Guest | Login | Register

Reading What Rules

I've been working on this bar since school began this fall in my apartment. I collected a bunch of wood from old dorm lofts and built myself a lofted couch and the frame for this bar. This is the pile of wood that I started out with.

I got myself a large particle board for the top (it was cheapest) and a sheet of poly-carb (I think that's what I used, can't remember).

I built myself a frame with latches for the bar top so when I move from school it will be a little easier to transport.

At college I belong to my school's (Purdue University) Solar Racing team. We mostly use carbon fiber for the body and the type we get is pre-impregnated with the correct mix of epoxy. To keep the epoxy from curing we put it in a freezer but over the summer one of the freezers died and we ended up with several rolls of cured carbon fiber which was completely useless. Well I grabbed a sheet of this stuff and decided to use this under the clear plastic because while cured it still had the feel of linoleum.

I then used Gimp and printed out a large picture of the silhouette of a female using the edge detection tools and traced onto the carbon fiber with a bright marker. I then used a jigsaw to cut out the shape and sanded and painted the edge.

I also cut out a diamond shape in the center of the board with another silhouette on the other side. In the diamond I mounted an old dead motherboard.

Here is what it looked like after putting on the clear sheet and putting the molding on.

I then used some led's and lit the underside of the silhouettes which I had covered with wax paper for a diffuse look and around the motherboard. The led's under the silhouettes are blue but the ones around the motherboard are three color ones with an old control module that allows them to pulse with the sound or just change colors.

This picture is after several modifications later. I took the waxed paper and put it under the carbon instead of under the board. I stained the molding and I also added neon el wiring around the motherboard. Another modification I made to the motherboard was to drill a hole in the center and attach an old hard drive platter. Also note the "highlighter bottles" which is a mixture of one liquid highlighter and water which glows under the blacklight.

Here is a closer shot of the finished diamond. I also found an old Pentium and stuck it in there.

There you have it, my bar. It also boasts a stereo that's hooked into one of my old laptops for tunes.

Awesome dude... when I first saw it I was like... now that's tits! Nice post, definitely worth looking at!

I should be ashamed of myself.

Definitely badass.

"God is dead." - Nietzsche, 1882 "Nietzsche is dead." - God, 1900

Kudos ontop of kudos for that one. Although, I think I would have done the motherboard in the center of the bar and mirrored the two chicks on the other side of the bar to unify the design more. Then again, I'm also an art major and for the past three semesters I've had unity, blanance, and motif drilled into my head by various professors. Heh.

I wonder how much you could get for it if you decided to sell it on eBay?

--Jami

--Jami Yeah, that's gonna sting in the morning.

I completely agree with you. I would've like to center everything but the actual bar is only half the width of the bar top and the other side is an over hang with bar stools underneath so it wasn't technically possible :-(... but still sweet anyways.

Ah, I see. I shoulda clued in on that. :)

--Jami Yeah, that's gonna sting in the morning.

Son of a bitch I had to come out of hiding and occasionally lurking just to say... son of a bitch.

I love the mudflap lady you cut in (I live/grew up in Texas soo it's kinda almost like the cross down here).

Make me one? Albeit for free (I'm a poor college kid)... :P

Pistol Grip Pump In My Lap At All Times

Well the main portion of the project (just the basic bar) cost about $100. And then after adding little touches like stain for the molding and the el rope lighting, it comes to about $200 at the most. Although I must admit I took a lot of freebies. I only bought the molding, top board, poly-carb, el lighting, stain, caulking (water proof under the molding). The rest of the wood and supplies were either laying around or I got for free (I'm a good dumpster diver :-D). I'll gladly draw up plans for it if anyone wants.

Hmm, it might be nice to have these plans on file, I am going to move into an apt this summer... and I've got a friend that loves metal working so this way I have something to work off of...

Pistol Grip Pump In My Lap At All Times