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Now blogging over at Onemanmanyplans.com.au

It's been real, thanks Blogger! Hey thanks for checking out this page! After 10 years of posting here and over 600 posts, it's time to try something new at over possibly greener pastures. Which means you can now find me and all my random adventuring ways over at One Man Many Plans . 

Last M.A.M.E Standing 8: Strong like a bargain basement tank

So I found the materials I need for this project, found the best price, went to the shop and got told they don't exist any more.

Gah.


So onto plan B - exactly the same stuff only thicker and for some reason, cheaper. Lady Luck obviously wants to challenge me to a game of Spinjammers when my cabinet is ready..

Original plan:

4 x 1800mm x 600mm x 12mm thick sheets of MDF. According to the Bunnings website they're $15.09 each. Right size, great price save from the dust. 

So after not being able to find it, a guy who worked there looked at his own store computer and discovered a) He doesn't stock it and b) If he did it'd be $22 a sheet for those measurements (because for some reason they're different prices at different locations.) Obviously the Bunning's I shop at must be a far distance from an MDF depot. Thankfully after some quick thinking he found me a great alternative solution.

The back up plan: 

4 x 1800mm x 600mm x 18mm thick sheets of MDF. Sitting in a big pile with a sign saying 'Clearance, $9.90 each'

Yes pay less for 6mm more MDF. Go figure. 

Thicker than what I planned sure but aside from the added weight, it'll be able to stand a touch more abuse from arcade fans getting irritated at Ghouls and Ghosts and be stronger than a twin turbo tank on a rampage. So into the wagon it went, ready for when I have a spare afternoon to fire up the circular saw.

It always helps to have a good plan on hand

For measurements, I'm using the very handy blueprints Steve has posted up at Cold Beam Games because Rasmus's original plan's look fantastic and even better, they're in cm (I'm better with metric instead of imperial measurements). Seriously, head here and have a look at how gob-smackingly beautiful Steve's Borderlands themed cabinet is. I was very happy to read that he also used the same thickness MDF which means my cabinet is well on it's way to looking the business.

Measure 200 times, hopefully cut once..

When transferring plans to board I found a combination square really worked well to keep everything nice and straight and a measure for any distance longer than 30cm came in handy. A very straight bit of pine helped with ruling lines. Go slow and double check everything, especially when it comes time to cut. I plan on using the circular saw for the long cuts and the jigsaw for the curves, using the first side cutout as a template for the second.


Why isn't this working?


IN OTHER NEWS

The PS2 port is cooked. Three different keyboards tell me so and I keep forgetting to find a usb keyboard on my journeys. Although I'm starting to think a nice wireless Logitech setup could be the go...

EDIT 22/1/16 My local Big W had a 20% off Logitech sale on so I grabbed an entry level Logitech K120 and can now use keys again. Reading up on the reviews at Amazon it seems plenty of people are more than happy with it's basic design, layout and functions. Glorious!


Costs so far:

Motherboard: $20
New capacitors: $6.40
Bosch 1500w 184mm circular saw: $79*
Irwin 40T Carbide blade 184mm: $22*
Oh hey you look damn good safety work shades: $12
Speakers: Free
Speaker amp: Free
2 Gigs of random DDR2 Ram: $10
Wire for speakers: $5
Logitech K120 Keyboard: $14.40
4 x 1800mm x 600mm x 18mm thick sheets of MDF: $39.60

Total so far: $208.40 ($95.40 if you borrow the tools and shades)


In our next instalment, can Almigo successfully cut things to instruction? Let's find out!

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