I just got done putting primer and first coat of paint on my controller box. I’ve read all over the web that MDF eats lot of paint. IMO it wasn’t too bad. It makes me wonder if people are using any primer before the paint. Primers are not just glues for paint sticking to the material you are painting but it also helps so that the material doesn’t eat all the paint. 
MDF cut edges eat paint, the surfaces do pretty well. And if you seal and primer correctly you’ll have a much easier time, yeah.
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that particular blade is more for non-ferrous metals and plastics; cutting wood products is “not recommended”
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in my experience, band clamps work well on mitered joints:)
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I should be assembling the box tomorrow… gettin there:D…then it’s paint & finish time!
thanks vma
I tried to use gorilla wood glue however didn’t have any clamps at the time. I really wished the clamps came on time. Didn’t go well… I got ugly screws going in from an angle through the “studs.” Overall I needed to use some caulking around the controller box and then came the priming and the painting.
Has anyone used right angle drills or right angle attachment for drills in to put the controller together rather than using wood glue?
I know I failed at trying to use dowels before but I think I’m going to give it another try. :tup:
Hand filing is better in my opinion. You don’t heat up the tool when sharpening by hand. You can easily ruin a tool on a grinder. Grinding also leaves too rough an edge for chisels and plane blades. You need to follow up with some serious honing after a grinder does it’s job. Don’t get me wrong a grinder has a good place in cleaning up an edge that is chipped and nicked. I still go to water stones or the scary sharp method for these tools. For forstners, router bits and spade bits it is files and diamond hones.
Michael
Can’t help ya on the glue vs. drill…as for the dowels, are you using dowel centers?
Hand Planes
Hand planes are a real broad subject. Each plane falls into one of a few categories, Bench, Block, Molding, Joinery & Specialty. For the making of boxes the first two and possibly the third would be of interest so I will concentrate on those. I will preface my diatribe here by saying that in my honest opinion nothing can produce a better surface for finish then a hand plane. However there are some woods that defy the lowly galoot and he is forced to use sandpaper.
Back in the late 1800’s there was a gentleman by the name of Bailey that changed the way that hand planes were made and used. He was bought out by the Stanley Rule and Tool company several years later. It is Mr. Bailey’s designs that are still the standard today. Stanley uses a numbering system that is the standard used today and I will use these numbers for reference to the planes I discuss here.
Bench Planes
Bench planes fall into three sub categories based on the type of work they are tipically used for. The first plane is used to level the face of a board. The second plane is used to make it flat and true. And the third plane is used to smooth the surface in preparation for applying a finish. These planes have the iron beded with the bevel facing down and have an angle of attack at 45 degrees to the wood.
The Stanley #5 (Jack) and #6 (Fore) planes fall into the first group. These are used to take a rough sawn board and make it level. The #7 and #8 (jointer) planes are used to take the board to true flat. Finally the Stanley #3 and/or #4 are used to make the flat surface smooth. Stanley also made a #1 and #2 but they were too small for your average wood worker to use.
Christopher Schwarz is a renowned expert in the use of hand planes. His DVD “Corse, Medium, Fine” goes into some detail on how to use these various planes.
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Block Planes**
These little brothers to the bench plane are as varied if not more so then their larger counterparts. There are two basic block planes that should be in your arsonal if you can afford it. These would be the Stanley #9 1/2 and #60 1/2 These two block planes as most block planes have the iron beded with the bevel up.
This is benificial because the angle of attack can be adjusted by changing the angle of the bevel on the iron. To find the angle of attack take the beding angle and add the bevel angle. For example the #9 1/2 has a beding angle of 20 degrees. Add the typical bevel angle of 30 degrees and you have an angle of attack at 50 degrees. The #60 1/2 has a lower beding angle at 12 degrees. This gives the #60 1/2 a lower angle of attack and is perfect for smothing end grain.
One other feature that sets these apart from bench planes and most other block planes. These have the ability to change the size of the mouth. this will allow a larger or smaller shaving pass through when being used.
Molding Planes
The planes that fall into this catagory will allow you to create a nice profile on the edges of your boxes. Two styles are use here. The Chamfer plane and the Hollow plane.
The chamfer plane has a sole that is bent at 90 degrees down its lentgh. The two halves of the sole are set at 45 degrees to iron These two halves ride the two faces of an edge and the iron cuts a perfect 45 degree chamfer. The width of the finished chamfer is determined by how far the iron is extended into the space where the wood sits. If you don’t have a chamfer plane you can still create a chamfer by using your standard Bench and Block planes .This gives you more flexability as to the angle of the chamfer though you also loose some of the accuracy.
The hollow plane is almost always sold with it’s partner, the round plane of the same size. These planes are almost exclusivly made with solid wood and not iron. The hollow plane is perfect for creating a round over on the edges of your box. The round plane can be used to create some interesting coves on the sides of your box if you want something other then the standard flat face. The main reason these are sold in pairs is that you use the sole of one plane to true up the sole of the other.
This was just a small bit of information relating to hand planes. There are several sources online. I have linked to this one before but it is worth to menton it again. http://www.cianperez.com/Wood/WoodDocs/Wood_How_To/INDEX_How_To.htm This is a good place to start but there are forums, podcasts, magazines and thier publishing sites, and blogs all over the net. The opinions can be as varied as the tools they discuss. One phrase permieates throughout however, do what works for you.
Michael
THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO’S TRIED TO HELP ME WITH “QUIET” BUILDING!
