Still working on the top panel, but it's been in a holding pattern until I can get a good dry weekend to do some fiberglassing. (which might actually be this weekend <crosses fingers> ). In the mean time, I've been skipping ahead to the front grill. So here is some of that progress:
Using 1 1/2" x 1/8" aluminum flat bar, I cut 18 pieces down to size. This is the first half.
Next I started rounding the bottoms to match the curve of the side panels.
The cutting is followed by the filing.
All 18 pieces rounded. A bit more work is needed to get them all the same.
Next step is to drill mounting holes through all pieces. I wanted the grill to come out more in the center, so I staggered each piece by 3/16" before drilling. I double and triple-checked the spacing, and made sure the pieces were square at the bottom before clamping them together.
the 3/16" offset was about the max I could go, leaving me with a 1/4" between the hole and the edges of each end piece.
Half of the grill done, with temporary acrylic spacers added just to see how it looks.
Looks pretty good, now to do the other side. You can also see my badass cardboard mockup of the front bezel where the lcd screen, fan controller, and key switch will go.
Repeated the same process for the other side, and assembled all together. I love the stepping!
And finally, a shot of the whole thing in place.
Can't wait to get the top edges done, and the whole thing polished up. It's gonna look shaweet! :)