Control Panel Issues

I've run into a little snag - I am still trying to work out how the control panel and monitor bezel are going to interact with each other as well as how the bottom of the control panel is going to transition to the bottom portion of the cabinet (the top of the coin door panel). I ended up staring at the cabinet for a solid 45 minutes without doing a single thing because I want to make sure I do this right.

This is a picture of the problem area:


Hopefully the pencil lines are viewable - they show where the control panel will go. Right now the control panel top/bezel is going to be at a 90 degree angle to the control banel bottom. I should note that the small support piece in the middle of the cabinet (as shown in the picture) is not glued in place so it is moveable.

I think I want the control panel and bezel to be made out of one sheet of MDF except I run into problems when I start thinking about adding the smoked glass overlay (3/16" thick) and potentially a thin posterboard bezel to frame the monitor closely. I am probably going to offset the control panel top and monitor bezel by 1/4" to accomodate the glass and the posterboard but this might be tricky.

The monitor is going to be a 17" Dell LCD computer monitor. I plan to cut a hole in the MDF bezel panel the exact size of the outer circumference of the monitor case so I can have the LCD screen flush with the MDF bezel panel. The monitor will be supported from behind and I plan to add a thin piece of black posterboard on top to cover the edges of the monitor and make it look nice. I'm also planning to cover the entire control panel with Happs black vinyl so it will be able to withstand a little abuse from my daughter.

The next issue to resolve is how the angled front of the control panel meets the middle support piece. The only reason this middle piece is there at all is to frame the hinged coin door panel on the top. I wanted a small lip on the top of the coin door panel so it didn't just butt up against the front of the control panel. This lip will also hide the fact that the coin door panel opens.

I think the follwing diagram is a nice solution but it also means I will have to cut the MDF at some very odd angles to make everything fit.



Oh well, I hope this works. I also have to keep in mind that I need access to the underside of the control panel in order to install the controls and wire everything. My head is going to explode!!

Thanks for looking!!