Thread: Beginner questions for my first project. (arcade game cabinet)

Hi,

I'm a newcomer not only to these forums but also to woodworking, so I'm more or less clueless. I'm making a box to house arcade machine controls that is a little bit "special" and have spent the last week or so browsing this and other sites for tips while planning things out in sketchup. Here's what I have so far:





It sits on an existing table in front of a wall mounted TV. The blue rails and wingnuts on the base are so it can be pulled out like a drawer, overhanging the table edge, or slid back when not in use, or removed completely if we want to use that table as a table.

The plan is to use 42x19mm pine for the structure and 18mm MDF for the panels. Heavy and sturdy is good, but I understand MDF is not the best at taking screws, so the framework is maybe a little over the top. Maybe other materials would be better?

The top panel is hinged at the back like this:



Those chocks under the lid are to hold it in place when closed and take pressure off the hinges, as the top panel will likely be subjected to some shearing force in all directions.

My biggest concern is the corner joins. First, the top front corners. I couldn't find any examples of 3 way joins using non square beams, especially ones that can take outward force rather than weight from the top. The first version I came up with was this.



I don't really have the confidence or time to make proper mortise & tenon joins, and have doubts about the strength of 1/3 the width of 19mm pine. Time and simplicity are an issue because I only have a couple days access to decent tools (I'm in Sydney, my friend's table saw is in Newcastle, I have less than 2 days to put it together.) With all that said, it was suggested that the above join would not be very strong, so here is another version, which is some odd combination of lap and notch joins.



Would this be better? Should I do something else entirely? Priorities are strength first, then ease of construction; appearance doesn't matter.

Lastly, the back corners. These are a bit of a mess.



The sides have an angled middle lap, but the crossbeam which takes all the weight when the lid is up is just butted against the sides. I figured two bits of dowel or screws or something should hold it up. But then I thought that was a bit too flimsy, so the transparent blue supports were added as an afterthought, but again they're just butted and screwed - plus that will give me something to screw the removable back panel to.

There's a lot going on here that is potentially wrong.. apart from it being a 3 way join at an odd angle, the crossbeam (orange) is horizontal and on lower half, that's bad, right? But it has to be that way because the top side is the lid half of the hinge, so that under the lid is flush with the the sides when it's closed. Any advice here would be really appreciated, maybe it's OK as is, or maybe it needs to be completely redesigned? I don't know.

One last question. I was thinking maybe ply or some other kind of wood would be better than MDF for the panels, but I don't know. Can you smoothly round the edges off marine ply, or will it show layers of grain? We're going to paint or maybe use adhesive vinyl around the sides.


Anyway, that's where I'm at. Thanks for taking the time to read, and thanks in advance if you have any advice or suggestions.