Please help me make love...

[Chris Howes]

Hi all

My friend has a wedding business and has asked me to help him design and make four large wooden letters (L, O, V, E) as per the attached. I've mocked up the L in Google Sketchup (also attached). You can see that it's like an L shaped box without a lid. Into the box I'm thinking of fitting another panel with the lights screwed on which can be easily removed for maintenance, with the cabling hidden behind the panel in a narrow gap.

The high level dimensions are:
130cm high
15cm deep
600cm wide

They will need to be durable yet movable. They should be able to cope with the odd bit of light rain. They need to be pleasant to look at but I'm no woodworking expert so they need to be easy to construct. I'm planning to send the designs to a company to cut the pieces out for me, so I'll just need to construct them and do any finishing/painting required.

The questions I can think of are: (sorry I can't be more specific, but it's hard to know exactly what to ask given my inexperience!):
1. What material should I use? Plywood? How thick? Should I make the back panel thicker than the side panels?
2. How should I join the pieces? Screws? Glue? Any particular joins?
3. What kind of finish should I use? Paint? Varnish? How do I waterproof them?
4. Any particular concerns around the electrical aspects? Is my idea to fit another panel inside the box a good one? Is there a better way?

Basically any advise would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance
Chris

 

[SteveF]

I would get these laser cut from perspex

some one else may come along with how to join them

Steve

 

[Eric The Viking]

What you're trying to do is basically scenic construction. As such it has elf'n'safety and other practical implications.

I've done a bit of this. My suggestion is to work backwards from some practical necessities:

1. Whatever it is needs to be strong and lightweight. I'd guess you need each letter movable by one person.

2. It needs to be safe. That means:

• it can't hurt anyone if it falls over;
• it doesn't have mains electrics in it (thankfully nowadays there's no need for glass lightbulbs either);
• it MUST be fireproof (or some venues will refuse to allow it in!).

3. It needs to be protected in transit. In TV and film, sets get damaged in storage, in transit, and in setting and teardown. lots of impromptu repair happens just before cameras or recorders start rolling. Wet paint usually doesn't matter, because everyone knows to be careful, and anyway, until HD came on the scene, small blemishes didn't show. You won't have that luxury, and I'd guess only a couple of people to put up/teardown.

For those reasons, I'd strongly recommend you have another think.

For example, you might consider using thick polystyrene (4" or 6") board, through which you can push small LEDs (Christmas lights usually run on 12V or 24V, which is quite safe, and you'll get hours of use from D cells). I'd use plywood to construct sturdy transport cases, with good grab handles/lifting points, and which make putting-in and removing easy. The "V" will be the most fragile. Think about using stage weights and props to hold them up safely. You can get weights and props, and the necessary fireproof undercoat (works for wood, polystyrene and pretty much anything else) from theatrical suppliers - ask the scenic construction dept. of a local theatre who they use. Also, if you undercoat and paint, you can use filler!

Bear in mind also that those four, at the size you've shown, will pretty much fill up a Transit-sized van, and if you do the hollow wooden box construction, they may end up VERY heavy and awkward. It's hard to see how you might reduce that, unless, for example, you make inflatables (which can' of course be illuminated inside, with a bit of ingenuity)!

I'm sure you've given thought to a lot of the above already, but it's the classic, "I've built the boat, but I can't get it out of the workshop" problem, if you're not careful.

Have fun, whatever.

E.

PS: I've done bigger than this, to be flown from scene hoists.

The method was polystyrene (shape), glued to big plywood pads behind, screwed to a matt black tubular steel frame (the letters had to appear to float in mid air). The glued pads gave us leeway for exact alignment, and IIRC we also had wire stays down from a crossbar above. It all had to dismantle for transport and be assemble-able on stage without damage to the finished side - harder than you might imagine. The finished logo was about 12ft tall x 8ft wide, but it's 10 years ago, so I forget some detail. We didn't have time/budget for transport boxes, so had to do a lot of repair/refinishing before the show. Consider using a scenic services company to make the whole lot for you!

 

[Racers]

Mmmm, Electricity, Rain, Public Place, Electrocution, Claim, Bankruptcy.

I would be thinking LED lights and batterys, much safer and no trailing wires for tripping over either.

Pete

 

[Eric The Viking]

I would be thinking LED lights and batterys, much safer and no trailing wires for tripping over either.

Completely agree.