This project won't get underway in earnest until after TPF, but a fine teaser is in order. Thanks to the extreme generosity of fellow Pinsider Dennis Dodel, I am in receipt of a Golden Gate bingo machine to be converted to acrylic. So far, I have the play field to jump start this project. Over the next couple of weeks I will be disassembling, cleaning and determining the feasibility of it all.
While similar to the acrylic pinball project, this is an entirely different machine. Thinner play field, more and bigger holes and a sliding trap floor underneath. Oh, and about a 300 pound head. I will also be exploring a different take on the side graphics. Thankfully, while the play can be quite spirited, it's not flipper hit at 80mph spirited. I can keep everything in easy-to-work-with acrylic and leave the hard-to-work-with polycarbonate out of the equation.
I'll be using new parts when I can and original if I cannot find new. This game is, literally, 3 years older than I so some things may be difficult. The head light board will probably be just as much of a challenge as the play field is. I do relish a challenge. (That is the clearly insane part.) As before, all comments, suggestions and constructive criticisms are welcome! Nothing is settled until it is done, and maybe not even then. Slow but steady progress to begin with. Enjoy the ride!

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Original bulbs??

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I'm sure! Done that with pins as well as the APP. I'm actually considering doing a computer style plug. Not only will it eliminate that problem, it'll give me the base for a service plug to power the LEDs. (I don't even know... did bingos have a service plug?)

Thanks for all the kind words, y'all! Welcome back to the APP fans and welcome to the newcomers.

So, this is new to me. The APP was a lesson in EMs and acrylic construction. This will add in the complexity of a bingo machine. Now, there is a switch in the ball trough. Pretty sure that tells the machine a ball has left and will activate the "ball-a-vator" to rack up another until the switch is once more depressed. Meanwhile, there is a switch in the one way gate at the top of the playfield tripped by a passing ball entering the arc. I would guess it adds a tic to a ball count stepper of some sort? Or lets the ball-a-vator know that the trough is clear now for sending up another ball? Both?
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The wires for that switch emerge down here.
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Meanwhile, underneath the beast, I have removed the sliding ball holder/dropper sheet. This lets me in on how the game knows where the balls are. Each hole has a switch, ganged by rows, that tells the game it is occupied. The ganged switches are inset into the bottom of the playfield. Well damn. That just eliminated any thoughts I had of reverse printing the graphics on the bottom of the playfield. Kinda leaves me with either painting the keylines, numbers and graphic outlines on top with an autoclear over top or doing the graphics on a thinner pice and laminating it to the piece with the cutouts. Looke like an expiriment is in order.
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I wonder if I should up the wattage on this bugger. Looks like it got a little warm, eh?
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Got it!

Yes, set up to be NC.

So the leaf switches were mounted to the shutter board?

Please do!

Eh, nobody cares. (OK, so we're all secretly judging you!)

The wiring runs the same on this game. The $64,000 question is, are those switches NO or NC? The switches on the Golden Gate are NO so if this setup works the same I have a good solution. You know what? Doesn't matter. I can make them NO and it will work. By mounting the switches to the shutter board, the bottom of the play field will remain relatively intact and the graphics will show nicely! Thanks! Great suggestion. May only require a slight adjustment to the cut outs on the new shutter board.

http://www.marcospecialties.com/control/keywordsearch?SEARCH_STRING=180-5054-00

Something like this where I can bend the end of the longer blade at a 90 and then place it like your picture so the ball will close it when it drops in.

Twas just a short pause last weekend because the weather turned spectacularly perfect for.... pouring concrete. After 4 months of busting butt on the all important prep work I was finally ready, the weather was right and the concrete company had an opening. And I was able to convince two sucke... umm great guys from work to come and help lay, push and finish it. #giantkickassdriveway

Back to the game and I have to wonder what in the hay these industrial sized and strength staples are doing there? Seriously. Did the Bally bingo division come across a close-out sale at a furniture manufacturer? These things were tough to remove. (Normal sized staple in the back ground.)
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I also had a bit of a time removing the two buttons at the bottom of the play field. I was able to remove one with no problem. The other, not so much. Preliminary research shows nobody carries anything like these. Maybe you bingo guys can point me in the right direction?
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After removing the wiring harness and the mech for controlling the shuttle board all that was left was the rows of switches that tell the machine when a ball is in a specific hole. OK! The back is clear of obstructions, time to get busy on the front. It appears that the rails and arch are held to the play field with medium sized nails. Hopefully they come out a little easier than the large staples that held the wire harness in place. The posts will be knocked out from the bottom with a small nail set.

