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The Groffice

Palindrome

Palindrome

King of Schwag
And he said LED there be light!

And he said LED there be light!

The LED strips and drivers have arrived, still waiting on a few things before I start building the lights.

Total 65 strips (46V MAX 900 mA)



The drivers are 46V @ 500 mA = 23 Watt per strip.

From Estonia export (ebay) @ 10$ a strip = 650$ incl shipping
 
Palindrome

Palindrome

King of Schwag
After painting the cabinets, next was to put in a top coat of polyester resin.

Rolled on two layers, that cured up fine and I desided to give them all.
One last layer, better safe then sorry and once the can of polyester have been opened. I might as well use it, as it will spoil within 3 months.

I guess I messed up with the hardener or something, as on 3 of the 4 bottoms. The top coat cracked, down to the paint and made a real mess of everything. :moon:

Nothing to do, then sand the shit out of them and try again.
Rolled on a new top coat, getting it well down in all the cracks.
Lifting up some of the edges, it's curing now and then I will have to sand it all once more. To smoothing everything out, and then I should be able to put on, one last layer of resin.



This have been quite a bit of work, I have gone thru a bunch of filters for my mask and several liters of polyester resin.
It shoult be worth it in the end, but im hoping tomorrow will be the last day of working with polyester resin.
 
Drop That Sound

Drop That Sound

Well-known member
I glassed a buddies 900+ sq ft upper deck last summer all by myself, when I should have hired a crew to help me. Even did the entire 6ft wide stair case leading up to it (nicest staircase you ever seen all seamless like one solid piece) , after I practically rebuilt it and re skinned the whole thing with new plywood. Man what a job, 15 gallons of laminating resin, and another 12 gallons of gel coat, with wax additive on the last final coat, black pigment, and anti skid grit. Used almost an entire full roll of chop strand mat. Mixed so many batches I lost track. You could smell it for 3 blocks away on the days I was doing coats and even through the mask. I feel your pain. It will def be worth it and keep looking forward to your updates!
 
Palindrome

Palindrome

King of Schwag
Drop That Sound said:
I glassed a buddies 900+ sq ft upper deck last summer all by myself, when I should have hired a crew to help me. Even did the entire 6ft wide stair case leading up to it (nicest staircase you ever seen all seamless like one solid piece) , after I practically rebuilt it and re skinned the whole thing with new plywood. Man what a job, 15 gallons of laminating resin, and another 12 gallons of gel coat, with wax additive on the last final coat, black pigment, and anti skid grit. Used almost an entire full roll of chop strand mat. Mixed so many batches I lost track. You could smell it for 3 blocks away on the days I was doing coats and even through the mask. I feel your pain. It will def be worth it and keep looking forward to your updates!
Click to expand...

Sounds like a big, but cool job mate.

I didn't use much glass, just thin layer on layer. So it wouldn't run to the sloping end, towards the drain.

I think I got all the cracks fixed, and got filled in all the small holes.
Will know tomorrow, it's almost cured and looks fine.
A last sanding and a final top coat will go on tomorrow.


 
Palindrome

Palindrome

King of Schwag
Palindrome said:
I think I got all the cracks fixed, and got filled in all the small holes.
Will know tomorrow, it's almost cured and looks fine.
A last sanding and a final top coat will go on tomorrow.
Click to expand...

WRONG WRONG WRONG

I should have sanded the cracks down, then filled in holes with fiberglass paddy. But didn't wanna break open another can of paddy, that I had on the shelve in case I would need to fix something on the boat.

Aaahh well I have plenty of time, but this have taken alot more time and effort then I had expected.
The cracked topcoat have been some curveball, and proven harder to fix then first assumed.
Small holes kept reapearing, that was covered while wet but as the polyester hardend. It reapeared as small pin needle holes, so I desided that before I put on the last layer of polyester.
I covered all the "pin needle" holes with fiberglass paddy, then sand it down again and do the final topcoat.






It will be sweet when done!
 
Palindrome

Palindrome

King of Schwag
This better work :D

Last layer of polyester topcoat, applied after sanding the fiberglass paddy down.
This was the last bit of polyester resin, hoping I don't need to go buy more.
Mainly cos I am tired of the smell, hanging around one end of the house and the misses have started to ask when I am done.

Fingers crossed :D



I will know tomorrow after I finish it off, with a fine grid sandpaper.
To smoothen the surface, and this part of the project can finaly be marked as done.
 
Drop That Sound

Drop That Sound

Well-known member
If you do need to buy more, maybe you can get the waxed version. Or a small bottle of surface agent additive is the same thing if using unwaxed resin, its real cheap even the big bottle was like $10 here in the states. The wax rises to the surface as it cures and seals the resin with a thin coat, leaving a rock hard surface and you dont have to worry about waiting for it to cure or the smell sticking around as long. It makes it easy to sand right away too, which is just one of the main uses for it as well, but you cant apply more resin afterwords unless you sand the wax off first.

