I need a favor...

y2kcrawler

y2kcrawler

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2008
Location
Lake Wylie, SC
Ok, so let me explain what Im doing first. I used to work at a Home Theatre Store. They had a damaged Pioneer 50" plasma that came in through shipment. They wanted to me to throw it out but I just couldnt do that to a $5k TV. So I stripped it down, gutted it, plut some plexiglass back in it with a black light over all the cicruit boards. It lights up pretty nice and looks exactly like the TV. I am turning it into a coffee table.

So here is the favor, I need to make a base for this thing. If someone could help out in making this, maybe have a few creative ideas, it doesnt matter, but i was thinking tubing, diamond plating, whatever you think would work but be sturdy and look technical. Ill have some pictures up soon so you can bash on my idea or love it. I think it will turn out cool so a lil help would be nice.

Heck I have wanted to learn to weld and bend pipe an all that mess so a lesson would be nice if someone wants to learn me. I have no materials/tools/work space to do this. Let me know what yall think. thanks!
 
53 views so far and not one comment... Guess its a lame idea. oh well, i finished the top part. Just need the base and make things a little more flush. I think it looks pretty good though.
 
only idea that comes to mind, and it may sound silly, but ...bendable conduit.
Figure out a way to steady it.
So..theres your first comment.:beer:
 
Dylan W. said:
only idea that comes to mind, and it may sound silly, but ...bendable conduit.
Figure out a way to steady it.
So..theres your first comment.:beer:
Click to expand...

Preciate it.. But that kinda defeats the whole "sturdy" part. As soon as I go to prop my feet up it will crash down. I was thinking 1" pipe or I saw a guy has a plethora of diamond plating. I hope he see this thread :bounce2:
 
y2kcrawler said:
53 views so far and not one comment... Guess its a lame idea. oh well, i finished the top part. Just need the base and make things a little more flush. I think it looks pretty good though.
Click to expand...

Posting those pics would really help out a lot... 'cause I have a lot of ideas, but w/o seeing what itImagine laying the L looks like now, it's hard to know what the best approach would be.

Here's my first thought.
You could make a kind of "frame" using steel L-channel, whatever the thickness of the TV is... 3"? 4"? Imagine laying 4 pieces of channel down on the ground, with one side on the floor, and the other sticking up, and make a rectangle with them so the base is on the inside and on the floor, liek a picture frame. The corners will need to be mitered 45 deg on the base so they fit together, then welded.
Your TV should then lie/fit into this rectangle, supported by the lip around the edges on the bottom, and flush against teh sides. You can then screw it from the bottom and sides through the frame and into the TV's frame. Perhaps run a rod of flat stock across the middle (at 25") just for extra support.
From that frame, you could easily attach (e.g. weld, bolt) legs for it to stand up on.
 
Im in visioning the TV on its back, with the screen pointing towards the ceiling...if this isnt right, my idea wont work..

Id use one of those tools that is used when trying to lay tile or something next to rock (matches the contours of the rock...dunno what its called)

I would then transfer the profile of the back of the TV to a sheet of steel or aluminum and cut out...4 or 5 pieces. These pieces would form the "frame" of the table. Id then run two steel pipes through the center of the frame pieces, and then use a pipe bender and bend the end of those pipes into the legs.

I dunno how well Ive explained that very well...I dont have access to autocad anymore, so I cant really draw up a picture.
 
That sounds pretty tight.. I will try and draw something up in Google Sketchup if i have time. BTW - check out that program if you are unfamiliar with autocad; its the same concept, just user friendly :)
 
y2kcrawler said:
That sounds pretty tight.. I will try and draw something up in Google Sketchup if i have time. BTW - check out that program if you are unfamiliar with autocad; its the same concept, just user friendly :)
Click to expand...

I tried using it, just couldnt really understand it.

This kind of stuff is something I hope to get into one day, taking random items (car parts, various garbage, tv's) into furniture like the table your talking about.
 
Thanks, I havent seen anyone else do it. Maybe someone just doesnt have the time and its just junk to them but for a computer person like me (nerd if you wanna be a dick ha ha) its pretty neat to change it into something else. I was originally going to get some frosted plexi glass so the black light would pick up the frost and the whole thing would glow but they didnt have any at Lowes and I wasnt going to search around. So I had all these leftover circuit boards from the TV and misc. computers and saw those light up pretty well, so now it looks like you are looking inside the TV with an ominous glow. Its pretty sick I think. I will try an snap some pics tonight.
 
