With today being a public holiday (Australia Day), I decided to spend an hour in the garage cutting some holes out for the handles and coin door.
I had been debating with myself about the value of handles on each side of the cocktail. In the end I figured they would be useful for moving it around (since there will be no wheels). I like that it will also mean people won’t need to lift the cocktail by the top panel, and instead just use the handles which should avoid any stress on the table top panel.
The handles are a vented set – I used the same ones on the door of my pac man cab – so will add some passive ventilation. They are also set into the panel itself, meaning there is nothing sticking out. The black colour will also fit in well with the DK theme.
Once the holes for both handles were cut and the rough edged sanded back, I moved onto the coin door. Placement for the coin door is a little tight. It can’t sit too high where the control panel will be, and it can’t be too central where the monitor will be. A grill will be located on the left for the speaker, so in the end, I opted for a lower right positioning (not that I had much choice). The hole was cut, and the coin door fitted perfectly.
The next bit is going to be a little tricky. Cutting the grill slots for the speaker will require some practice, so might spend some time seeing if I can come up with some sort of template or rig that will assist. After that will be designing the control panel, making sure it will fit – and then finally getting the base of the cocktail built.