So I built a sawboard - now this Party Box? Americade? Bubble-something?

[DrewKaree]

There was more that went into choosing this saw than the super secret feature I'ma show you, but that was the thing that put it over the top.  I call it a super-secret feature because in doing research, EVERY review pointed a feature out that seemed to be missing from ANY description on the box.  It's a special blade that allows the saw to cut right at the very front of the shoe of the saw.  Doesn't seem like much, but when you can run the saw right up to the side of a cabinet, instead of being forced to stop a few inches from that side, it's a HUGE time/mind saver. 

The box only spoke of 2 additional blades, and HD had EVERY friggen box zip-tied together and I wasn't gonna push the "FTW is that guy DOING over there" factor, so since there's a DeWalt factory store nearby, I just went down there and since everything is reconditioned, meaning already been opened, I figured they could tell me. 

When I got there, the saw was about $10 cheaper than HD, so I was thinking "Sweet move!"  I was gonna say "BRILLIANT!" and clank Guinness', but I realized I was there without anyone else.  I just shut up instead.

The saw was $10 cheaper because they didn't have ANY blades with it, including the 007 blade.  Sunny beaches.  They also weren't selling that blade, and I figured the blade, being as specific as it is, was worth $3-5 by itself, and throw in 2 more....meh.  The guy at the DeWalt store told me that the saw indeed DOES come with that model, but for some reason, they don't advertise it on the box.  Back to HD I went.

This pic should explain what I'm talking about.  If you've got a jigsaw and aren't grasping what I'm talking about, look at your jigsaw and the position of the blade relative to the saw.  More tool porn:

[c64rulez]

Man, you've got angles there for a whole lifetime
That is some precise work on that huge cp. If I understood correctly, youre going to mount a pc inside ?
If so, it's a great idea (I can already see my next project...)

[DrewKaree]

Man, you've got angles there for a whole lifetime
That is some precise work on that huge cp. If I understood correctly, youre going to mount a pc inside ?
If so, it's a great idea (I can already see my next project...)

Yep, the PC is gonna go inside there.  Thanks to Pixelhugger, I've gotta buy 2 S-video connector/protector thingys (you'll have to wade into his mega-thread to see what I'm talking about.  Careful, it's been known to suck in lesser people clamoring for more pics )  One for the back to hook in at parties, the other for the bottom of the CP, but that'll only be installed if I go the whole showcase pedestal route.

I have gotten unmotivated to work on it for the past week-ish, and it's languishing in its current state (unfinished ) until I can get the giddyup and a free morning to get started.

This past week, the extent of the work done was to head to Menard's and pick up several of the Varathane trial packets of stain to test out.  Mebbe I'll post pics of how that all turned out.  I decided on a color and picked up a small can to test the accuracy of the sample packets. 

Currently I've picked up the stain, spar varnish, and foam brushes.  That's where I'm stuck at    Stingray-itis has started to set in

[c64rulez]

"Just do it !" (nike)

Dont let anyone know, but I'm not going into that megathread cause it really scares the sh#% out of me, and indeed it seems like it sucks in people (most get deflated and cant be hear from again...)

[Bones]

Off that rotund butt and back to work!

[DrewKaree]

Off that rotund butt and back to work!

* DrewKaree gets up to go make some pizza and throw some soup ingredients in the slow cooker

I hate you slave-driving task-master types....making me all "useful" and stuff

*grumble mumble grumumble*

[DrewKaree]

I got some more clamping to do, but I've almost got the entire "frame" of the sides done.  I had kept some of the larger scraps in order to test different stains, but all I could find when taking these pics was this single one.  I shall blame the loss of the other 2 colors on my wife, but in truth, you're not missing anything.  The two colors on the scrap I'm missing were Chestnut and Cabernet.  Both LOOKED like they'd be in the running for the look I was going for, but ended up coming out way too red (the Chestnut) and too red with a hint of purple (the Cabernet).  In short, THAT'S why you use scraps/offcuts from the materials you're building with, kids.

Here's a shot of a two-fer.  The color on the left is called Light Cherry, and the one on the right is "Traditional Cherry"  Oddly enough, going by the name, I'd have thought the two colors would have been reversed.  There's NO WAY the Light Cherry is what someone would consider "light" in color.  That's another reason I ended up buying a small can and testing it out to make sure. 

[Bones]

For whatever reason I am fond of the darker deeper wood stains. Left gets my vote for sure....