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Disassembly continues. Removed the apron cards revealing the serial number.
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Pried off the apron and the remaining wood surrounds.
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The colors were pretty vibrant when first applied back in '62.
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Now to remove the rest of the upper hardware. I need a nice flat surface to scan the images from.
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Completely stripped. Ready for cleaning and scanning.
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Shopping day! The second of my two less-than-contractor-grade garage lights finally went kaput so I used the occasion to get a couple of 4 light shop lights. I can see with the door closed again! The first stop, of course, was the plastics shop where I get my raw material. One quarter sheet of 1/4" and a quarter sheet of 1/2". I also remembered to pick up a 72" straight edge that I meant to get two years ago. The 1/2" will become the playfield and the 1/4" will be the shuttle board.
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Later, I took some preliminary measurements of hole sizes. I also took note of the angle of the hole edges. 12.5 degrees or so...
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A few early scans. These will be broken down into line drawings for simplicity's sake.
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First attempt. Waaay too slow. Need a boatload more RPMs.

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There. That's much better.

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Thanks! Yeah, I was gonna say one down 24 to go, but it's just a test piece. Doing a little proof of concept before I move to the real piece. Large cuts and light edging tomorrow.

Play field plus side rails and inner shooter lane rail.

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Shuttle board.

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Forstner city.

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Everybody remembers what this thing is for, right? I'm actually very happy I found it as it took three tries to get it right the first time... (Must be the new shop lights!)
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Unlike the last play field, this one has a lot of pressed in parts. Easy in wood which compresses well, not so much in acrylic. If the hole is too big, it will pop back out. Too small and I run the risk of a crack as it gets hammered in. ("Is this a robbery?" "No... its a science experiment!")
These are the parts I'll need to secure.
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Next I'll get a piece of leftover material and drill a succession of holes to try.
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As predicted, one size is too large and the next down too small. With this pin, I found if I wobbled the bit just a touch, it could be hammered in without too much effort but tight enough that it won't come back out easily. Getting it back out required enough effort to convince me.
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These pins seemed to hammer into the next hole up quite well with no wobbling. Perfect! This is a pic of the pin sinking into the biggest hole. 3/16" was the sweet spot.
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Finally, the majority of the post screws are #6 with a few #8 thrown in on the longer reaches. I already have extensive notes on those. Easy day.
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So it's a multi-part process. As before, i'll mate the old play field with the acrylic piece and use a following bit to "trace" the outline. Next, I'll use appropriately sized bits to locate all of the holes. Then it is on to the drill press to run out the 26 big holes with a 1 3/16" forstner bit. (SLOOOOOOOWLY) We'll do this at a low speed so as not to heat up the plastic and get that white clumpy crap you see on the edges here. These bits cut a flat bottomed hole so there is no where for the heat to dissipate. Slow cutting makes for a neat hole.
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Once those are all drilled, we'll clamp the acrylic piece to the bench and ream out the beveling at the edges. We'll do this with a cabinetry shaper bit that is slightly modified.
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Normally, this bit would have a small bearing on its bottom and it would be mounted in a shaper table. You would then run wood cabinet faces across it for that raised panel look. My good buddy Bill precision cut me a piece of aircraft aluminum exactly the same size as the hole and then drilled out the center on the lathe just enough so it would press fit onto the bearing of the bit.
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This gives me a perfect guide on the bit to fit my needs. Since this cut needs high speed, I will now mount it into my plunge router. The aluminum plug centers me on the hole and then I will set the plunge depth on a few test holes. Once that is set, I simply plunge it (VERY carefully) on the 25 holes and voila it is done! Sounds easy, doesn't it?
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Forgot I had yet to remove the inserts. (All 2 of them.)
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This time I'll secure the donor to the new with some #6 beveled head screws. That way I have no issues with anything poking out of either side of the sandwich. The holes I drilled for them (in the acrylic) will get redrilled slightly larger for the pins that will eventually go there.
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After mounting a 1/2" following bit in the router, I'll clamp the sandwich to the work table and run the edges all the way around. The guys at the plastic shop did a great job taking my dimensions and adding just an eighth more for the cuts. The edge gets a nice smooth shave and all the saw marks go away.
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There's a small cut out to be made where the ball lift is. I'll make a starter hole large enough to drop the router bit through and then run it around.
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After chucking up the 1 3/16" forstner into my cordless, I went ahead and center marked all of the big holes. I used a 7/8" bit to do the same to the light shroud holes. I then predrilled every other hole on the board with appropriately sized bits. The final holes were drilled where my screws had held the 2 pieces together.
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Now we'll move over to the drill press to get us some nice straight holes.
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This is the bottom piece of a drilled hole. For those who have never used these kind of bits, this is how it works.
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This is as far as I got today. Slow and steady makes for good work. I did set up the cabinet bit onto the plunge router to test out the hole bevel maker only to discover that the bit is too large to fit through the base plate of the router. I'll get around this by simply removing the base while I make these holes.
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Sort of, but not really. See the little ribbon coming up off of the disc? That's where the blades have scraped away the hole bit by bit. It all comes our as a long crinkled ribbon. At the same time the two blades are scraping out the hole, there are teeth around the edge clearing that part. At the bottom of the hole, the edge will break through the bottom before it's scraped away leaving a little thin disc.

