LED Epoxy Resin River Table That GLOWS
Hey everyone, Jeremy Hoffman.
Over the past few months I have received a lot of positive feedback about my previous two epoxy table projects, so I decided to build an LED epoxy river table with Sinker Cypress.
The table is embedded with fire glass and hairpin legs.
YouTube videos can be found here and there are free DIY plans on my blog.
I used Di to buy a Sinker Cypress about 8 feet long and about 17 inch wide.
This is a picture of me cutting the wood in half.
I usually start my carpentry project from preparing wood, and this project is no different.
The Hinkley Cypress is a beautiful variety of wood, but it is a bit soft and requires special care during preparation.
First of all, I cut 8 feet sinker cypress at a speed of 50 \"long.
I cut with my straight edge and saw.
The LED epoxy river table will be 48 \"long, but I left an extra inch at both ends to square the edges in later steps.
Next, I tore the wood with my band saw.
Why am I using my band saw instead of my table saw? Good Question.
The sunken cypress did not ride a straight side along the fence of the table saw.
It is not safe to cut such a heavy piece of wood through a table saw without a fence or sledge to prevent the wood from moving.
I have no joiners so I can\'t get a straight line.
I do have a connection fixture, but the piece of wood is a bit too long for my connection fixture.
I don\'t care if the wound is completely straight because I need to trim some wood anyway.
I don\'t care because it\'s definitely not straight.
Then I took two sunken cypress trees and pulled one side straight with my connection fixture with the tuxedo clip.
I really like this add-on fixture because it really makes the sides very straight.
I used a few of my usual chisels to remove loose bark from every sunken cypress.
I want to keep the \"Live EDGE\" look of each piece, so I\'m careful in the process.
Since it was planned by my hard wood dealer, the sunken cypress is relatively flat;
However, it is still a bit rough.
I ran every piece through the planing machine several times.
I removed 1/64 on each pass.
Next, I polished every piece of sunken cypress with my track Sander.
I use sandpaper to polish the face, sides, and smooth the living edges where the bark is removed.
I started with 120, 150, and finally 220.
Quick tip: to get a very smooth finish, wipe the wood again with your highest sand with wet cloth and sand.
The water lifts the grain a little, helping to remove the excess grain.
I used my diagonal saw to wrap each end of the Hinkley tree in a square.
Just need to remove about 1/2 \"from each side to get its square.
This has been fixed as I may need to square it again in a later step and I will have 1 left.
Remember, I\'m 50 cents.
The melamine box is a very important step for the LED epoxy river table.
Epoxy resin does not adhere to melamine, which makes melamine a perfect material containing epoxy resin.
I built the melamine box to create the exact size of the table to prevent the epoxy from penetrating into the sides and ends.
The bottom of the melamine box needs 2 pieces of melamine because I don\'t have one wide enough.
I glued these two pieces together with a spray with an activator.
This will create a strong enough adhesion force to stay together.
The side/end of the melamine box will provide the necessary stability.
The bottom of the melamine box is 20 \"wide and 49\" long.
I cut the sides in the same length as the bottom, they are 2 7/8 high (
Wood 2 \"thick, 3/4\" thick melamine).
I connect the side with screws after drilling.
I put the sunken cypress at the bottom and measured the end to get the exact measurement.
The end is 21. 5\" wide.
Quick tip: tape measurement is very good, but please use the board itself for more accurate measurement.
I used my hot glue gun to seal the melamine box on the side and corner of the LED epoxy river table.
Next, I applied a layer of Johnson paste wax to the bottom, side and top of the box exposed by the particle board.
Johnson paste wax further prevents epoxy from sticking where it should not.
I then put the pieces of the cedar tree in the box, sealed in the edges and corners to prevent epoxy resin from oozing out.
I put a thin piece of silicon caulking at the seam at the bottom of the melamine box.
This is not a must, but I decided to do so.
If you want to know, the Silicon cauldron is not glued to the seam. Why?
Because I put Johnson paste wax at the bottom-smh.
I can surprise myself sometimes!
This didn\'t hurt anything because the caulking was easy to erase.
Quick tip: it is very difficult to prevent the epoxy from drilling under the wood, but it is worth trying to prevent it as much as possible.
Before I mixed the first batch of epoxy resin for the LED epoxy river table, I used 6 pieces, 3 2x 4S and 6 f-
Fix the sunken cypress in place.
This helps to minimize the penetration of epoxy from under the table.