Oh yeah, and one more thing. I need to figure out a support for it, it gets pretty flimsy in the middle if you apply any weight. I used a 2x4 but that was just too big and ugly, so i was thinking of 2 small .1/4" bars as supports. Not sure how to set this up yet to where you can look into the tv without some big tacky support. Im gonna look in the junk pile and see what I have.
 
y2kcrawler said:
Preciate it.. But that kinda defeats the whole "sturdy" part. As soon as I go to prop my feet up it will crash down. I was thinking 1" pipe or I saw a guy has a plethora of diamond plating. I hope he see this thread :bounce2:
Click to expand...
make some simple legs out of thin diameter steel...then thread the conduit on that...fits in the whole electrical-tech type theme.

Maybe bend 4 pc. of rebar in a ''u''shape..tack together in the middle....what ever you do, just use conduit man!!!!:beer:

Good luck!
 
what about continuing the supports right up around the tv, with the top actually being separate from it? Have the plexiglass top sitting above the tv, doesnt have to be to far, but it does help with your support issue.
 
y2kcrawler said:
Oh yeah, and one more thing. I need to figure out a support for it, it gets pretty flimsy in the middle if you apply any weight. I used a 2x4 but that was just too big and ugly, so i was thinking of 2 small .1/4" bars as supports. Not sure how to set this up yet to where you can look into the tv without some big tacky support. Im gonna look in the junk pile and see what I have.
Click to expand...

If you don't want it to be transparent, go back to Lowe's, and look in the section where they have acoustic tiles - find the panels used for skylights and light panels. They are pretty flimsy, but come in all kinds of designs, like cracked glass. You could attach one of those beneath the plexiglass, so that it blocks out the detail but lets the gross shapes be seen - like in a shower.

For the middle support, also at Lowe's, in teh hardware section you can get a 3'-4' long steel L-bracket, all you need is like 1.5" .180 or so. Paint it black w/ Rustoleum Hammered, and place it in there w/ the flat side up against the underside of the plexiglass (or the ceiling light covers I mentioned). That wouldn't look too bad.
 
If you get some metal I could stick it together for ya, some 1" square and some angle iron should do the trick, you gotta also supply the :beer:
 
You have a welder mike? I need to get over your way anyways for that bumper.. and as always ill have the brews.. Cant do a project without beer... cant finish a project with beer ha ha
 
The Plan....

Ok, this is the best I could do with windows paint since I am on a work computer and dont have any programs on here. But you should get the idea. I want to be able to remove the TV from the table just like you would a peice of glass so I will have easier access for the blacklights to change bulbs out and whatnot.

The plan is to build the table a little bigger than the TV and have a lip for the TV to sit on. I want to use 1" or 1.5" square piping and am not sure about how I want to support the legs. I Think this will turn out pretty well if I can just find the metal and a welder (which I might have a buddy with a couple). So anyone know where to get some free or really really cheap peices of metal? The measurements arent exact on this daigram.

ai46.photobucket.com_albums_f102_j_grey420_TableDesign.jpg
 
Sounds good, i just need to hit up a scrap yard I guess and see what i can find. Know of any around us?
 
Ok, here's what I was thinking, and still suggest, for that frame.
View attachment awww.rewazule.com_David_Junk_TV_frame_idea_2.bmp_.jpg

What is the distance shown in red on the right? I'm guessing maybe 3"? 4"?
Get yourself some .250 angle steel, big enough to provide a ledge for the bottom edge to sit on, and cradle the sides as well, illustrated by deep greenish blue on left. Do this around all four sides, and it will provide axactly what you were asking about above. Where they meet at the corners, just a 45" so it meets up. Look at the back of a pictureframe, same idea.
then you can weld legs (1.5" .120 tube stock) either to the sides of thsi frame, or teh underside of the corners so it matches the profile.
 
The TV....

Ok so here is what I got accomplished so far....

I do not like the peice of 2x4 in the center, so I think I am going to go with glass instead of plexi, it will be better all around and wont look cheap. As for the blacklight, it didnt pickup on the white backdrop I have on it now so I will probably do clear glass and put the circuit boards back on the inside, that or something else to showcase that picks up blacklights. I also think i will need another 24" blacklight. As for the 1/2" of wood that is showing, I need that extra inch to have the back half clear the blacklight, so I will paint it black. Here's the pics so far.

ai46.photobucket.com_albums_f102_j_grey420_DSC00811_1.jpg

ai46.photobucket.com_albums_f102_j_grey420_DSC00810_1.jpg

ai46.photobucket.com_albums_f102_j_grey420_DSC00809_1.jpg

ai46.photobucket.com_albums_f102_j_grey420_DSC00808_1.jpg
 
Wow.. those pictures turned out like garbage.. I think they lost a megapixel or two on the transfer. I will get better clarity later, but you get the idea.
 
It would be cool if you took some copper pipe and soldered together a bottom for it.... like the "boob tube" idea. I would probably make it pretty extravagant though, probably make a base rectangle and then but a lot of useless pipe in the rectangle to make it look technical.


And you only have to have a butane torch!
 
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