Randy's Coin Pusher Build: Play Field Construction Begins

With the side panels successfully cut out, I decided the next logical item to work on would be the play field.

I debated with myself how I wanted to cut these items - table saw or X-Carve - and decided on the X-Carve. That was mostly because I felt the two side pieces with the angles could be done quicker than on the table saw (plus my table saw has a bunch of stuff on it I really did not feel like moving :) ).

I will break my play field up in three distinct components:

Platform - the large flat board
Corner Pieces - the 2 angled pieces on either side of the platform
Front Skirt - the two long pieces that hang off the front of the platform

Platform

The platform was a quick to design and cut on the X-Carve.

Corner Pieces

The corner pieces, as I refer to them, sit on the play field and on either side of the push platform. They open the play area wider at the front and also house the lose chutes (the holes for the coins that go to the house winnings). The construction of these corner pieces are comprised of 3 items - 3/4" plywood, 1/4" plywood, and walnut trim. The height of the corner piece is 1" (1/4' piece stacked on top of the 3/4" piece). This is to set it higher than the push platform and it is much easier to cut the lose chute.

First the 3/4" board is cut allowing for the lose chute. (Note that these are carve upside down so that any splintering happens on the non-showing side of the wood.)

Then the 1/4" board is cut. It has the same shape minus the lose chute.

Please ignore the odd cut at the bottom of that board. That happened in my first attempt to cut out those items and is a result of not clamping the board well enough. It started moving during the carve so I had to abort, re-position, add more clamps, and start the carve again.

After some sanding and cutting of the walnut trim, I decided grab the side boards and do a quick mock-up and see how things were looking.