This past week I did a bit of research on plexi. I could not find it in the size I need for my control panel, so I ended up ordering a giant sheet from Menards. At least I'll have extra in case I mess up! Will also use some for the marquee. I have to wait a few weeks before it arrives though.
I also ordered a smoked sheet cut to size, online for the screen which already arrived. I was debating how much tint to get. I saw people suggesting 13% - 30% light transmission with the lower number being best. I opted for 13%. I hope it won't be too dark.
I cut out a test control panel for just player one and trackball so I can start to learn how to wire the controls and play with the software. I played with LEDBlinky a bit this week and was surprised how simple it is once you understand how to use it. I was under the impression I would need to configure each game in my library. Instead I just have to do the ones that it doesn't recognize, and you can do default configurations for entire emulators which is nice too.
Sunday I spent all day trying to figure out the best method to finish the wood and get the deep saw mill marks out. I started just with low grit sand paper. I soon realized that was a losing battle. I don't know if it is a good or "proper" method, but I ended up covering the top and sides in a layer of wood filler. I proceeded to sand it back down to the wood level leaving only the filler that was in the saw mill gouges. There are some patches I may need to go over again where I didn't use enough filler, but overall it seems to have worked fairly well, and I'm happy with the results!
I also had a lot of neighbors stop as they walked by asking me what I was building, lol... Everyone seemed to think it was pretty cool!
Pictures - before sanding, during sanding, after sanding.