I used epoxy in my pecky sinker cypress table project and my river rock table project, so this is not the first time I have ever used this material for a rodeo competition.
It is very important to follow the instructions on mixing and applying epoxy resin accurately.
These things are not cheap, and if you think you can skip an unimportant step --think again!
I mix epoxy in a 1:1 ratio (
1 Hard agent and 1 resin)
A total of 16 ounces.
16 ounces is my sweet spot \".
The money is easy to handle.
When the first material is mixed (
Not the whip B/c that causes bubbles)
Cloudy and overcast.
After a few minutes of mixing/stirring the material, it will start to \"break\" and become easier to stir.
Then it becomes clearer, and that\'s when it\'s ready to fall.
I slowly poured the epoxy and covered the entire bottom about 1/4 thick.
Next, I remove the bubbles with my hot gun.
Quick tip: to remove as many bubbles as possible, it is important to use a hot gun for about 20 minutes every 2 to 3 minutes.
After the first pour-curing, I took out the f-
Clip For LED epoxy river table, 2x4 s and 2x4 pieces.
The second pour repeats the same process as the first pour, with the same amount of material (16 ounces in total.
I want to embed crystals in the middle of the epoxy layer on the LED epoxy river table because it looks cool.
Once I checked the price of the crystal, I quickly shifted my attention to the alternative material.
I found fire glass as an alternative.
Fire-proof glass is used in outdoor fire-fighting places, so it is called fire-proof glass.
I pour the fireproof glass on the top of the second layer epoxy and make sure that the height of the fireproof glass is lower than the height of the table.
Next, I poured a layer of epoxy to cover the fire-proof glass.
I use my hot gun to clear the bubbles.
The melamine box is easy to remove.
To be honest, it is a pain to prepare the melamine box with wax, hot glue, etc.
But it\'s worth the time.
I removed the side, back/front and then the bottom.
I was surprised when I lifted the bottom because I didn\'t expect that much epoxy to penetrate below.
I use my electric hand planing bed every 1/1/64 through.
It took a lot of time to eliminate the excess, but it worked.
I rarely use an electric manual planing bed, but I\'m glad I have one.
They are very cheap and work well for apps like this.
The electric manual planing bed is not perfect as it leaves some \"running marks \".
I used my lie Nielsen low angle jack plane to flatten the bottom of the LED epoxy River.
This is one of my favorite tools in the store.
It\'s a bit expensive, but it seems to me that high-quality tools are worth it.
Wood river made another choice and I heard it was a great low angle jack plane.
You can have a look here.
Just when I think I \'ve finished polishing for a while, it\'s time to polish again.
I hate polishing if you don\'t notice.
I polished the table and epoxy very lightly with 220 sandpaper.
As long as you are going to apply another coating, it is perfectly OK to polish it on the epoxy.
Next, I use my Stanley block to make sure the side is straight.
Then I saw this piece on the table on one side and on the other.
I removed about 1/4 from each side.
Finally, I removed 1/2 \"from each end with my worx bench, straight edge and round saw \".
This makes the table just 48 \"wide.
Some of my friends make fun of me because I don\'t have a woodworking workbench.
I\'m sure they are great, but I don\'t want to have a 4 pound workbench in the middle of my store.
The things in my shop are useful to me. :)
I decided to put a small circle on top of the LED epoxy river table with a 1/4 round drill bit and my decorative router. Perfect-
I\'m glad I didn\'t use the round trip bit of 1/2.
On my previous 2 epoxy tables I covered the whole table with epoxy.
The Cypress is so unique and beautiful that I don\'t want to cover it with epoxy.
I want to feel the texture of the wood and see it as natural as possible.
Epoxy gives it half
Dark luster.
This dark tone does look great, but I want something different for this table.
Before applying the final coating of the epoxy to the table, I decided to use the HVAC tape.
HVAC tape prevents any epoxy from reaching the table.
I mixed 6 oz epoxy and brushed the last layer with a wood sheet.
I didn\'t have a foam brush at the time, so I used what was in my store.
After I applied the last coat to the LED epoxy river table, I immediately removed the tape.
I\'m still not sure how I missed these bubbles that haven\'t escaped before, but somehow I managed to miss them.
It\'s not a big deal because they are near the top of the mountain, so it\'s a simple solution.
I gently drill out the bubbles with my drill bit and a round sink bit.
It\'s like a charm.