I’m going to look into every bit of this very soon. I would love to learn to work with hand tools before moving on to power tools. I’m an engineer, so I always prefer to learn basics/roots of stuff before moving onto complicated things without knowing how something’s done manually. Thanks guys! I’m gonna be checking this thread quite often now.
no problem:wgrin:
Dear Canadians, 15% off all Ryobi and Makita tools at homedepot until the 21st. Might get a corded drill myself. Maybe a router too, who knows 
Of course not… that would be too smart of me and if that was so, I probably won’t need need to read this thread either. 
Honestly, I didn’t buy dowel centers because I didn’t know if the screw method is better or not. I just wanted to hear everyone’s opinion before I invested money.
Thanks again!
Do yourself a favor and build the controller box first and then cut out the control panel…
I just finished my ugly box and boy I had to do a lot of sanding.
Listen to Prof. Michael! Build controller box, drop the CP and the plexi and drill your pilot holes. If you do your CP first and drop it in the controller box and try to screw the CP and/or the acrylic to the box, the pushbutton holes don’t ALIGN!!! ARRGHHH…
I did whole lot of sanding and my puny arms are not feeling well. :looney:
Kaytrim is the man.
here’s a little feedback.
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dowels.
i made a pine box that has stood up incredibly well over the last 3 years since i built it. i didn’t know about dowel centers back then and had to do alot of sanding to level everything out since i didn’t get the dowels perfectly centered. i got a little doweling set at HD for $6.00usd. the same set is $2 at Harbor Freights. this little set is awesome to find the center for dowels. i love doweling
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pocket screws.
i recently learned about pocket screws and though they create an exceptionally strong hold - i don’t like them for mdf. mdf splits really easily. pocket screws are a no go in my opinion. i’m still learning the ins and outs of setting a proper joint with this setup. i noticed that everytime i go to join it, the screw pulls the board about 1/16th towards the screw. like i said - still learning, but fun to use. the jig cost me about $20-$30 at HD a few weeks ago. comes with everything you need, except im using drywall screws instead of the cheapies it came with. lots better then the $100.00 for the Kregs pocket hole jig.
-mitered.
no experience with these yet. Kaytrim makes it look too easy :lol:.
for a simple butt joint i always predrill a size or two smaller than the screw to avoid splitting in the material.
i’m no expert but these are just my experiences with these joints.
Thank you for your discussion pixeldotz. That did give me a good insight on the joints.
Now, I wanted to thank everyone for making it possible for me to make my first controller box! Not everyone posted up tips however I did enjoy everyone’s company and discussion.
Without further adieu here is my box…
Front Side
Back Side
The philosophy in building this stick:
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The controls for both players is not shifted to the right so that player 1 is right in smack of the middle of the screen while the second player suffers on the right side edge of the controller/screen.
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Enough palm space for everyone.
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Enough space in the middle so you don’t have to be so close to your friend/opponent. (In my neigborhood, I don’t know any girl playing SF IV)
Will post up pics again when I’m done with the graphics. :lol:
Sweet dude! Lookin good!
You’re quite welcome. Woodworking can be fun.
I am by no means a professor but I thank you just the same. It is much easier to fit the top and bottom panels to the frame then try to fit the frame to the panels.
Dowels do give a joint quite a bit of strength if done properly. Even with a doweling jig and center points it can be done wrong. I learned this the hard way. Make sure you label which piece goes for which side and which faces mate up. If you don’t you can end up with two left sides instead of a right and left. When I was done the frame was twisted and warped. Not at all something I wanted to sell. After that I went back to my miters. :lol:
Pocket screws are a good method of joining two pieces of wood. However due to the nature of MDF screws in general are not good. MDF is nice and heavy but not all that strong or dense. Plus MDF has no fiber structure for the screw to grab onto. As long as you do the pockets on the inside they are perfect for butt joints.
As far as pre-drilling for screws you can purchase a set of drill bits that will allow you to countersink the screw. The number on the bit should match the number on the screw. For example you are going to use a #8 - 3/4" screw. The #8 is the screw size and the 3/4 is the length. You can get countersink sets inexpencive at your local home centers.
Michael
So here comes a semi-retarded post…
I have a relativly big project coming up, and I’m getting sick and tired of my Miter-Saw not cutting perfectly perpendicular EVEN after I’ve squared the damn thing.
I’ve thought about using planes as michael described in his post, but if the cut isn’t straight to begin with a plane won’t change that…
I’m just not sure what to do to get perfectly straight cuts. In the past working with thin pieces of wood it was fine because it’s only “slightly” uneven and I can sand the relativly small pieces even fairly easily. But that won’t fly on this upcoming project =/
Well. The best way to get precise cuts is with a cabinet saw. They are extremely expensive however. A cheap option would be a nice table saw. I use a miter saw now simply because its faster, but, you do get more gaps in the corners and stuff with the miter saw. Although, I dont know if you have a length stop on your miter saw or not. But the length stop and the material clamp make a world of difference with speed and accuracy.
I’ve thought about doing it with a table saw, but cross grain cuts on the tablesaw are a bitch…
Actually, I may have actually just come up with a workaround… Problem with cross-grain cuts are that the short end goes against the gate. So when pushing it through there’s a tendancy for it to “wobble” creating slices where you don’t want them. But I might just be able to clamp some spare parts of wood with it to help the side against the gate become wider so theres less tendancy to wobble…
Hopefuly that works.
Thanks again Ecks!