Things are progressing, a little slower than I was expecting, but hey, I’m learning! It’s OK!

Firstly, I attempted to make the bottom access panel without using a frame. The door was too heavy! Major sagging and bad alignment issues. Even with the Euro hinges I only got about a 45 degree opening angle. Not good enough. Kept plugging away at it regardless and ended up with a result that I didn’t like. Well, as they say, there is an easy way and a correct way to do these things.

After some thought, I disassembled the access door and made a frame out of pine, glued and screwed it to the frame and put an overlaid door on top of the frame. Not only is this much simpler to align, but the overlay covers and minor alignment issues nicely. Plus, since the door is singificantly smaller the hinges support the weight much better. I used self-closing hinges so that also eliminates another step of the process. Nice.

Next, I cut the piece for the speaker panel. Started with just a normal rectangle and then did a 45 degree bevel cut down one side (to the best of my ability) with the Jigsaw. Worked out to be reasonable accurate, a tiny bit off in the middle of the cut but nothing some sanding won’t hide. Measured and created templates for the speakers, drilled some 1/2 inch holes and then just kept enlarging with the jigsaw until they were the right size for the speakers to fit in there snugly. Looks really cool with the speakers in - they have a bout 4mm clearance. Need to decide on a cuttable, attractive faceplace material to hide the 1-2mm gap around the edges of the holes, though.

Also cut and mounted the marquee retainer piece. No complications here, just a rectangular piece of wood!

Here’s what it looks like now:

Hard at work!