When I finally reached the point of buying materials I went down to one of the two Hubo's in town. I still had some questions about how to process MDF and if maybe there was a way to chisel out a recess for the stick's mounting plate instead of the Plixiglas sandwich I was planning on making. I was hoping to get some advice at the store and thankfully I did. The two guys behind the counter were obviously experiencing what would qualify as a "slow day" by most measures. So, it's not like I was taking up precious time.

Their advice caused the following changes in my design. For one, the middle layer changed from 2mm Plexiglas to 3mm MDF. I didn't know such thin MDF panels existed. You live and you learn. The second change was that I was no longer going to install beams on the inner side of the side-panels to support the top. Although, when I look back at it now, if I kept to my own idea on that subject I would have probably avoided the mistake I made later during the building process which I'll talk about next.

To prepare for the manufacturing of the box I made a sequential task list. From marking down the lines and holes for drilling and sawing to the gluing and clamping of the panels. I don't own any tools myself, at least, none of the ones I needed to build the box. However, I was lucky enough to find someone to borrow them from. I needed to buy the 30mm drill bit for the button holes and a 3mm drill for the screws. Once that was done, I was all set.

These are the steps I took to build:

• Clamp the top panel sandwich, and drill pilot holes
• Drill 30mm holes for the buttons and stick
• Drill screw holes through the top panels
• Use jig saw to take out shapes in the second and third layer of the top panel for the joystick to sink through
• Drill screw holes through the front and back panels
• Mark the spot where the screws protrude on the top panel and drill into the side of the top panel
• Drill start/select button holes in the back panel as well as the hole for the controller cable
• Glue and screw the side panels on one by one
• Sand off exces wood from panels and sandwitch panels so they fit snugly

All pretty simple, no? Well, this being the only serious thing I've ever built with wood and it also being my first time operating a power sander and jig saw, there was a lot of ignorance and inexperience on my part. In the end I have to say operating the power tools was pretty easy, but the two main problems that arose could have beena voided if I simply had encountered them before.

The first problem I came across was getting the screws to go in deep enough to be flush with the surface of the wood and Plexiglas. The screws have a top that flares out from 3.5mm to about 5 or 6mm. Because of this steady flare the top of the screw won't go in through the 3mm hole I drilled for it. At least, there's only so much you can force into it. To solve this I had a 5 mm drill bit which I widened the top of the hole with so the top could go in much deeper, producing a much more professional looking flush finish. Going through the MDF is really easy and you can even widen it using your own muscle power as oppposed to the drill. Widening the holes in the Plexiglas was a bit trickier because I was worried it would be so wide that the screw wouldn't hold the Plexiglas at all. However, thanks to the fact that the hole was imprecise part of the top of the screw still caught a bit of Plexiglas, holding it steady in place.

The second problem was actually due to me being a bit overconfident. The first side panel I attached was the back panel. I wanted it to stick out about 1mm out over the top panel Plexiglas. I definitely wanted to avoid the side of the Plexiglas to be visible. put the top panel upside down on top of a few torn out magazine pages then put the side panels alongside it and marked where the bottom of the top panel reached. The magazine pages would be the extra height that the side panels stick out over the top. The back panel went flawlessly, but the front panel was slanted. It stuck out more on the one side than on the other. I don't know where exactly I made the mistake, but I think it was where I marked the drill hole into the side of the top panel. Thankfully this whole rather depressing scenario was eventually solved with the power sander.

There was also a third problem of putting the pilot holes for the buttons too close together. Even though I had made a nice template beforehand, I was wreckless enough to just eyeball it. This turned out to be a non-issue because making new pilot holes was extremely easy.

Some tips I have for people that are planning on making a stick for the first time and, like me, have little experience with power tools and construction are:

• Don't be hesitant about drilling through Plexiglas. I was nervous about cracking it, but it turned out to be quite easy.
• Put some pressure when drilling until you reach the end. If you push through until you exit the wood you'll get some blow back. This is also the reason to allways drill from the outside of the panel to the inside. Another way of preventing blowback is to put a piece of would underneath the panel you're drilling through, but I didn't have any exces wood to sacrifice so I couldn't do this.
• Glue clamps are your friend. I had one that was large enough to clamp the entire width of the stick, making it really easy to glue things together and walk away confident it won't separate or move at all.
• Power sanders are key in making panels fit snugly together as well as covering up your mistakes. They also make nice beveled edges.
• Even though I thought I would need to widen at least part of the button holes in the 2nd and 3rd layer of the top panel, it turns out that you do not need the buttons to pinch the Plexiglas in order to stay in place. The outward pressure of the pinching arms is enough to keep the buttons in place.
• Even though the guy at the Hubo said it was unnecessary to use pilot holes, I used the 3mm bit to make them anyway. I really enjoyed the guidance they give me as I press through the wood, but the most important thing they did was making sure there was no movement when I started going through the Plexiglas. That could have caused scratching as well as making the actual hole slighly off-center from where it was intended to be. The hole drill bits that are hollow already have a regular drill bit in the middle. In that case you probably won't need pilot holes.

That's what I've done so far. I'll post pictures soon. Next up is the painting and the electronics. Look forward to it!