console room inspired office

[atomicgraph]

thanks y'all, as far as instrumentation i'll probably be cobbling things together. i've been saving "junk" for years for this. i've got a few old ceiling fans laying around that i've disassembled, i like the look of the electric motors with the copper wrapping, so i'll be using things like that to make throttles, and control mechanisms.

[rocket]

This is coming along nicely.

[the mister]

Oh my goodness, this is going to look so amazing! You're putting so much effort in and so creative! I adore the fact that you're doing the whole room. Usually I hate the idea of 4 sided consoles but with a round console it works perfectly The plinth looks really good, the little access panel is so nifty. Keep up the good work!

[atomicgraph]

Why thank you very much. I'll have another update later this evening I've found another piece of scrap ply wood so I can make the last leg and hopefully be able to set up a shot with the rotor column on it. Doing the whole room will be quite a challenge.

[atomicgraph]

ok i finished the structure part of the legs. i "skinned" it with hard board it has a really tight bend so i soaked the strips in water to help out on that curve. it helped but still it started  cracking.... nothing a little filler won't fix.

ben had asked what kind of controls i'll be using so i mocked this up to give an idea of what i'm thinking.

after i had all the legs set up i decided that it'd  probably be a good idea to notch out where the rotor column would sit in them
and here is where i'm at with it, the fiberglass panels are just held in with lose lumber until I'm in a position to start bolting it all together. i'm gonna try an crank out a couple more panels this week, the top ones are gonna have flat sections on the panels so that'll be get a little tricky when making the casts, wish me luck!

[the mister]

looking really good! neat and professional. an effective design.

[galacticprobe]

That is really looking great! All of that fiberglass and resin, though: couldn't have been cheap. (It certainly doesn't look it.) I'm with the mister: very professional-looking. Also a very innovative design. I can't wait to see the controls starting to go on this one!

Dino.

[atomicgraph]

Thanks for the kind words. As far as cost I've used 1 and a half gallons of resin. all the wood wad stuff laying around, and one of the gallons was a gift, so I've only had to shell out for a gallon and some packs of matting. Filler can get pricey too but I've got a mountain of saw dust so I plan on using that and wood glue to make my own filler. I'm trying my best to keep the costs down, you know what always get you is things like bolts and screws.

[13drwho]

It's looking really good. I can't wait to see it finished!!

[the_temporal_mechanic]

I like the look of that first protobit of instrumentation!  This is looking great.  I love how the rotor notches into the arm/rib/leg sections... What colors are we thinking about to illuminate this beauty?

[atomicgraph]

hello again, nothing really new to report

so my biggest problem is the sagging along the edge of the fiberglass panels, and its got to support the weights of a normal desk. i really needed some sort of inner frame. i cut a ring out of plywood, i notched it to fit into the leg frames... not an easy task either. every time i notched out the ring it seemed as though, nothing wanted to line up. the panels didn't fit right either. after fighting with it a few evenings i figured i should trim up the panels, i also added another layer of resin and matting along the outer ring for support

i used the center cut outs of the leg to support the top and bottom panels. the panels will eventually bolt to those. i also notched out the tip to accommodate the outer ply wood ring.

i've also had a lot of trouble coming up with some sort of covering for the plywood ring. my solution was noodles... those pool floaty toys. they worked perfectly eventually i plan on covering them with something, maybe something like, the matt smith console. the leather furniture pieces.

so after i sanded everything down it all fits together nice, and nothing is bolted yet! the big test is gonna be if that last bottom panel will fit in the section or if i'll have to custom fit it. thats the problem with shooting from the hip with no plans.

[13drwho]

Your work is very impressive. You say you didn't make any plans... that's amazing. I have drawn and modeled everything in SolidWorks and AutoCAD, and things still don't line up quite right. I think a lot of my problems are that my wood cutting is no where near as precise as the software's model. If I could cut every board exactly like the model, maybe it would all fit together better. Anyway, yours is looking really good, it's very impressive.

[atomicgraph]

Thanks 13, no plans just that rough computer image up top. Yea those auto cad files would work perfect on a metal cutting device. Trust me though, it's still pretty dodgy all the way around. I need to add more braces in the legs to pin the panels to. I'm also not liking the way my rotor column looks... It just seems outa place.

Good luck with your build.

[the mister]

looking impressive

[atomicgraph]

my son and i fitted the last bottom panel last night, and no it did not fit we ended up taking an inch off one side to fit the space. now we're on to fitting the center ring. i couldn't resist posting this pic. i'll refrain from posting until i have something more substantial in the future.