[DrewKaree]

Here's the other side of that scrap.  I decided right after testing the other side to stop splitting 'em up and just go with a single color per side to get a better look and feel for the colors. 

This one ended up being too brown for the look I was going with, although I do like the look and wish I had gone with it for a few other projects.  This color is called Red Oak, and if you've ever seen red oak in the stores, this color is anything BUT red oak.  Yet another reason to test on scrap instead of jumping in with both feet.

*edit*
realized, like a dumbass, I forgot to attach the pic    Here for your enjoyment, I present to you RED OAK!

[DrewKaree]

For whatever reason I am fond of the darker deeper wood stains. Left gets my vote for sure....

That's exactly the color I chose too.  That picture doesn't really do it justice, but here's one that will.

I've almost never used JUST the stain straight out of the can - I've always been a "mixer" to try to get a color I have in my mind - but I've gotta say, this is one of the few times a color is just "right" straight out of the can.  I'm gonna throw some spar varnish on to see what it'll look like with a little gloss, and I may have to tinker with it, but from the looks of it right now, I'm really not thinking so.

Here's a larger sample of the stuff straight from the can, and you can see the difference between the unfinished wood and the stained stuff.  Mahogany tends to redden over time, as well as get darker, as all woods do, so it'll more than likely end up looking like an old wooden runabout boat.  (anyone unfamiliar with boats like those should REALLY check them out - marvels, and beautiful to look at)

[DrewKaree]

And finally, another "FTW have you been doing, show us" pic

I realized when resizing this pic that it looks like the miter joint is off, but this was just after being thrown in the clamps.  I tinkered with it a bit after taking the pic.  I've now got a grand total of 5 assemblies, and later tonight/tomorrow, I'll be putting the upper halves and lower halves together to make 2 giant assemblies.

Two things were determined today. 

• I'm probably gonna have to buy a different mobo.  The one I was planning on using "JUST" fits, and it'll be in the way of either a button or joy.  After getting the sides assembled, I'm gonna see if I can possibly route out a spot in the CP bottom for the mobo.  The bottom of this CP will be 1" thick, so I know it CAN be done, but I don't know if the placement can be worked around.  Right now, it looks like there will be multitudes of things (video card, memory stick) that will be in the way.  Who knows....I may get lucky
• My joys will have no problems fitting.  For some reason, it was looking to me like they'd be hitting the bottom of the CP, requiring me to either route a spot out for them on the CP bottom, or figure out some other less-invasive plan.  This doesn't look to be a problem at all.

The cold-cathode light idea will be scrapped for now as well.  It may ultimately be done, but I'm not holding out much hope for it on this project.  All of my materials are ¹/₂", and I've gotta buy a ³/₄' piece for my CP which will tap the funds I had planned for the light(s) for now.  I WILL be doing everything as if I were going to be using it, but I won't be putting the light in until well after Christmas unless the tooth fairy puts some money under the tree.  The wire routing WILL be sweet - I PROMISE!  And natch, if you DON'T like the wire routing, you're free to pound sand

[DrewKaree]

In doing the larger assembly glue-ups, it's come to light that I've got an assembly that's "off".  There's a slight bullnose on the table I'm assembling on, and it appears as if it's effed up one of the smaller assemblies, which in turn REALLY effs up one of the larger assemblies. 

I'll have to finish gluing everything up today and see if I have to cut a new piece or if I can sand out the screwed up area.  Whose bright idea was it to go and make this CP all angled and stuff?

[markrvp]

90 degrees is your friend. 

[DrewKaree]

90 degrees is your friend. 

Yeah, but it's like the friend who never wants to do anything or always says "I dunno, whadda you wanna do?"

Angles are the "Fun Bobby" of the woodworking world.  And dovetails.  And sliding lock miter joints.  etc etc.

Oh and :sniffle: shut up!   Yer just lusting after my 007 blade

[DrewKaree]

Well, upon putting the larger assemblies together, it's become apparent that one single piece has been hosed.  The miters on either end are just a tad off, so tomorrow (given some time and no snow/salt I have to take care of ) I'll be cutting free that lone craplet.  I'll also be cutting out the other piece mentioned above.  I could make it work, but I'd have to remove a little over ¹/₈" to get the angle back in line with the rest of the sides, which'll end up looking like ass.

After freeing the two rogue pieces, I'll be gluing and nailing the two ¹/₂" pieces (the bad CP I originally cut before having the CP printed and the CP I WAS going to use before choosing to go with a ³/₄" CP top) together to make a sturdier 1" CP base.  I'll then trim the 1" piece to the inner dimensions.  I'm doing this so I can biscuit the 1" piece to the sides and only have the sides show the mahogany. 

