Greek Key Design Table Back

This is no original design by any means, but it is done with all my own measurements. The designer gave me a rough drawing and I redrew it in SU to scale.(The designer did give me the Length and Height, I laid out the key)
Sketchup Pic:

I figured the easiest way to make this would be to do it in 3 layers. I used Walnut ply for the first layer, which would be the inside layer, then I used shop maple ply for the 2nd layer. (I cut out the center sections of all these pcs to reduce weight. Then I used Walnut ply again for the outside layer. (Except for the 2 top surfaces which I used Maple ply again and plan on covering them with wow(wood on wood) 2 ply veneer.)
Here are some pics of the build.

Everything went as expected, I glued and screwed all the joints, I glued on and clamped the outside layer of Walnut ply so that there would be no nail holes. Everything was good, stood the unit up to look at, left for the day, tomorrow would be veneer the faces and the 2 top portions.
When I got in the next morning I noticed that the key section had dropped down 1/4" out of level. OMG, I shouldn’t have left the unit standing up as all the glue had not set up, but now it has. Now I have to figure how to fix it.
I went and got some metal braces and routed them into the corners to reinforce All of the joints..

Covered the braces with wood pcs to flush the face back up.

Then used bondo to fill the remaining gaps.

Sanded everything flush, presto the fix was in.

So I thought, The key portion was still sagging about an 1/8". I could live with that I guess,
Well maybe not, I decided there was 1 more thing I could do before totally tearing things apart. I went and bought some 5" lag bolts. I spread the key apart so that it was 1/8" over the sag.(figured I would give it some room to relax).
I pre-drilled the holes and used my impact to drive them in. I did this to all the outside corners.

This did the trick and the whole unit is much stronger. After thinking about it, If I did it again I would just have a square tube frame welded up and cover that with panels.
On to the veneering. I had to cover the faces of both sides. I have been using the butch method of contact cement, but in my defense I have stuck many many miles of it without having any trouble. It’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks as they say… Here are some pics mitering the corners and gluing the pcs on.



And here it is ready for stain. I’m also making a serving tray for them.




I’ve got it stained and am putting on lacquer today. I will post it as a project when it’s finished.
Thanks for reading.