Not much to report at this point. I am in full repair/clean/wax/pack mode for TPF in just two short weeks. I did receive a big ol' box of love for the new play field. Shiny new stuff!!! (Thanks, Dennis!)
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And for those of you not watching the APP page, I'm moving forward with the new and improved back glass. (Bye-bye, decals!!) This technique should give you a good idea of how the playfield here will be done...
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It's the weekend after TPF and I am sick as a dog! Meanwhile I have boxes of new stuff and a bingo carcass from which to pattern out the new acrylic cab that was sent down from St Louis. Special thanks to fellow Pinsider finnflash who was gracious enough to transport the game to TPF where he and I transferred it to my trailer for its' final journey down to Corpus Christi. The lower cab is kinda small. Almost... cute? The upper head, however, is quite the heavy beast. This project is starting to really shape up. Pics tomorrow if I get to feeling better.

Dispatches from St Louis - forgive me if I get the nomenclature wrong. I just think that "ball-a-vator" sounds MUCH better than ball lifting and cradling doohickey. Right? Anyways - shiny objects!!!

I know what these are. These are NOS legs. Wrapped with a Chi-town trib dated 1979. How cool is that?
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And this is an NOS lockdown bar. B-E-A-Utiful!
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This? I have no idea what this is. Anybody?
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These are a combo of side rails and glass channels. One runs outside of the case and over the glass, the other inside the case and under the glass. As I was discovering how this works by looking at it on the carcass cabinet I heard the moviephone guy in my head... "In a world without cheap and readily available injection molded plastics,..." Anyways, it looks like I got 2 lefts and one right. Or maybe 1 left and 2 rights. You make the call.
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Absolutely.

Yup. They were stuck together pretty tightly.

Got it!
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The cabinet joinery on this machine is different and truthfully easier to reproduce than that in the APP. I can do it with the router and not need the shaper table.
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Here's the back of the lower cabinet where the head rests. I'll take this over the balancing act of a pinball head all day long.
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Here's that two piece glass channel in action. Interesting.
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Yeah. Sure!
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So now we delve into the head. My master carpenter buddy at work asked me if it was as complicated a machine as the APP. I said imagine an Enigma machine stuffed into a 2' X 2' box...
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The wife walked into the garage and stated "it looks like Steampunk threw up!" Yup. Something like that. Anyways, things are progressing as I am getting all the measurements and patterning down so I can calculate up the amount of material I'll need. All of the casing is constructed of 3/4" ply. The light board in the head is 1/2".

The "ball-o-vator."