Before I put on my last coat (
Hope this is the last coat to be true)
I manually polish the surface with 1000 sandpaper.
I also spent some time clearing debris from the hole I drilled.
I repeated the process of the last clip before.
However, I decided not to use tape this time to test my painting \"cutting\" skills.
In fact, I ran out of HVAC tapes so I had no choice. :).
Good effect-no accidents.
I decided to use shellac (
Transparent/transparent)
Finish on LED epoxy River deck.
Actually, I went to the store and bought a foam brush for this part of the project.
The shellac dries very fast and it is a good finish to use on wood.
I applied a coat and polished it with 220 sandpaper.
I repeated this exact process for the second coat.
For the third and final coating, I mixed acetone with shellac to dilute the mixture a little.
I applied this finish and wrapped it on the sand block with 1000 sandpaper and gently polished the last layer.
I applied a thin layer of wax with my buffer (
Beeswax and flax oil).
The buffer allows me to control the appearance of the finish more.
Quick tip: Do not let acetone touch the epoxy resin.
Another layer of epoxy coating is also required if required.
I bought hairpin legs on Amazon.
Legs are 28 \", available in two colors
Thick steel or black.
I chose raw steel because it fits the table and hardware style of our home better than black.
I was shocked by the quality of these hairpin legs.
I didn\'t expect their legs to be so strong.
I had to wash them with mineral spirits as they were full of residue.
I guess these residues were deliberately placed on top to prevent rust during shipment, but I\'m not sure.
After cleaning, I put them at the end of the table and marked the holes with a double-sided pencil. Next, I pre-
Drill the hole and screw it in place.
To be honest, there is no LED light, this LED epoxy River Watch is good.
In fact, I prefer tables without them.
However, I purchased them for this table, so I put them on top with CA glue.
I made sure to install a light strip on the edge of the wood and epoxy to hide it.
This works because they are not visible at all when they are not open.
I turned the table over and the light looked \"OK \".
I should have bought the LED light.
I received all kinds of comments.
Some people like lights, some people don\'t.
We will open them at home during the holidays. ; )
I hope this project will provide you with some value as this is my ultimate goal and my forever goal.
Please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel and visiting my website for free DIY plans and other awesome projects.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
My ultimate goal please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel and visiting my website for free DIY plans and other awesome projects. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Over the past few months I have received a lot of positive feedback about my previous two epoxy table projects, so I decided to build an LED epoxy river table with Sinker Cypress.
The table is embedded with fire glass and hairpin legs.
YouTube videos can be found here and there are free DIY plans on my blog.
I used Di to buy a Sinker Cypress about 8 feet long and about 17 inch wide.
This is a picture of me cutting the wood in half.
I usually start my carpentry project from preparing wood, and this project is no different.
The Hinkley Cypress is a beautiful variety of wood, but it is a bit soft and requires special care during preparation.
First of all, I cut 8 feet sinker cypress at a speed of 50 \"long.
I cut with my straight edge and saw.
The LED epoxy river table will be 48 \"long, but I left an extra inch at both ends to square the edges in later steps.
Next, I tore the wood with my band saw.
Why am I using my band saw instead of my table saw? Good Question.
The sunken cypress did not ride a straight side along the fence of the table saw.
It is not safe to cut such a heavy piece of wood through a table saw without a fence or sledge to prevent the wood from moving.
I have no joiners so I can\'t get a straight line.
I do have a connection fixture, but the piece of wood is a bit too long for my connection fixture.
I don\'t care if the wound is completely straight because I need to trim some wood anyway.
I don\'t care because it\'s definitely not straight.
Then I took two sunken cypress trees and pulled one side straight with my connection fixture with the tuxedo clip.
I really like this add-on fixture because it really makes the sides very straight.
I used a few of my usual chisels to remove loose bark from every sunken cypress.
I want to keep the \"Live EDGE\" look of each piece, so I\'m careful in the process.
Since it was planned by my hard wood dealer, the sunken cypress is relatively flat;
However, it is still a bit rough.
I ran every piece through the planing machine several times.
I removed 1/64 on each pass.
Next, I polished every piece of sunken cypress with my track Sander.
I use sandpaper to polish the face, sides, and smooth the living edges where the bark is removed.
I started with 120, 150, and finally 220.
Quick tip: to get a very smooth finish, wipe the wood again with your highest sand with wet cloth and sand.
The water lifts the grain a little, helping to remove the excess grain.
