{"id":255,"date":"2009-01-23T19:39:06","date_gmt":"2009-01-23T08:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madox.net\/blog\/?p=255"},"modified":"2009-01-28T20:39:28","modified_gmt":"2009-01-28T09:39:28","slug":"laser-cut-bamboo-tv-stand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.madox.net\/blog\/2009\/01\/23\/laser-cut-bamboo-tv-stand\/","title":{"rendered":"Laser cut bamboo TV stand"},"content":{"rendered":"

Long story short:\u00a0 Got a new 40″ LCD TV, need a TV stand.\u00a0 Didn’t want to spend $200 on some crappy box stand.\u00a0 Didn’t want to make a plain stand.\u00a0 Thought that laser cutting + bamboo + silly design ought to make a good combination.\u00a0 (This is the WTF is it thing<\/a>…)<\/p>\n

\"Death
Death to the unbelievers who thought this will collapse!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Read on for the build process…<\/p>\n

Design<\/h2>\n

I wanted something different, unique, or maybe just weird and the first concept that came to me was this :<\/p>\n

\"A
A little bit of chaos...randomly aligned support struts<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was going to be out of MDF, with the plates painted black and the supports painted red but I figured I probably suck a painting when I got drawn in by the BAMBOO material Ponoko had on offer.<\/p>\n

Bamboo is a wicked temptation, almost 3 times more expensive than thicker MDF and limited to 5.5mm thickness I figured I needed a new design.\u00a0 No need to show that here… lets just skip to see the result shortly.<\/p>\n

Summary of design process (with links!) was to use Alibre Xpress<\/a> to model up all the pieces and lay it as a flat pattern, export the flat pattern to DXF, convert it to SVG using Kabeja<\/a>, check and apply Ponoko<\/a> template using Inkscape<\/a> and voila…<\/p>\n

Assembly<\/h2>\n

The unpacking joy<\/a> was already covered in a previous post which included a odd-ball of filler design as not to waste the material.\u00a0 A replacement piece was kindly sent from Ponoko to replace the one damaged in shipping (Thank you Ponoko).\u00a0 Here are all the pieces laid out on my snooker\/table tennis table.<\/p>\n

\"All
All the laser-cut bamboo pieces from Ponoko nicely laid out<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Remember to use protection dear…<\/h3>\n

If you looked closely there’s a can of ‘Danish Oil’ on the table which will shortly be applied to the wood to give…<\/p>\n

\"A
A layer of danish oil to protect and stain the wood<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shiny! Much prettier too \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 Wait for it to dry and flip it over to coat the other side and the process can continue!<\/p>\n

Putting it together…<\/h3>\n

Piecing it together is as simple as slotting all the pieces together as the following photos will show.<\/p>\n

\"Piecing
Piecing it together bit by bit, 'Slot & Play' style.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Basics
Basics of the frame assembled, structural rigidity achieved.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Plate
Plate plonks on...<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Plate
Plate slides in!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Plates
Plates lock in...with these little pieces...<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Close
Close up of the decorative bits.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Looks
Looks kind of 'weird' doesn't it?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No sticky sticky yet<\/h3>\n

I’ve not applied any PVA glue yet at this stage but just wanted to test out if it can hold some weight.\u00a0 Even without any glue all the pieces are locked in and stayed all together.<\/p>\n

\"All
All pieces in place, holds together without glue!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rear
Rear view...<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Load
Load testing it with my PC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n

\"Load
Load testing again with the PC on the top shelf...<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/h3>\n

Final touches…<\/h3>\n

A bit of glue here and there and felt furniture feet on the bottom of the piece as not to scratch the tiles…<\/p>\n

\"PVA
PVA Glue is always good...<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Furniture
Furniture feet!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Furniture
Furniture feet making their appearance again. Camera flash on shows a more true colour of the bamboo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The moment of truth!<\/h3>\n