Introducing the Artistic Series

Those of you who have been following my blog have seen these cases take shape.  I am still waiting on artwork for the Narra case but the Bubinga case is finally finished.  You can click on each of the images below for a larger version.  I was lucky enough to get this beautiful wood from a fellow member of WoodNet.net.  All the boards were 1/4″ thick and about 3″ wide.  Two of the 6 boards were a near perfect grain match.   I decided to use this match to make the top of the case.  Because of the narrowness of the boards this also determined the depth of the case.

Top View

I wanted this case to be one of my full custom hardwood case.  Each control in the case gets some form of the main wood from the case.  To that end I took one of the small cuttoffs from the case sides and passed it through my bandsaw for veneers.  I had just loaded my bandsaw with a new blade as wide as it could handle and tuned it up for the blade.  Surprisingly I was able to get 3 veneers out of the 1/4″ thick piece.  After some sanding and a few coats of polyurathane they were ready to be cut and inserted into the buttons.

Side Buttons

Main Buttons

Thanks to another member of WoodNet.net I was able to procure a small turning block to match the rest of the case.  This I had planed on using to make a normal sized ball top.  However due to one dimension being just a tad small and a slight misalignment of the center I ended up with a small balltop.  This top is 30mm instead of the standard 35mm.  With the size and scale of the case I think that this was a happy mistake.  As you can see I also make a Bubinga dust cover to match.  Because the top panel was only 1/4″ thick I decided to show the mounting screws and choose solid brass.

Joystick

The corner blocks needed to be just as nice as the main wood.  I also wanted it to contrast to give the case some character.  I went to my small but growing stash of special lumber.  What caught my attention was some Curly Spalted Maple.  After carefully choosing the section of the Maple board I cut out the corner blocks.  With even more care I laid out and cut the case corners and glued these 3/4″ square blanks into the resulting spaces.

Accent Corner Blocks

One final detail is the bottom panel.  The Bubinga was so beautiful from both sides I wanted to show it off.  I had sanded and polished both sides of the panel prior to assembly.  Then drilled the holes for the controls.  After the finish coat of polyurathane was applied and dried I installed a clear plexiglas bottom panel.

Clear Bottom Panel

Here you can see the controls.  A Sanwa JLF joystick, Seimitsu translucent main buttons and Seimitsu side buttons.  These are wired to a Cthulhu board.  This control board allows this joystick to be used on a PS3 or personal computer.  All these parts I purchased from LizardLick.com.  There is one final stop for this case before it is offered for sale.  My local woodworker’s association has a contest at next months meeting and this case will be my entry.

UPDATE: This case won 3rd place at the contest.  It is now being offered for sale with an asking price of $350.  Please send an email if you are interested in purchasing this beautiful case.

I want to thank you for reading this entry into my blog.  Please leave any comments below.

Final Shot

GAME ON!!