I used my diagonal saw to wrap each end of the Hinkley tree in a square.
Just need to remove about 1/2 \"from each side to get its square.
This has been fixed as I may need to square it again in a later step and I will have 1 left.
Remember, I\'m 50 cents.
The melamine box is a very important step for the LED epoxy river table.
Epoxy resin does not adhere to melamine, which makes melamine a perfect material containing epoxy resin.
I built the melamine box to create the exact size of the table to prevent the epoxy from penetrating into the sides and ends.
The bottom of the melamine box needs 2 pieces of melamine because I don\'t have one wide enough.
I glued these two pieces together with a spray with an activator.
This will create a strong enough adhesion force to stay together.
The side/end of the melamine box will provide the necessary stability.
The bottom of the melamine box is 20 \"wide and 49\" long.
I cut the sides in the same length as the bottom, they are 2 7/8 high (
Wood 2 \"thick, 3/4\" thick melamine).
I connect the side with screws after drilling.
I put the sunken cypress at the bottom and measured the end to get the exact measurement.
The end is 21. 5\" wide.
Quick tip: tape measurement is very good, but please use the board itself for more accurate measurement.
I used my hot glue gun to seal the melamine box on the side and corner of the LED epoxy river table.
Next, I applied a layer of Johnson paste wax to the bottom, side and top of the box exposed by the particle board.
Johnson paste wax further prevents epoxy from sticking where it should not.
I then put the pieces of the cedar tree in the box, sealed in the edges and corners to prevent epoxy resin from oozing out.
I put a thin piece of silicon caulking at the seam at the bottom of the melamine box.
This is not a must, but I decided to do so.
If you want to know, the Silicon cauldron is not glued to the seam. Why?
Because I put Johnson paste wax at the bottom-smh.
I can surprise myself sometimes!
This didn\'t hurt anything because the caulking was easy to erase.
Quick tip: it is very difficult to prevent the epoxy from drilling under the wood, but it is worth trying to prevent it as much as possible.
Before I mixed the first batch of epoxy resin for the LED epoxy river table, I used 6 pieces, 3 2x 4S and 6 f-
Fix the sunken cypress in place.
This helps to minimize the penetration of epoxy from under the table.
I used epoxy in my pecky sinker cypress table project and my river rock table project, so this is not the first time I have ever used this material for a rodeo competition.
It is very important to follow the instructions on mixing and applying epoxy resin accurately.
These things are not cheap, and if you think you can skip an unimportant step --think again!
I mix epoxy in a 1:1 ratio (
1 Hard agent and 1 resin)
A total of 16 ounces.
16 ounces is my sweet spot \".
The money is easy to handle.
When the first material is mixed (
Not the whip B/c that causes bubbles)
Cloudy and overcast.
After a few minutes of mixing/stirring the material, it will start to \"break\" and become easier to stir.
Then it becomes clearer, and that\'s when it\'s ready to fall.
I slowly poured the epoxy and covered the entire bottom about 1/4 thick.
Next, I remove the bubbles with my hot gun.
Quick tip: to remove as many bubbles as possible, it is important to use a hot gun for about 20 minutes every 2 to 3 minutes.
After the first pour-curing, I took out the f-
Clip For LED epoxy river table, 2x4 s and 2x4 pieces.
The second pour repeats the same process as the first pour, with the same amount of material (16 ounces in total.
I want to embed crystals in the middle of the epoxy layer on the LED epoxy river table because it looks cool.
Once I checked the price of the crystal, I quickly shifted my attention to the alternative material.
I found fire glass as an alternative.
Fire-proof glass is used in outdoor fire-fighting places, so it is called fire-proof glass.
I pour the fireproof glass on the top of the second layer epoxy and make sure that the height of the fireproof glass is lower than the height of the table.
Next, I poured a layer of epoxy to cover the fire-proof glass.
I use my hot gun to clear the bubbles.
The melamine box is easy to remove.
To be honest, it is a pain to prepare the melamine box with wax, hot glue, etc.
But it\'s worth the time.
I removed the side, back/front and then the bottom.
I was surprised when I lifted the bottom because I didn\'t expect that much epoxy to penetrate below.
I use my electric hand planing bed every 1/1/64 through.
It took a lot of time to eliminate the excess, but it worked.
I rarely use an electric manual planing bed, but I\'m glad I have one.
They are very cheap and work well for apps like this.
The electric manual planing bed is not perfect as it leaves some \"running marks \".