Waxed gelcoat would probably be ideal though and its made to resist acids and whatnot. It is costly though thats for sure. You can salt a gelcoated deck to keep snow off, and most nutrients are salt based, no idea if that matters though on just polyester. Mostly the gel is to protect against UVs which you shouldnt have to worry about with LEDs so you should be good either way. Boat deck paint is pretty good too and doesnt need any catylyst, resists salt water and comes in many colors. Im sure you been warming the groffice to help speed the cure and your thin coats go off fast.

Your project is awesome, I used sheet vynil to seal the floors and even up the walls as a base in my room/chambers and wish I would have just glassed it all now that ive learned how to do it more last summer (just a few projects here and there in the last 10 years, like a custom car speaker box and my boat floor, etc), even though I use contained hydro systems. I jist wanted extra reassurance in the case of a clog, and even put a drain in the floor. I love how yours is actually integrated. I wish I could DTW on my floor when I got bored of RDWC and wanted to switch up.

Gonna have to rate your thread 5/5 if I already haven't. Inspiring work man, lookin forward as usual, and to your first water test ;)
 
Palindrome

Palindrome

King of Schwag
Drop That Sound said:
If you do need to buy more, maybe you can get the waxed version. Or a small bottle of surface agent additive is the same thing if using unwaxed resin, its real cheap even the big bottle was like $10 here in the states. The wax rises to the surface as it cures and seals the resin with a thin coat, leaving a rock hard surface and you dont have to worry about waiting for it to cure or the smell sticking around as long. It makes it easy to sand right away too, which is just one of the main uses for it as well, but you cant apply more resin afterwords unless you sand the wax off first.
Click to expand...

I am fairly sure, there is a small amount of wax in this resin. Pure laminating resin as far as I know, is not sold that many places around here, so I have been sanding the top between all the layers to be sure.

I used to work in a factory, that made windmill wings. So I have experiance with molding fiberglass, with vacuum injection and thats really easy. Laminating and handrolling is very different, I didn't use much glass tho.

I will sand it down, had to order some more fine grade. The shop didn't have what I needed in stock, it will be a few days before I can polish the surface. But that is all I am gonna do, there should be no need to paint it.
 
Palindrome

Palindrome

King of Schwag
Succes!

It's about done, still need a slight polish.
But the shop was out of the fine grades sandpaper, that I needed.



Looking good!
 
Palindrome

Palindrome

King of Schwag
Working on the Gen3 Light design

Basic frame 7 strips


Gen3 with ad-on strips 130 cm wide


Gen3 adjusted down to 120 cm wide


Gen3 hanging, might have to put in more support.


120 cm in cabinet for size ref
 
Palindrome

Palindrome

King of Schwag
Made the 2nd light frame, changed the length of the add on rods.
Giving the light a bit more stability, but I recon it's still best to hang it from 6 points.

I desided the easy way to hang the lights in the bottom and midt cabinets, are by "screwing" in some long rods.
As the bottom, isn't thick enough to take a screw-in hook.

Threaded rod is cheap, strong and with my new angle grinder easy to cut to size.
Drilled 3x 9 mm holes in the woodframe, holding the bottoms on the next cabinet.


Now I don't know the english name for this, but let's call it a threading insert as that's what it is.


I can screw this into the 9 mm holes, remove the DIY insert tool and I now have a M8 threding, in my wood frame.






The hex key, is only if you screw them into pre drilled Particle board. Still then, I would use a M8 rod and nut as instalation tool.
A slight bump with a hammer, to get the outer threading to catch and then use a spanner.
Turning the nut and the insert will go in perfect, and once you unscrew the nut.
The M8 rod comes out easy, and job is done.
 
Palindrome

Palindrome

King of Schwag
3 threading inserts, for 3 rods and in the back I just drilled a 9 mm hole.


Long ass bolts - came up with a better solution tho.


After drilling the first one in, I figured I'd just drill the back hole into the wall befind the closet.
Cut the rod in length, that when it hit the outer wall.
I could move it into the threaded hole from behind and just thred in a inch, rather the hole rod going thru the threading.


To hang the lights I have used, musky steel leaders for musky fishing.
They are stong enough for big fish, cheap on ebay and come in 3 differnt lengths.
Best part was I already had them in my tackle box :biggrin:



Hanging them high, I will just use the S hooks.
Showed a few posts up ^^


Now I just need to make 4 more like it!
They are not as easy to make as the traditional ladder design, many use for simular DIY lights.
But this is cheaper, and I had a hard time getting the 90 degree Alu profile, for a price that wasn't a total joke.
So I came up with this, and it gives me the option to adjust the space between the strips.
And I like that, even tho I might never get any use for it - I could do it!
 
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