Chess Tables
These four identical tables were commissioned by BackSpace Internet Café.
The design goal was to create a table with a retro-futuristic
feel that was also inviting to the customers.
Steel
for this project was salvaged from the waste bin at an old job.
The table tops
were made from 3/8 inch polycarbonate sheet. The sheet was also saved from a scrap pile. A router was used to recess the border
pieces.
The playing squares were painted onto the plastic - contact paper was used for the masking material.
Custom made brackets are used to bolt the legs onto the table tops.
The legs on the tables have holes drilled
on both sides near the top. Acrylic sphere halves
where then imbedded into the legs. The spheres were pressed with a jig after the plastic was heated in an oven. Inside each leg I placed 4 blue LEDs
to light up the spheres.
The tops are lit with red, blue and purple LEDs.
The LEDs are soldered onto strips of acrylic sheet.
1 1/2 inch diameter heat shrink tubing is used to seal the LED strips before being inserted into the tops. The tables run off a 12 volt DC current. The low voltage is supplied through custom made outlet boxes mounted outside the building.
Borders of the tables are made up of 1 inch brass strips. I etched the logo for BackSpace onto the brass with Ferric Chloride. The etching tank was made from 2 inch PVC pipe with a fish tank air stone at the bottom to create enough movement to lift the metal away from the surface. The tank was heated with halogen lights and aluminum foil.
The tables are designed for outdoor use. One of the challenges was keeping the look of raw steel without the tables getting excessively hot in the afternoon sun. Steel is a good conductor of heat; to solve the heat problem I used an auto body clear coat as a thermal barrier. Over 20 light coats where applied. After every four coats the surface was rubbed down with 4-aught steel wool. This has worked well keeping the heat down and protecting against the elements.
Completed July 15th, 2005
Last Updated January 18th, 2006
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