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147 light bulbs and sockets. Give or take.
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Back corners with leg bolt mounts. Standard looking stuff. If I'm smart, this will be done BEFORE I install the pieces above it. Hmmm...
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Probably going to go a little more modern this time...
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Santa's workshop is open again...

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Well it's late November and "winter" has come to south Texas. 75F today. Best break out the long johns and gloves!

I finished drilling out the 26 holes and putting on the beveled edge. I had to go ahead and drill the first part with the forstner bit by hand. A bit daunting but I managed to get through.
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Next was to mount up my beveling rig in the plunge router. I did have to remove the bottom plate due to the size of the bit being bigger than the hole. This won't effect anything. Just means I'm setting it down on the magnesium frame instead of the nice smooth plastic. With the paper protecting the acrylic this should not be an issue.
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I set the plunge depth by putting the rig in the actual play field. I won't duplicate it, but it will be pretty darn close!
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Once I had the depth set all I had to do was set the home made bearing into each hole and plunge away.
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Boom. Voila. Ding! Ding! Ding! Consistent result every. single. time.

Where does that get me? Here. Right where I wanna be.
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A quick money shot for you bingo guys....
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Shawn

Noted and mulled over. I'm doing little experiments right now to see what looks good and what does not. Much more complicated art than the last project. Results will be posted...

Progress, slow but sure. This weekend was indoor weather so we are working on the artwork. Refining images and determining transfer methods. Last weekend I continued with the under play field parts and finished drilling out the sliding ball drop.
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Doesn't look like much with the paper still on it but I am learning from my last one to wait until the last minute to avoid the inevitable scratches. Hopefully.

Next will be this piece. Then it will be off to the plastic store for a couple of sheets.
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It's a beautiful day in the workshop this morning. Sunny, breezy, warm. Perfect for this delicate bit of routing.

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Getting there. Only one major bit of work left for this part...

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My neighborhood is, thank goodness. We only had to go 24hrs without water use but I'm a prepper from waaay back so we had no want for anything. Other folk, not so much. The funniest part is the whole story coming out now... the first reports about it were in Nov.

Well, in the words of Matthew MacConaughey, "all right, all right, all right, all right!!" It's all here now. I got in a 1/4 sheet of 1/2" for the light panel in the head.
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And this would be everything I need for the cabs, upper and lower. There is a full 4' X 8' sheet of 3/4" along with three "drops" of the same. A drop is what my plastics guy calls a large piece leftover from another project. They are hard to sell so I get them for the 1/2" price. I get a discount, he moves stock.
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So as I was delving into starting the cabinetry on this project, I remembered I hadn't finished last week's mess. It turns out that the ball track on the APP is steeper and shorter than the one on the bingo. I'm guessing that this makes for better finesse shots. Bingo players? Care to weigh in? Anyways, that fact necessitated making a new version of the ball track jig. The new one looks something like this:
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Here's a comparison of the new and old ball tracks. New above and several old practice runs near the bottom.
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Ahh. Better when this cut is done. Always a little bit scary!
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Since I do not have a great table saw and I hate taking stuff to work to cut, I do a rough cut with my sabre saw and then finish the edge with a router. This way I get a highly accurate cut with almost perfect edges. Hardly any sanding needed. When doing a corner cut like this, I will clamp the already completed cut to prevent a crack from forming.
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After measuring 5 or 6 times because I can only cut once, I have my first lower cab side. Tar-dar!! The "snow" on the ground is likely the only "snow" you will ever see at my place. Should be 80 on Sunday.
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You "money shot" for the day. You're welcome!
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Well! That's news to me... another question that has been festering in the back of my mind is how many balls are in one of these?

To keep folks from using a large magnet to position the balls through the glass? Never thought about that! Or just to keep them from getting magnetized and changing the behavior of the balls? Both?

Seems I'll need more and bigger balls!

Managed to get spare time on last Monday which is a federal holiday for me. I was able to get the other side of the lower cabinet rough cut out and then stacked the two and used a flush cut bit to clean it up. I hope to have the lower end and coin door sides cut out and ready by Friday when I will take them in to work and do the locking miter joint on our shaper jig. I got the thing tuned the other day and it looks terrific.