This'll do 3 things.  Hide the booty-looking MDF CP base, add further structural strength with the addition of the biscuits, and give me a "last" or a form to make the miters easier to test fit and fine tune the angle. 

The one nice thing that will result from this is that the CP top will be easy as pie to make.  Chuck my pattern bit in the router, and track around the CP.  I'm still a bit muddled as to what to do about the motherboard, and I'm going to look at smaller form-factor mobo's tonight to see if it'll be worth saving the money by trying to fit my mobo in there, or worth more of my time to just buy a new mobo.  Buying a new mobo means this will REALLY get put on hold to complete, as "spare" money has been allotted to certain other "trick it out" components I hadn't considered but stumbled across while looking around here.  On the plus side, I've been working so much with the little bit of snow we've gotten so far, I may be getting some of that "spare" cash I've heard such good things about.

[DrewKaree]

I finally got all the sides for the base completed.  I've been dawdling on this because, after checking all the mobo's I own, I don't have one that'll fit inside this thing and will allow me some room.  Meh.  Such is life.  Now I've got a reason to buy new parts.  I'm also gonna need one of those small HTPC-sized power supplies, since a full-sized one is a tad large, height-wise. 

Here she sits all set up.  No more clamps, no more clamp blocks, and no more glueing.  I've set all nail heads and started to putty all the holes left over, which is what you see on the CP looking like a bad case of chicken pox.

Sorry about the small pic, I was trying to make stuff smaller to be easier to view.

[DrewKaree]

This is the stuff used.  Stainable, easily sanded, and the "applicator" makes it as easy as spreading butter on yer toast   All nail holes and any miter joints I wanted to fine tune were filled and tomorrow I'll be sanding it all nice and smooth

[DrewKaree]

Here's one of the joints that was screwed up.  It actually ended up fairly decent and the putty is just to make sure when I sand it that everything still has the nice miter angles I had pictured.  In this pic, you can see how the miters will be taken care of.  Putty to the point of the angle, and smooth it out.  When sanded, all that'll be left is the stuff in the angle that helps keep the shape. 

This is all for now, but I should be able to finish the CP top shortly.  I laid out 2 joys and 4 buttons and moved them from position to position, and everything seems like it'll work and allow me to set cupholders into the CP, but I'm not certain if I'll do it now because of the large amount of artwork that it'll remove.

[Joss Stone]

You're some kind of Albert Edison or something, going and building this!  At least you're staining it and not painting it yellow or orange or something garish like that 

[Bones]

I got a stain you might be interested in Joss.....

[DrewKaree]

Well, after doing some snow patrol that ended up nicely for me (just an overnight watch that allowed me to sand my CP since nothing fell from the sky), it's time to hook up the CP top.

I nailed down a piece of ³/₄" plywood and trimmed it a bit closer to the CP sides.  Threw a flush-cutting bit in my router, and had at it.  Here's the flush-cutting bit.  For those of you who don't know what this does, that thingamabob on the bottom is a bearing.  The bearing rides along the piece you want to match up to, and the cutting flutes on top (those blade-thingy-dealies above the bearing) trim everything all nice and flush.  Meaning you get an identical copy or a matching piece.

For your viewing pleasure, the flush cutting bit - VIOLA!

[DrewKaree]

I forgot to take pics of how it looked after trimming off most of the excess material, so you'll have to deal with these pics of how it looked after I got done.  A straight-on shot, and then a top-down shot so you can somewhat see how a flush-cutting bit works.  Sorta 

[DrewKaree]

Now, I'm NOT planning on keeping this as my CP top, but until I can afford the stuff I need, I'll set up this piece as a template.  I'm just gonna paint this one, so I want everything smooth.  That brings up a problem.  There's some nice long butt-ugly checks in my plywood top.  Checks are nothing more than a split in wood, and here's a shot of one of the uglier examples on this.  I'm just gonna use some drywall compound to fill everything in, so this will disappear shortly.

[DrewKaree]

I'll be throwing on a skim coat of drywall compound, sanding, and throwing on a second skim coat, since everything'll shrink at first, so that big crack you saw will be all filled in and then like Bones' putty adventure, shrinkage to be filled again.  This isn't anything other than trying to fill it in so JUST the low spots are filled.  This pic might not really show it, but you can still see the grain through this coat and once sanded, it should get back to the wood in the high spots, leaving the low spots filled and sanded.  The bigger divots will require another coat, which will happen after sanding, hopefully tomorrow.  I'm guessing I'll need about a total of 3 applications like this, perhaps 4.  Once this is all sanded and finished, I'll use this CP top as a template for the final CP I'll be making. 

