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What order to make cuts/drill holes/use router...?

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lharles:
I'm finally going to try and make the top for my control panel today.  I've got a couple days off in the middle of the week here, (due to working the last 4 weeks straight, and having to do so for the next 2 weeks after this), and want to finish this thing so it plagues me no longer.  :)

What I'm wondering is whether I should drill/cut all of the holes for the buttons, joysticks, spinners, and trackballs first OR do the routing first...?

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

:)

buks:
It probably doesnt make a huge amount of difference but if theres something likely to go wrong then do that first. If you haven't done much routing before then I'd do that first - that way if you make a really bad mistake you don't have to start everything again. Drilling holes shouldn't be a problem as long as you "measure twice and cut once"TM. :)

lharles:
Okay.  :)

That answers my question, I think.

So, really, I should do the routing for the joysticks first then.

I'll be measuring probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 times for each drill/cut...because I'm horrible at this stuff.  :)

I just didn't know if I should be concerned about drilling the hole for the joystick with the depth of the wood being decreased due to already being routed prior to drilling it.

It's just my naivete' when it comes to this stuff.  :)

Thanks...

juggle50:
If it makes you feel more comfortable, you can drill the holes for the joystics, route then drill the rest of the holes.  I'm not great at that kind of stuff either so just do it slow to your comfort level.  Just don't rush it and you'll be fine.

KillerArcades:
One thing that I learned when making my first cabinet is that it can be (at least for me) harder to get your artwork to line up with your holes if you drill all your holes first, so... if you're going to be doing CP artwork, and depending on the artwork, you might want to consider getting your artwork done and applied first and then just drilling through the artwork and wood at once to make sure your buttons holes and such are lined up perfectly.

Again, if you have a CAD program (which I didn't/don't), then this might not be worth mentioning. I always seem to hear how a good CAD program (and knowledge of how to use it decently ;) ), can make things like this precise and a non-issue, but for me, it was an issue. :(

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