Completed Front of Case

I worked a lot today on the front of the case. The aluminum strip I bought was 2mm thick, which is a bit thicker than the 1/16" stuff they sell in the states. It was really difficult to bend, so I had some problems getting it to conform to the edge of the case front. You can see where it is sort of "dented" looking in the photo here, on the top right side near the power switch. I tried rebending it a number of times, but it started to "rip" the aluminum in the middle of the bend, so I had to stop and go with the way it was.

You can also see where I glued in the speaker, put in the power switch, inserted the potentiometer (and cut the shaft down to size) which will be used as the Atari paddle, and put in the nylon sleeves which will be used to hold the case together with screws. I found that one of the nylon sleeves was in the way of the power switch (I should have put the switch a little lower down the side), so I had to break the sleeve off in order to put the switch in. I guess I will see if that causes a problem down the road! I don't think that particular sleeve screwed into anything; I think it will act as a spacer, and hopefully the other three around the cartridge hole will suffice.

Here you can see the blue PVC I bought, which is acting as a frame around the hole for the screen. The whole thing is taking on a bit of a "Fred Flintstone" look because of the handcut appearance, but that adds to the character of it!


I've also realized that I drilled the holes for the fire buttons too large, so I will have to come up with a solution for that later...