually).

Since I had no router, all slots for T-Molding were cut with a hand saw.  Careful alignment ensured a good cut.  This doesn't work on concave areas, though - for which finally I gave in and bought a Dremel!

For a marquee holder, I ended up just using long pieces of MDF supported on one side.  These rest on glue-screw blocks placed on the right panel when the whole thing is closed up.  Actually, by the end of this project I was using quite a number of these little blocks throughout the whole thing to support odds and ends.

With the control panel done I turned my attention to the monitor.  It had only a functioning red and green channel, but blue wouldn't display at all.  By tapping on the neck board, it would cause the blue to appear intermittently, which immediately led me to suspect a bad solder joint.  More highly scientific tapping helped me narrow the problem to a large IC attached to a heatsink which indeed had a cracked joint.  Reflowing this caused it to bounce back to life... a little too intensely, actually, which I corrected by simply turning down the blue amp.

Time to close this up for a test fit!

Everything looks good... one screw in each corner of the monitor brace, and it's solid.  Somehow.