Prototype Cabinet Mods
I'm in the process of designing a cabinet for the 2 modern machines I have. These are designs that have been posted by others and not my original designs. Most having been found on this GREAT forum!! My thanks to you all!!
I started with a couple of scrap pieces of particleboard that I used for the legs. This was easy enough to make and I tried to make it look at least a little fashionable with the design.
The hopper was made with scrap 3/16 plywood, a 2X4, 3/16 hardboard and a pill bottle. After making the hopper box I made 6 identical wedges out of the 2X4 about a foot long. I then cut them to length and glued the wedges to the bottom of the hopper with the slant toward the down spout. After that I cut 2 pieces of hardboard to fit and glued them in place. Letting the whole thing cure out a day or 2 I then made the down spout. Using an old pill bottle and the remnants of the particleboard I drilled a 1 1/2" hole in the piece of particleboard and glued the pill bottle in place. After it cured out I set up my router table to cut the slot in the piece so that I could slide a "Cut Off" piece of flat metal or whatever to cut off the flow of balls from the hopper just in case I need to drain the machine and keep the hopper full. (An idea from someone here that has made a hopper type cabinet) I cut the pill bottle to be about 1/8" above the ball tray so that I could open the machine from the front.
The ball return is made from some old PVC pipe and fittings I had no use for until now. I used a 2 1/2" end cap and drilled a hole large enough for the 3/4" pipe to slide into then glued it to the end cap. attached a 90 and another short piece then attached it with some pipe clamps I had and here we are!
Keep in mind that these are just prototypes. I'm really sorry I didn't take progressive photos! The wedges I used for the hopper are hard to visualize and pictures would have helped! I have the machine loaded with a little over 5000 balls and I'd guess it has room for at least 2000 more. It's rather UGLY at this point! I'll have more time this spring/summer between field trips and hope to have a completed cabinet by the end of summer.
I would like to thank you all that have posted pictures of your cabinets as they were a great inspiration and help!!
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Originally Posted by Planedoc
looks great..
The transformer to the left out of the way is really nice too 
