ridiculous deadline...

[severdhed]

i havent done much with my arcade cabinet lately, it is running well and working great.  when i first built my control panel, I did it in a hurry, without many power tools.  i didnt sand any of the edges of the boards or anything.  it worked fine, but looked kinda crappy.    so the other day, i borrowed some power tools from a few people so i could redo my control panel box.  (circular saw, jigsaw, sander, and router) i had a few holes that i wanted to fill in, and i wanted to slope the panel a little instead of having it level. 

so i remove the box, cut it at an angle, and start sanding down the edges.  i wasnt careful and cut somewhere that i shouldnt have..but thats ok, i have bondo.    so this evening after work, i come home and start filling in mistakes and extra holes with Bondo.    this is about the time my wife tells me that she invited the neighbors to come over Sunday evening.  they have 4 kids who all want to play my arcade cabinet.    so now, I am in a big rush to get things finished.

i just filled in the last hole with Bondo, so it is curing right now.  i still have to sand, round some edges with the router.(which i dont have the right bit for), prime and paint it.  plus round of the corners of the panel top and paint all the edges.  all before sunday evening.   i don't actually have any primer, and I'm not sure what to use.  the last time, i used kilz in a spray can, then used flat black spray paint to paint it.  it came out ok, but i dont have any more paint left.  i do have a quart of flat black latex enamel that i could brush on with a foam brush, but i dont have a foam roller to do the big areas.   my wife is on her way to walmart to get diapers, and she is stopping at harbor freight to get me a cheap roundover bit for the router...i'm thinking of calling her and having her pick up some primer and a foam roller. is there anything else i should need?  and do I have enough time to get this done?  it is raining right now, and dark, so running power tools tonight is out of the question (i have to do it in the back yard, running the router in the basement is not something I ever want to do again)

assuming that i can possibly do some sanding this evening, will I have enough time to round over some edges, prime and paint and have it be dry by sunday
 evening?

[_) (V) (-)]

it is raining right now, and dark, so running power tools tonight is out of the question

Where's your sense of adventure? 

If your basement is warm and dry I don't see why it wouldn't have enought time.
Only one way to find out for sure...

[severdhed]

well, my wife came back with a quart of killz primer, some foam brushes and a foam roller.  however she was unable to pick up the router bit, because that store was closed. 

it might not make that much of a difference anyway.  while she was gone, i decided i would take my chances and go do some sanding....my neighbors probably werent too happy about it, since it was after 9pm, but oh well, it's friday night.

i have determined that i am incapable of using Bondo.  i can mix it, i can put it in the holes, and i can sand it down with the sander, but it still looks horrible.  i just can't get a nice smooth finish with this stuff.    plus even though i sanded for a very long time, the edges of my mdf still are not very smooth, i believe this is more due to the nature of MDF.  i dont have Tmolding for the control panel, so it will just have to be less than smooth for now.    i rounded off the four corners of my control panel with a jigsaw and sanded them, now i need to re attach the plexi and round off those corners to match, and round them over with the tiny dremmel router.  that should turn out OK.  i am probably going to skip rounding over the corners that i wanted to do, because no matter what, it is going to look crappy.  i will prime and paint it the way it is for now, and after this weekend, get a few new boards and build a new box that i won't have to use bondo on.

i'll post pics when i'm done