Making a glow-in-the-dark table using photoluminescent resin with your own hands in your home workshop.
To illuminate the table, photoluminescent powder is used, which is mixed with resin.
To obtain the illumination effect, natural cavities in the wood are filled with this material. A mixture of powder and resin accumulates sunlight during the day, and then in partial or complete darkness emits light in cool blue shades.
Materials for work
In our case, we use a type of wood called “chipped cypress.” Such a tree is subject to fungal growth in the cavity and rots. These areas are easily removed, resulting in cavities in the wood that are perfect for filling with our prepared mixture of resin and glow powder.
Preparing the tabletop
We prepare the boards in the right amount, we process them along the edges, cut them to obtain the required length. To connect the boards together, cut out the indentations, clamp the boards together and glue them. We wait a day for the glue to dry.
Cleaning out fungus and rot
We remove this using small cavity cleaning tools. We use compressed air - we blow out all the places where rot is contained, and remove detritus using a flat screwdriver.
Cleaning the surface
We sand the surface of our future tabletop using sandpaper and clean the transition between the glued boards. Next, take a brush and clean the surface, removing the resulting dust. You need to get a perfectly flat surface so you can fill it with resin.
Strengthening the bottom of the tabletop
The bottom boards must be sealed to prevent resin and powder from leaking out. Place a thick acrylic sheet at the bottom and secure it with masking tape. We also use it to glue the sides - in this case, the resin will maintain its position and will not flow out of the holes.Preparing the resin
We use resin and catalyst in an equal ratio of 1:1. For a tabletop measuring 41x22, we take 2 liters of resin and approximately 100 g of glow powder.
Pour equal parts of resin and catalyst into different cups, filling less than half of the containers. Pour a portion of glowing powder into a cup and mix thoroughly. Immediately add the catalyst to obtain a homogeneous liquid. We do all the manipulations quickly enough to obtain the desired mixture and prevent irreversible chemical processes.
Pour resin
Carefully pour the mixture into the cavities of the wood. If the wood absorbs resin in small quantities or the holes fill slowly, this is quite normal. We can reapply a layer of resin. Let it dry overnight.
Checking the result
When the resin dries, remove the acrylic sheet and tape. The resin will not stick to the acrylic, but the tape will be a little harder to peel off.Let's check what we've got - hold the board straight sun rays for about 5 minutes, and then we look at it in the dark. The effect will appear immediately.
Grinding
Let's take it grinding machine and ensure smooth and smooth surface, we can repeat the grinding procedure. We sand the stains left by the resin in several passes to obtain a shiny, smooth surface of the wood.
Finally, sand the board sandpaper, increasing the grain size. Make sure you get an even coating.
We process the surface of the edges, clean them with sharp knife convex edges with leaked mixture.
Varnish
After the surfaces have been sanded, we proceed to coating with a durable glossy polyurethane varnish. The room where we work must be well ventilated. Using a foam brush, we process the entire surface of the tabletop. To obtain a high degree of gloss, apply several layers of varnish to the table and sand it at the same time.Anyone who wants to make the interior of the apartment original or add a “zest” to the equipment summer cottage, this option is suitable - a table with “backlight”. The product is created using epoxy resin and two types of durable paints. All work - from sanding to cladding - is quite accessible to a beginner in carpentry.
All work - from sanding to cladding - is quite accessible to a beginner in carpentry.
Furniture with a luminescent effect looks unusual and especially interesting.
Making a glowing table with your own hands does not require any special material or labor costs. Handle wooden table top with help special resin Anyone who can hold an instrument in their hands is capable.
When decorating a table, you can come up with your own design based on the quality and texture of the material.
Furniture with a luminescent effect looks unusual and especially interesting.
You are unlikely to see such products on the open market; they are usually made to order and are quite expensive, as handmade. Thick boards or ready-made ones are suitable for production. wooden table with an interesting texture. Applying epoxy resin takes half an hour. After some time, if all processing steps are followed correctly, you will receive a table with a mesmerizing glowing effect.
Making your own furniture for your garden or home is a great way to save your budget.
Deciding on design and construction
When processing, the stage of furniture construction does not matter. To create a luminous effect, use only the tabletop, although you can make furniture entirely with a luminescent surface. Designers agree that it is better to process individual panels - this way the product looks more interesting.
The luminous table can be made stationary or folding.
Making a glowing table with your own hands does not require any special material or labor costs.
Depending on the texture, you can apply some of the resin to the cracks, or cover the entire tabletop, including the edges, with a luminescent compound (with a light blue or other tint). It is necessary to choose a “variegated” option or a relatively evenly glowing one based on your taste and needs.
Designers agree that it is better to process individual panels - this way the product looks more interesting.
