This Is a Work Period, Not a Lesson

Every skill you need — CNC operation, additive manufacturing, material handling — already exists from the last seven weeks. These four sessions are for turning your programmed panels into a physical cabinet.

Teams will move at different speeds, especially around machine access — that's expected. A design that looked simple on paper often needs a small adjustment once you're actually holding the cut panels, which is normal, not a sign you did Milestones 2–3 wrong.

Every Session 4 CNC safety protocol still applies, every session, every panel — certified, supervised, one job at a time, no exceptions.

Build

Cut Your Panels

Run each panel's job from Milestone 3, rotating through available machine time. Follow your pre-cut checklist for every single job, not just the first one.

Print Any Additive Components

For any part you decided to 3D print back in Session 3 (brackets, bezels, mounts), slice and print it now — using the layer height, infill, and orientation reasoning you already worked out.

Assemble the Cabinet

Join your cut panels per your Milestone 2 design. Troubleshoot as you go — a panel that doesn't quite fit is Build and Iterate happening together, the same as Unit 1 Session 1's design cycle described.

Integrate Electronics

Mount your monitor, install your chosen system (RetroPie Raspberry Pi or Windows x86), and wire up your USB controller kit and any other hardware from the provided kit.

Spot-Check Timing

At the Session 25–26 spot-check, your instructor checks every team: is your cabinet physically assembled and are electronics at least test-fitted, regardless of polish? A team that's badly behind at that point needs to flag it now, not wait until the milestone ends.

Optional Stretch Features

If your team finishes core assembly and electronics with time to spare, T-molding and marquee LEDs are available extensions — genuinely optional, not required to demonstrate proficiency.

Checkpoint

By the Session 25–26 spot-check, your instructor confirms:

• All panels are cut and the cabinet is physically assembled
• Electronics are installed and at least powering on
• No CNC safety protocol is being skipped, on any job

"Functional" is the bar here, not "finished" or "polished" — that distinction matters, since Milestone 5 needs real time to present and reflect, not a squeezed leftover.

Reflection

Answer the following questions before submitting your work.

1. What's the biggest way your actual cabinet differs from your Milestone 2 CAD model? What forced that change?
2. Did your route-or-print decisions from Session 3 hold up once you were actually building, or would you decide differently now?
3. Milestone 5 asks you to present this cabinet to your client. What's the one feature you're most looking forward to explaining?

Submit

No written deliverable this milestone beyond your reflection — this is graded as a hard checkpoint via your instructor's direct spot-check, plus your individual reflection.

Milestone Complete