Here's that divot above, filled and the excess skimmed off.

[DrewKaree]

Well, I thinned out the second coat so it'd be somewhere around the consistency of sour cream, and skimmed that REALLY thin.  It was just thick enough to fill, but not too thin that it'd run.  That filled in everything, and once that was sanded out, I'm done with it. 

I was gonna do the sides of the CP top as well to fill in the end grain, but with a router, it's as smooth as I care to make it.  If this had been done with any type of saw (jig, circ, sawzall) I'd have had to definitely fill in the sides, but I've decided since this isn't even gonna be the final version, screw it.  There's a few pockets where there were voids in the ply's, but they won't make a bit of difference to me in the end.

After sanding, you can see in these pics just how uneven plywood can be, but it's really nothing you need to worry about if you're laminating over it.  The amount of filling being done is negligible for your purposes, but for playing on what will essentially be bare wood, it's vitally important.  Know what I mean?  You'll be putting your hands on the laminate, I'll be putting mine on the wood.  No danger to you, big danger to me, kitten-saving-technique for Bones

I'm letting the dust settle before finishing everything.  In case you don't know, even with the small amount left over after what you can see is a tremendously thin coat compared to what you'd put on the walls, sanding drywall compound is eleventy brazilian times more messy and dust-producing than dealing with MDF.  While I'm not sure of the toxicity of the stuff, if you're doing ANY woodworking without a mask and eye protection, you're an ass hat idiot, and doing drywall is an even higher level of retarditty without those things. 

Tomorrow, I'll be running to CompUSA thanks to McCoy, and hitting Home Depot's "oops" paint shelf for something to paint the CP top with.  I pass 2 HD's on my way home from CompUSA, so if there's nothing but ass as far as the eye can see at the first HD, I'll just buy the least asstastic paint at the second one.  It'll just have to cover the layout marks I'll make for my buttons and whatnot.

I'm not entirely sure what 4-player games (that I'll LIKE) require more than 3 buttons - any help there?  I'll be going with 3 buttons for players 3 & 4, and 6 for players 1 & 2.  This will absolutely never be used for console-anything, so if even 6 buttons are overkill, open your piehole and tell me I'm wasting money.  I'm getting some of the black player start buttons from Peale (CLICK ME FOR LINK ACTION - CHECK 'EM OUT AND GET 'EM WHILE THEY'RE HOT GUYS!) to throw on there, and naturally, an "O" and a "K" button.......yeeaaaaahhhh

Anyhoo, here's a pic of that big crack all filled in and pretty.  Everything's now smooth as a baby's butt, and the second pic is just to show what all is filled in and to give an idea of how it might have felt if I HADN'T skimmed all the irregularities out of the plywood

[DrewKaree]

Stain thrown on last night.  With my wacked out schedule, I ended up staining this thing at about 2 in the morning   There really doesn't seem to be a good way to capture the color of this friggen stain (Markrvp, a little help in this area?) but here's a few pics of it.

Obviously I stained the entire thing, and it's now sitting on a few biscuits to raise it up and allow the stain underneath to dry as well, and it's currently doing nothing but waiting for me to throw a few coats of Spar Varnish on.  I just threw the stain on the inside to hide any possible areas that might be visible once this is all done, and did the bottom as well because that'll be visible for the most part.  If I was throwing this on a pedestal right away, I wouldn't have bothered with doing the entire base, but whatever.

Depending on how it looks, I'll be throwing on several coats of spar varnish until I'm happy with it.  I'll wipe a thin coat on probably later on tonight or tomorrow and then start laying it on after that's dry.  I'm gonna be working through 4 different grits of sandpaper, and hopefully the last 2 will be enough.  The first 2 will be just to help even stuff out, the last 2 grits will be wet-sanded.  I'll be doing the sides and bottom, with just a cursory application to the interior.  I'm thinking I'll have to route out a "well" for the mobo in here, but since it's tied up in Cali-friggen-fornia waiting to be shipped right now (NewEgg's UPS service sucks, wish they'd have NEVER added it - FedEx from now on since the test here blew chunks), I didn't care to wait for the stain, but I may hold off on the spar varnish on the inside until that's done just to seal it all up.