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Awesome! Learn something new every day! Here's a shot of my test runs for the cabinetry. The corners of the acrylic pin were simple 45s done with a table saw. That made for horrific joints which needed a ton of sanding to prepare for the gluing. To combat that and make it ever more accurate to the original, I have since gotten a locking miter joint bit that I used in making other wood cases. One side acrylic, the other plywood. (Just for show/testing.) This is going to work just swell.

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Only while unassembled. The joining technique actually welds the pieces together and they become just as strong as a fully thick piece. What the joint does is give more surface area for the glue to act upon.

It's a one-pass deal. The bit that creates the joint is not adjustable. And aside from that, it is not as delicate as you may think. I have run off a few long slices of 1/4 while trimming up the sheets and they are not easy to snap. This stuff is tough and heavy. (Just the outer casing with no guts, play field or mechanisms is 200 pounds.)

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Thanks! Just happy I could finally get back to it.

I'll be using a different compound for those joints. You're correct, the capillary action required for the cement I usually use will not work there. I will still use it in other places as its greatest advantage is that the parts are already assembled when the glue goes in. The weldment I will be using on the mitered corners has a longer set time, is said not to craze and is supposed to cure "bubble free." We shall see. And yes, it should be monstrously strong.

I have a lifetime membership in the frugality club! Does that count? I found over the years that letting the bit do the work will make it last pretty long. Lots of patience with the process and occasional maintenance(cleaning) keep it going way past the average user. But then you're talking to a guy with a 22 year old washer/dryer set, 15 year old refrigerator and an inkjet printer bought in 2001 that still makes beautiful pictures. I drive my cars until the wheels fall off and don't get me started on some of my tools. The trick is keeping them cool. Heat is the biggest enemy of anything sharp.

That being said, I destroyed that beautiful miter-lock joint bit this afternoon by being stupid. You can't cure stupid. More on that after dinner.

So any of you who followed the last thread know I tend to advertise my failures as much as my successes because that's how we learn. After a long hard day of work I told myself to just go home and relax. But, we had already set up the shaper machine and the material was in my car, ready to go... Here's the machine, bit set. Extra high single piece fence. Vacuum connected. Ready.
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Here is how the cut goes for the end pieces. Up against the fence with an additional piece to help guide it through and keep it tight on the fence. Notice the little square added on the tail end to aid in the pushing...
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Problem is I did not allow for the screws holding it down to hit the bit on the way out. I could not find any handy flush screws to use so I grabbed some self-tappers with hex heads. No problem except for that bottom one.
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Bottom line: no human parts or acrylic pieces were harmed, but the bit is toast. ALWAYS check your clearances.

Well, that will do it. The harder the wood the more abuse they get. It is especially hard on the bits if you are cutting a slot where the bit is making contact over 3/4 of its' diameter. Multiple, slow passes is the only way. It takes more time, but... it will last longer in the end.

Depends on what you call reasonable. 1/16 to 1/8 inch per pass on a slot cut is tough in any wood, especially oak. So you line up a bunch of pieces and make a pass. Reset the depth another little bit and make the next. And so on and so forth. Trying to get it in one or two passes is hard on the bits and the machine.

Like everything else in life, accomplishing a given task requires two things: 1) Time 2) Money
If you do not have a lot of one, you best have a boat load of the other...

The new bit is in and cabinet cutting will resume shortly. Meanwhile, I needed to clear out some of the gear in the head to get a better look at the construction. Seems it is all connected. ALL of it. NO plugs! Challenge accepted!
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#gutted
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I'm also thinking that the light sockets that have pointy ends pounded into the wood may be a challenge. I'll have to remove one to see if there is a way to screw them into the acrylic.

A tale of two faces...

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Now it's starting to look like a project.

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Too damn much?

Too damn much? Calculating as I go. Will keep a running tally.

A bit chilly outside. A good day to work indoor s.

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Mother nature has me down hard for the couple of days so ill work on the computer side when I am able and not meds-addled. The new bond has arrived..

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Playing in the big boy shop today.

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And here's all the parts for the upper can / head.

