River slab light fitting warp prevention

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dave_87

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Afternoon all,

I'm in the process of building a "soundproof" drum room in the garden, i'm now thinking about lighting and i'd like a river table suspended from the ceiling with lights all round and glowing through the river portion.

My concern is I'm wanting to make it as thin as I dare to reduce weight but fear this may let it warp more easily, I will leave the slab in the room whilst I finish the interior to let it acclimatize before working it.
I'd rather not put any form of brace across the back as it will be visible through the river, If I were to route channels 90deg from the river so the epoxy fills them would that help in preventing a warp or would the epoxy in these channels crack? and if so, would some form of reinforcement in the resin be useful?

Sorry for the essay and thanks in advance.
 
dave_87":3gv2s49x said:
...If I were to route channels 90deg from the river so the epoxy fills them would that help in preventing a warp or would the epoxy in these channels crack?
I doubt this is possible to answer definitively, but I can think of two it depends anyway. The first being the type of epoxy (or other resin) and the second the amount of force the warping wood exerts. Unless you're using a reinforced resin of some type, which won't be transparent, I suspect you wouldn't get something strong enough to resist strong bending forces. But it's going to come down to how strong those are.

For something that hangs overhead, rather than being directly in line of sight like a coffee table, is it vital the clear portion melds with the wood to either side? There are river tables made from shaped glass, so the wood to either side floats. I think they look a bit odd but overhead maybe not so much?

Another thought, how about a regular epoxy/wood river but with stand-off braces that sit above the lightsource, joined to the wood? They won't be directly visible, might cast odd shadows on the ceiling though.
 
Thanks for the reply,
I think i'd rather use resin as apposed to a glass insert so I can maybe try some swirly colours.
I like the idea of the standoff braces, could incorporate that into a mounting bracket/light source mount.

Will have to have a work out and a draw to see what I can come up with.
Thanks again.
Dave.
 
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