So many Maker projects are really just about one discipline — woodworking, machining, electronics, you get the idea. I wanted to build a piece of furniture that blended two different concepts — electronics and woodworking — and build a unique looking coffee table that’s one part rustic design, and the other Tron-inspired sci-fi.
The surface of the table is made from a big wooden slab of maple that I picked up recently, complimented with some old barn wood. Strips of the barn wood are also used to create the edging of the table. Working with old wood and odd angles in this manner means a good bit of trial and error, but you can get an idea of the approach that I took in the video.
The legs are built up from intercut slabs of plywood – there’s a lot of technique in this section, which is why I’ve broken out an entire section of the video to focus in on plywood and the differing grades and ways of working with it. I know that sounds pretty dry, but there’s a lot more there than you might think.
I finished the surfaces of the table with some tung oil — it will help protect the wood over its lifetime, but also enhances the contrasts between all the different woods that I used.
The lighting that I used for the interior of the table are these remote controlled RGB LED strips. I left a gap between the maple slab and the barn wood, and filled the gap with epoxy, and then sanded it down to keep the surface smooth, and then I added a frosted glass spray to the inside to enhance the effect. Watch the other quick tip video for epoxy uses & techniques. The result is the LEDs glowing through the finished epoxy surface, offering a pretty striking result.
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