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VERY productive day today. I took it all in to the big boy shop and got busy. All major cabinet parts, upper and lower, have been cut, trimmed and the miters have been done. Fit is excellent. I also cut out the holes in the back of the lower cab and the bottom of the upper where the wire harnesses pass through. Next I cut pieces for the play field and ball collection supports. The only major cut left is the coin door and the ventilation slots atop the head. There are a few more interior pieces to be made and then its on to the boring stuff. (Edging, polishing, drilling for bolt holes, etc.) Once that's done I can start assembling. THAT is the fun part!

Yeah, I caught that excuse over in the Jumbo thread. (How cool is THAT machine!??) I did a double a couple years ago. Wimp.

It goes well! Knee deep in the boring stuff as previously mentioned and looking forward to the end of it. Assembly is way funner! Then at some point it will be up to me and my generous benefactor as to how we will fill the cabinet out with working parts. This thing is going to weigh a ton. Tearing into the acrylic pin this past weekend only drove that point home. TPF 2018 should be my first working show with a booth, two acrylic machines and a product line and everything! Meanwhile I'll be hitting up ZapCon in Phoenix in late April. Looking to be a full year.

So how is life in the great white north? (75 here today) I am really looking forward to seeing the arcade game you guys are building come to fruition. Fortunately we are all too busy to be able to finish projects in a reasonable amount of time. Wouldn't have it any other way.

Back on track, folks and we're here to the finish. Took stock and inventory this weekend to see what parts had yet to be created. Nothing left but a few odds and ends. So we are moving on to placing the graphics and then assembly.

This lower level collects the balls after they have been released from the play field holes and runs them back to be loaded in the ball-o-vator.
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The head.
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And cabinet base.
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Spent most of the weekend on O/T at the day job but managed to get a little time in on it. The coin door opening is a two step process. First, I'll cut through the panel for the part of the door that goes all the way through.

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Next I will use a 1/2" router bit with a 1/4" bearing to cut the edge run. It will come out something like this -
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Once that is finished I will make the necessary cuts to fit the back steps into the lower cab.
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Once those are ready, I will trim the top of the cab sides for the rail pieces that go there. Once completed, I will go ahead and do the side graphics. I finally figured out just how I am going to do them. Should be either very cool and interesting or a complete hot mess. We'll see! When the graphics are completed I will go ahead and attach the side supports for the playfield and ball collection level and then assemble it. Slowly but surely it is getting there.

Shawn

I actually looked into this option with some samples from one of my plastic suppliers. Had some promise, but too many things in the way.

Got to tool up yesterday and got busy trimming out the back steps to fit flush in the case. We'll start by breaking out a rabbet bit set with a couple of different sized bearings so I can make consistent depths of cut.
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I'll set a basic depth of cut based on measurements taken on the case to give me a starting point. I'll make test cuts in a piece of scrap to make sure I am getting what I want and need.
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Once it is set correctly, I will go ahead and make the cut in the sides of the cab first.
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Once the cuts were completed with the rabbeting bit I had to rechuck to a 1/8" straight bit to finish out the corners.
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I just had to set the depth and slowly eliminate the curved area left behind by the other bit.
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All better!
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Now that both sides are cut and cleaned up I need to reset to the rabbet bit to make the companion cuts on the step. Again, I'll use a piece of scrap to match up my first scratch piece to make sure it is right.
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With luck, practice and some minor adjustments I'll end up with a flush match.
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Super heavy, indeed. Got back on it today after a short break full of overtime and broken pool pumps. (When the pool looks like a bass pond, mama ain't happy. And when mama ain't happy, well, you know... )

When I finished up a couple weeks ago I had fit the first step on the backside of the lower cab. Came out pretty nicely.
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Next I need to cut a couple of slots and do more work with the rabbet bit to fit the second step. This is the piece and cut I need to mimic.
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This shot is a test of the slot going through a test cut of the rabbet. The rabbet cut was performed and I am test fitting it in the slot.
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Next I marked out the lines for my slot cuts using measurements off the panel that would go there.
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Now it is just a matter of setting up a clamped fence to guide the router with the 1/4" straight bit. I'll make the cut in two passes. The total depth of the cut is 3/8" which will generate an awful lot of heat if done in a single pass. After the initial pass I'll reset the bit's depth against the side of the panel that will go in that slot.
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Once the second pass is complete, I'll clean out any debris and perform a test fit.
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So far, so good. The next task will be to cut the slots for the glass channels and round over the tops of the sides to accommodate the steel channel guides. I will also drill the holes for the securing bolts that hold the head to the lower cab. After that will come the graphics and support structures that go on the inside of the sides. Then, finally, I will assemble and glue the pieces together and get on with building the head.
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Another day at it, full steam ahead. And by full steam I mean as soon as I walked outside this morning my glasses fogged over. Ugh, I hate this time of year.

