ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO
ETHAN BRAMMEIER
While I attended Rend Lake College I had my first furniture class. Each of us had a month to come up with a design and then build the furniture piece in that time-frame. I decided to build a coffee table that I could use in my college apartment. The table includes LED's that will flash to music and it also has 2 outlet sockets hidden beneath it to allow easy access for powering devices such as laptops and cell phones. Below shows the process of how the table was built.
Coffee Table w/ LED Lights
Plans
Table Parts
Image 1
2 Sheets of Oak Plywood
- (4'x8'x3/4")
Image 2
4 Wooden Oak Posts
- (3'x3"x3")
Image 3
3ft of 12 gauge wire
1/2" insulated staples
Outlet box
Outlet & switch
Plastic cover
2 Male Plugs
1 Female Plug
Image 4
AC to DC 12-volt adapter
RGB Music Controller with remote
16.4 ft Multicolor LED light strip
--Part not shown - Glass Top
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2
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Process
The first step was cutting out the top of the table. The square cutout in the middle is where the glass will sit once routed out. I then proceeded to mark where the side panels and posts would be attached to it.
To finish the top portion of the table I hand-routed the inside and outside edge of the board. The inside was routed a 1/4" deep so the glass would sit flush with the top of the table. In the next picture it shows where I had to cut out the corners since the router couldn't accomplish that.
Once the top was completed it was time to attach the side panels. These boards would provide support and also hide the electrical components. After they were all screwed together, they were counter-sunk into the top piece of the table. Same with the outside panels.
The table legs are factory cut and squared off on the ends. To take away from that, I hand-routed two areas with a 5/8" V-Groove router bit.
Bottom shelf and post connection
I did two coats of stain and one coat of polyurethane to finish the table.
The image above shows the side panels attached to the table top (Table is upside down in the image). You can also see the electrical box that is hidden between the side panels. The yellow wire goes through the post closest to it.
You can see in the image above what I did with the router. Instead of a square block top-to-bottom, it now has some character.
Top of table and post connection
The remote that controls the LED's has 17 different color options. Brightness ranges from 1-10. There is the option of either fading colors or a strobelight. Lastly, there are two sound options. One will flicker the lights when a sound is made. The other the lights will stay on constantly, but change colors when a sound is made.
To make it unnoticable that any wires were running to the top portion of the table, I drilled a 1/2" hole 2 feet through the table leg. This allowed me to run the wire from under the table to the electrical box without it being visible.
Once the bottom shelf was attached to the posts I completed the wiring path by drilling a hole for the wire to exit. This would allow it to be hidden underneath the table
Music IR Controller box is powered by a AC to DC 12 volt adapter.
The LED's face the inside and outside of the table allowing it to light the glass and also the floor around the table.
Built 10/25/11 @ 8:08 pm
Updated 1/17/15 @ 2:47 am