These pics look way too red to me, but the color is more accurate than how it looked when I used the flash.  I'll throw up one with the flash so you can see what I'm talking about

[DrewKaree]

Here's a closer shot of the color to show some of the grain, and then the other 2 shots are to demonstrate the difference with/without flash in the hopes someone might be able to help with that.  Once I get the spar varnish on there, I know I'm gonna get all kinds of reflection and whatnot, so it'll look even funkier

[c64rulez]

nice coffin man 

[markrvp]

Take about 20 pieces of white printer paper and set it 6 inches in front of the CP and photograph it again.

[DrewKaree]

nice coffin man 

That's Bones' CP you're thinking of.  Mine is sleek and thin....just wider than an aircraft carrier

Take about 20 pieces of white printer paper and set it 6 inches in front of the CP and photograph it again.  A neutral reference in the photo may be enough to correct the color.

Do either of these look closer to the true color?

The 2nd version of yours looks closer.  I'm gonna go give this a shot right now and see how it turns out.  I DEFINITELY hate the flash on this camera.  The settings for the flash DO give me different levels, but I can't figure out how to stop the friggen red eye thing with a brazilian flashes.  I know there's gotta be a temp override for it, but I don't have my manual anywhere handy like I should   I think that's the biggest problem with the flash, so I end up turning it off altogether and just trying to light everything myself or accepting what I get.

[DrewKaree]

Before I go taking all those pics though, I'ma post the ones I took earlier.  These are coming in kinda early in the progression here, but everything's moving along fairly easily, so I think I should be getting to this by the weekend if things go smoothly.

I flat hate seeing wires everywhere.  Nothing against any of you who DO have wiring everywhere, nothing at all, but on stuff I build, it chaps ---my bottom--- to leave wires dangling all around.  It looks messy and sloppy, and it's not something I want to leave and feel proud to put my name on and say "I did that", and invariably, I ALWAYS end up catching on a wire somehow and tearing something out.  I built a component rack for a friend and I wanted to route a place to conceal the wiring for them, but they didn't want it.  Wanted the legs to all be solid.  Why on earth they cared if the BACKSIDE of a leg was used to conceal the wiring of everything is beyond me, but naturally, something bad happened.  While setting it up for him, he plugged everything in, I helped him move it into place, started to walk away, caught on one of the wires, and ripped the wire out.  Not bad enough.  I ended up ripping out both entire plugs for his CD player because he had used Monster Cables and those things weren't gonna be letting go anytime soon.   I felt bad, but told him "THAT is why I wanted to route the damn wire concealment thing out you jag!"

This is what I'll be using to deal with the wiring:

[DrewKaree]

That there thingamabob is a slat wall bit.  You've probably seen slat walls in some stores.  It's basically a bit that'll cut a "T" into the piece of material.  Similar to a t-molding bit, but about double, and there's flutes on the shank to cut an opening down into the slot.  I've never used one of these bits (always bought a slat wall sheet if I needed it), but on the bottom, there's 2 cutting edges as well, so I can plunge this down into the material, leaving a hole for the wires to enter and exit the "T" channel, and all I have to do is make the channel to wherever I want it to exit the material.

I'll use some sort of material to keep the wiring in the concealed part of the groove, not certain about that yet, but that's the easy part.  These 2 pics should illustrate a little better how deep they'll sit and show how the flutes on the shank will cut a groove to allow me to feed the wire into it. as I go along the channel.  Kinda like a wire loom, but "built-in".  Sorry for the terrible focus on these.  I didn't have the patience to take any better ones, and these are the best 2 out of about 20

*edit*
forgot to tell you, that plywood is ³/₄" material

[DrewKaree]

Well, no dice on the printer paper Mark.  The paper ended up looking pink in the photos, and it looked about the same.  I'm wondering something though.  I took the pic you see below and it seems to be the closest in color to the actual piece.  All the plywood around it is yellow, kinda similar to the idea behind the white paper (I think, anyway).  Any suggestions for mebbe a filter?  My wife's cousin works at a camera supply house (but deals strictly in video and replies to any questions about a camera with "I don't know if it works the same, I only deal with video" ), and I may be able to pick up a filter cheap.

Well, I had tested the color on a piece of scrap earlier, and wanted to give you an idea of how this'll look after I throw some spar varnish on it.  Here you go, you should be able to see the line where I stopped.  The lower section is the part I did, and that's only one application, so it should only get deeper and warmer with more coats.  The upper part shows how dull and flat the stain is by itself.