I used my lie Nielsen low angle jack plane to flatten the bottom of the LED epoxy River.
This is one of my favorite tools in the store.
It\'s a bit expensive, but it seems to me that high-quality tools are worth it.
Wood river made another choice and I heard it was a great low angle jack plane.
You can have a look here.
Just when I think I \'ve finished polishing for a while, it\'s time to polish again.
I hate polishing if you don\'t notice.
I polished the table and epoxy very lightly with 220 sandpaper.
As long as you are going to apply another coating, it is perfectly OK to polish it on the epoxy.
Next, I use my Stanley block to make sure the side is straight.
Then I saw this piece on the table on one side and on the other.
I removed about 1/4 from each side.
Finally, I removed 1/2 \"from each end with my worx bench, straight edge and round saw \".
This makes the table just 48 \"wide.
Some of my friends make fun of me because I don\'t have a woodworking workbench.
I\'m sure they are great, but I don\'t want to have a 4 pound workbench in the middle of my store.
The things in my shop are useful to me. :)
I decided to put a small circle on top of the LED epoxy river table with a 1/4 round drill bit and my decorative router. Perfect-
I\'m glad I didn\'t use the round trip bit of 1/2.
On my previous 2 epoxy tables I covered the whole table with epoxy.
The Cypress is so unique and beautiful that I don\'t want to cover it with epoxy.
I want to feel the texture of the wood and see it as natural as possible.
Epoxy gives it half
Dark luster.
This dark tone does look great, but I want something different for this table.
Before applying the final coating of the epoxy to the table, I decided to use the HVAC tape.
HVAC tape prevents any epoxy from reaching the table.
I mixed 6 oz epoxy and brushed the last layer with a wood sheet.
I didn\'t have a foam brush at the time, so I used what was in my store.
After I applied the last coat to the LED epoxy river table, I immediately removed the tape.
I\'m still not sure how I missed these bubbles that haven\'t escaped before, but somehow I managed to miss them.
It\'s not a big deal because they are near the top of the mountain, so it\'s a simple solution.
I gently drill out the bubbles with my drill bit and a round sink bit.
It\'s like a charm.
Before I put on my last coat (
Hope this is the last coat to be true)
I manually polish the surface with 1000 sandpaper.
I also spent some time clearing debris from the hole I drilled.
I repeated the process of the last clip before.
However, I decided not to use tape this time to test my painting \"cutting\" skills.
In fact, I ran out of HVAC tapes so I had no choice. :).
Good effect-no accidents.
I decided to use shellac (
Transparent/transparent)
Finish on LED epoxy River deck.
Actually, I went to the store and bought a foam brush for this part of the project.
The shellac dries very fast and it is a good finish to use on wood.
I applied a coat and polished it with 220 sandpaper.
I repeated this exact process for the second coat.
For the third and final coating, I mixed acetone with shellac to dilute the mixture a little.
I applied this finish and wrapped it on the sand block with 1000 sandpaper and gently polished the last layer.
I applied a thin layer of wax with my buffer (
Beeswax and flax oil).
The buffer allows me to control the appearance of the finish more.
Quick tip: Do not let acetone touch the epoxy resin.
Another layer of epoxy coating is also required if required.
I bought hairpin legs on Amazon.
Legs are 28 \", available in two colors
Thick steel or black.
I chose raw steel because it fits the table and hardware style of our home better than black.
I was shocked by the quality of these hairpin legs.
I didn\'t expect their legs to be so strong.
I had to wash them with mineral spirits as they were full of residue.
I guess these residues were deliberately placed on top to prevent rust during shipment, but I\'m not sure.
After cleaning, I put them at the end of the table and marked the holes with a double-sided pencil. Next, I pre-
Drill the hole and screw it in place.
To be honest, there is no LED light, this LED epoxy River Watch is good.
In fact, I prefer tables without them.
However, I purchased them for this table, so I put them on top with CA glue.
I made sure to install a light strip on the edge of the wood and epoxy to hide it.
This works because they are not visible at all when they are not open.
I turned the table over and the light looked \"OK \".
I should have bought the LED light.
I received all kinds of comments.
Some people like lights, some people don\'t.
We will open them at home during the holidays. ; )
I hope this project will provide you with some value as this is my ultimate goal and my forever goal.
Please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel and visiting my website for free DIY plans and other awesome projects.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
My ultimate goal please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel and visiting my website for free DIY plans and other awesome projects. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
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