Necessary materials
To make a glowing table you will need the following materials:
- boards - 2 pieces (40-50 cm wide, 1-1.2 m long);
- epoxy resin;
- sticky paper;
- luminescent and transparent polyurethane paint;
- sandpaper.
It is necessary to choose a “variegated” option or a relatively evenly glowing one based on your taste and needs.
Anyone who knows how to hold a tool in their hands can treat a wooden tabletop using a special resin.
Select wood with noticeable cracks irregular shape. A board with visible areas where branches have been cut and an uneven texture is welcome. Good for cypress or oak. If the tree is not dry enough, expose it to the sun for a while.
The tree is selected with noticeable cracks of irregular shape.
You need to take enough epoxy resin to fill the cracks several times.
Making your own furniture for your garden or home is a great way to save your budget.
Required Tools
To finish the furniture you will need:
- Sander;
- jigsaw
The table is sanded as before covering the surface epoxy resin, and after
The table is sanded both before and after the surface is coated with epoxy resin.
Before treating the surface, the tabletop should be assembled from two prepared boards.
After some time, if all processing steps are followed correctly, you will receive a table with a mesmerizing glowing effect.
Manufacturing process: step-by-step instructions
- Before treating the surface, the tabletop should be assembled from two prepared boards. Having connected them, sand the base.
- Pour the prepared mixture of epoxy resin and fluorescent paint onto the table. The composition should fill all the cracks, so repeat the procedure 8-10 times. After this, cover the surface with adhesive paper and leave to dry until the next day.
- After removing the paper, sand the finished surface. After cleaning, coat the base with polyurethane paint.
- Walk around again grinder by yet wet surface. Remove any remaining resin. If necessary, the edges can be cleaned and the corners rounded with a jigsaw.
A table with a luminous surface can be decorated to your liking
The final stage is decoration
A table with a luminous surface can be decorated to your liking. Fat wooden plank looks great as in in simple form(even with visible “defects”), and in combination with carved legs. This can be done using a jigsaw. You can varnish them or use leftover epoxy resin, like the countertop, to give them uniform style product.
You can varnish or use leftover epoxy resin, just like the countertop, to give a unified style to the product.
The luminous table can be made stationary or folding.
After processing, you need to sand the furniture using a machine.
IN dark time for a day, the product will glow in heterogeneous patterns, which creates a “magical”, festive effect, which in itself is a decor.
In the dark, the product will glow in heterogeneous patterns, which creates a “magical” effect.
Depending on the texture, you can apply some of the resin to the cracks, or cover it with a luminescent compound.
If contrast is desired, the supports are coated with paint that differs in color from the main palette.
Creating a festive effect, which in itself is a decor.
Good for cypress or oak.
VIDEO: DIY glowing table
50 photo ideas: DIY glowing table
The original "thing" glowing table The author of the development is positioned as outdoor furniture. This makes a lot of sense, since evening gatherings at a glowing table are really great. However, it seems to us that the development deserves more. After all, this is uniqueness as it is - the table cannot be repeated: the idea - yes, to make a double - no. The pattern of glowing pockets will be different each time: the tables may be similar, but not identical.
The author of the development is Mike Warren, one of the enthusiasts of the Instructables community - a fun, close-knit team that changes the world with its ideas. They do it with pleasure. They share it with people. They are the first among those who sew, plan, solder, craft, fry and do anything else.
Mike Warren created a glowing table and gave it to people. Anyone can make this table with their own hands (or force your dearest spouse). The author of the bright idea kindly provided a whole master class.
How to make a glowing table with your own hands
The most important aspect in creating a glowing table with your own hands is the material. Mike used "pecky cypress" - a cypress tree that has been infected with fungus from the inside. The fungus multiplies in the body of the wood. This causes its segments to rot. Damaged pockets must be removed (this is easy, the wood is softened), the resulting cavities must be filled with a fluorescent composition consisting of resin and phosphor.
Rough wood is supplied to shops and markets. To assemble the table, you will first need to process the boards with a jointer. This must be taken into account when choosing. All edges must be processed: the joints will be tight and even.
And here we are closely confronted with the Russian mentality: the photo shows good equipment, and for Americans this is normal - such equipment is in the house (basement, garage, barn: they have everything there). Our average man not only doesn’t have a manual grinder, but he also doesn’t have a charger for the battery of his favorite car, let alone carpentry stuff? So this stage will have to be ordered: in any woodworking workshop these boards will be delivered to you desired condition quickly and inexpensively. Next stage Most likely, it is better to do it right there, since after processing the edges you need to adjust all the boards to the same length.
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Rotten wood in the affected areas is carefully removed with a small handy tool (a screwdriver, for example), and then the freed cavities are blown out compressed air. This stage of work is dirty and dusty, so you need to use protective equipment(glasses, respirator).