[markrvp]

Throw up the pick with the paper.  I can adjust the image in PS until the paper is white and theoretically all the other colors will look right.

[Bones]

That's some nice looking grain.

[DrewKaree]

Throw up the pick with the paper.  I can adjust the image in PS until the paper is white and theoretically all the other colors will look right.

Crap on a stick.  I gotta take it again now.  I emptied my recycle bin to make it easier to pick out some crap I'm working on.  I'll repost it shortly. 

That's some nice looking grain.

Mahogany.  I decided to not fill the pores since the spar varnish is a bit thicker and fills easier.  One coat and everything's almost smooth.  I'm testing the scrap piece first so I can see how I should screw this up do it right.

[DrewKaree]

Mark, this is what I took today.  Seems a bit better during the day, not so much pink.

[DrewKaree]

I didn't take any pics of the bit used for the holes some odd reason.  I've taken a pic of every OTHER dang thing in the world, why not that, hey?   Ah well.....I was a LOT pissed off before drilling the CP for various reasons, and to top it off, I couldn't find my nice Freud forstner bit I had used to lay out various examples to test button formations. 

I wanted to drill the button holes NOW, not wait until the morning, so I jumped in the truck and headed off to Home Depot.  They had every size all around the 1¹/₈" bit I needed, but not that one.  Back in the truck, and down the street to the high-falutin' woodworking store (Woodcraft) where I KNEW they'd have it.  Natch, they were closed.  I was tempted to go to the Rockler store, which WAS open and just another mile still down the road, but I remember how much the danged things cost there.  More on that in a sec. 

Thoroughly pissed off now, I headed to Menard's fully intending to buy a hole saw or spade bit and just be done with it, but they happened to have a complete set of sawtooth forstner bits for only $25!  The SINGLE bit at Rockler's store was $19, and I ended up getting a 16 piece set from ¹/₄" to 2¹/₈", so I started getting happy again

Here's the end result of my night.  I had JUST enough battery power in the ol' cordless to finish these holes.  The player setups on both ends look like they're seriously off compared to the middle setups, but I promise you it's just the angle of the camera in the pic.  They are all fairly close to identical setups with the exception of the additional button holes for players 1 & 2. 

[DrewKaree]

The UPS man also brought me a nice present earlier in the day.  The parts for this thing are now all here OTHER than my ipac.  I've realized several things about this dang thing:

• If I want to have the PC go with this thing anywhere, I'm gonna have to build a box underneath to hold everything, kinda like an udder, and drill a hole in the CP base.  No other way to do it.  On the plus side, it'll make me want to build a pedestal for my CP and make it more permanent, at which point I can remove the "udder".  On the minus side, it'll look like ass and not be the svelte machine I had intended it to be.
• If I go with the "udder", I've GOT to add legs for this thing.  It simply cannot be left up to hoping and crossing my fingers that I'll have something to rest this on.  I'm thinking I can get some gas piping (black iron pipe), a few 45^o elbows, and some bolt-on flanges to form legs.  It'll work, and they'll be easily removed
• Creating an "udder" will remove any need to pick up additional kewl gewgaws I was going to add, since they'll not be needed now.  I was going to add an S-video pass-through plug like Pixel's firewire and USB pass-throughs, and this would make them completely unnecessary.
• I should have bit the bullet and got the mini-ITX board, even though it would have cost me at least $100 more for the mobo alone.
• Piss-poor planning caused this problem, but there's a solution for any problem you can make for yourself, it's just up to you to accept it and go with the flow, or ---smurf--- because you're afraid you might end up on some ass hat's website making fun of your design.
• Even if I had planned for this, it would have required making this CP far thicker than I think would look nice, and I'm happy this problem was figured out AFTER I built my CP.  I may have settled for a thicker CP to fit everything in there, and I'd have hated how much more cumbersome this CP would have become.

While unpacking all my new fiddly bits for the PC, I found things going easier.  I didn't realize why until I saw that I had someone applying for the recruit position.  He gave everything the thumbs up, so I feel good about everything   Recruit Hunter, show yourself:

[c64rulez]

[li]If I want to have the PC go with this thing anywhere, I'm gonna have to build a box underneath to hold everything, kinda like an udder, and drill a hole in the CP base. No other way to do it.

You're saying you can't put a motherboard in that box ? even those tiny-factor ones ?
These boards are so small, they just ought to fit in.

Looking great BTW.