I decided to go with the holes before the slot cut because its easier. "Easier." Sure. Step one, mark out the locations and dummy proof the directions. (Impossible, but I try!)
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We'll start with a pilot hole since my marks are on the outside and the tee-nuts will go on the inside. So to speak. Don't you just love refraction?
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After drilling my tee-nut pocket on the inside with a forstner bit I drilled out the center all the way through at a 1/2" so the tee-nut would fit. I drilled a hole the size of the bolt in a piece of scrap and then joined them with the hardware to ensure my pocket was deep enough to engage all of the threads.
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Finished with the vertical step. The three shallow holes are to let the cabs mate flush where there are three corresponding bolt heads on the head.
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I repeated this process to the horizontal step. It's getting there... progress slow but sure.
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Now it's time to cut the slots for the play field glass. The original is 1/2" by 1/2" but I am uncomfortable with leaving only 3/16" of material outside the slot. I'll be ordering the glass custom sized eventually anyways, so I split the difference and made the channel 3/8" deep leaving 5/16" on the outside. That will help me sleep better. This is the channel I'll be cutting.
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The channel I'll end up with will be 1/2" across and 3/8" deep. My biggest bit is 3/8" so I'll cut the slot in three passes. The first will be half the depth by the width of the bit. So 3/16 by 3/8". For pass #2 I'll increase the depth to the full 3/8". The third pass will be full depth with my guide offset by 1/8". As usual, I'll be making test cuts first in a piece of similarly sized plywood.
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See why I do practice cuts? LOL Here's one side with my "fence guide" attached, first pass completed.
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End results, one down one to go!
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Another good weekend of steady progress. I started by catching up the second side with the first that I worked on last weekend. I had to cut the glass channel along the top. Once that was done, I cut the excess off where indicated by the outer rails to make room for where the lock down bar will attach.
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So tell me, bingo gurus... does the play field glass just slide between the two channels of stainless steel?
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I also had to extend the cut channel for the vertical step so it would end up flush with my newly trimmed back end.
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I also spent some quality time at the radial arm saw. Boring, but vital.
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Mine will not be painted.

Also, the sample cabinet I am using for a pattern has nails holding in the inner rail/glass guide and the new one I will be installing has no holes. Thoughts? (I have the tool and ability to punch my own holes.)

Punched it is. Thanks, Dennis.

The lower cabinet is basically done, for now. All that is left is to do the graphics and attach the inner support brackets and hardware. Now I'll move on to the head and get it ready for assembly. That way I am doing all the graphics at once. When I did the basic cutouts for the head I did the sides as squares, knowing I would eventually cut the corners to match the old cabinet I am using as a pattern.
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I also drilled out the lock holes on both sides.
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I cut the majority of the hole for the wire pass through with the sabre saw and then clamped it to the original and cut the remainder with the router and a pattern bit. Nice and smooth. (This is the "before" pic.)
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The next step is to cut a channel on the back end of three sides to allow the back door to close flush. (It's hinged on the fourth.)
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Once those channels are complete I'll use the rabbet bit set to create channels for the steps to be inserted. After that I have a few ventilation slots to cut and a couple other small jobs and the head will be ready for graphics and assembly. Moving along.

Shawn

Coming soon...

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Moving along with the head - I completed the channels for the back panel to close into. I used a piece of scrap to check the fit. Nice and flush!
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Next was to rout out two channels for the locks on the rear door.
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Lastly I had to cut the two ventilation openings on the top to let all the heat out. I did this in four passes so as not to burn up the bit.
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Getting there...
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