The process itself
Result (before and after photos)
Now the boards need to be assembled into a table. Docking on a lath (grooves are knocked out in both boards, a lath is inserted into them with glue, and the boards are connected). Mike used “cookies” (glued-in slats are rectangular, triangular, and these are cookies). Next, you need to clamp the joints with anything that can be clamped (the ideal is shown in the photo), and leave for a day to dry (the glue should dry completely). If we don’t want the table to fall apart later, we don’t touch it for 24 hours (despite the hellish impatience of the creator).
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After the glue has dried, the surface needs to be sanded (disc in the photo, Mike writes that the fraction is 80; apparently, this is a P 80 disc, emery is electrocorundum; not sure). Then clean thoroughly: impeccable cleanliness is required - not a speck of dust.
We need a super clean surface to pour the resin on.
Mike Warren
Before pouring the resin, it is necessary to secure the surface: some cavities may be through; so that the resin does not pass through and does not spread, the back side of the tabletop must be covered with masking tape and secured at the ends with acrylic strips; press the strips.
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Next is the mystery of the glow itself. You will need resin for pouring (just say: give resin for pouring), easy to mix (proportions 1:1). Mike advises using this so as not to make a mistake with the proportions of catalyst and resin. There will be no advice on the phosphor: just choose which one you like. There are a lot of powders, they different colors, and your table may not glow blue at all. Mike used 100 g of powder per 2 liters of resin, but this ratio is optional - you can take more powder, and the table will glow brighter.
The resin for pouring does not come ready-made: it must be mixed with a catalyst. The resin and catalyst must be poured into different containers. Pour the powder into the resin and mix thoroughly. Then pour in the catalyst and stir vigorously for 2 minutes. This must be done quickly, since irreversible damage will begin in 5–7 minutes. chemical reaction. A homogeneous composition must be obtained before this moment. We must not forget about safety: do not work with resin without gloves.
It is better to mix the resin in small portions, since its viscosity is insufficient and the powder may settle, resulting in an uneven glow. Ready mixture cavities need to be filled. They can behave differently: in some the resin will be absorbed, but in others it will not - this is normal; you will just need to add resin to where it has been absorbed. Mike spent an hour filling the pockets in the wood. Waxed paper cups can be used as a container for resin (easy to make a spout, convenient to pour).
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After the resin has dried (the next day), you need to remove the acrylic strips and masking tape. Acrylic comes off easily, but with adhesive tape you will have to tinker a little.
The back side of the tabletop also needs to be sanded. Grinding of both sides must be carried out in several stages, changing the abrasive at each step to a finer one (Mike used discs: P 120, P 180, P 220, P 320, P 400). After the surfaces, the ends need to be processed.
After sanding, the tabletop should be varnished (Mike used glossy polyurethane; applied with a foam brush) and allowed to dry completely.
After the layer has dried, it must be sprinkled with water and sanded with fine sandpaper, and then thoroughly cleaned, dried and reapplied with a layer of varnish. And so several times to achieve maximum gloss. Each layer of varnish must be dried completely.
At this point they finish with the tabletop and then work on the fittings - screwing on the legs. And here everyone goes their own way: someone can make the same simple ones to use a table on the site, and someone can screw in something fantastic and turn this table into the center of the room in the house.
From the presented master class, you will learn how to make a luminous table yourself, which furniture stores costs a lot of money, and thanks to this information you can do it in just a few minutes mere pennies. Today, it is becoming increasingly fashionable to make furniture with your own hands, as well as various interior delights, that is, people are looking for uniqueness in the things that surround them, some need it for self-realization and gaining self-confidence, while others just love doing this business .
And so, to make a luminous table, you will need old boards eaten by bark beetle. It is the old and rotten ones, eaten by worms and other bugs, that are needed in order to fill these cavities with a special luminous solution. Now let's take a closer look at everything and figure out what the author needed.
Materials
- board (old and eaten by bark beetle)
- epoxy resin
- metal legs
- metal plate 2 pcs
- wood glue
- nuts
- bolts
Tools
- jigsaw
- drill
- brush
- clamp
- ruler
- screwdriver
- container for mixing components
The process of creating a glowing table.
And since it was already said above, the author took old and rotten boards eaten by pests, it is clear that he did not buy them on the construction market 😉 The master went over the boards thoroughly with a plane and coarse sandpaper. Then the author selected and sawed the boards he needed to size so that they were the same size. 
The resulting boards should then be combined into a single tabletop, this action The master does this as follows: he coats the side parts of the boards with wood glue, and then tightens them with clamps and leaves them to dry. 
Then, after the tabletop has dried and is ready, it should be blown with compressed air, namely all the cracks and wormholes, so that no dust remains in them and possible pests.
Afterwards, you should go over the surface with sandpaper; you need to do everything extremely carefully, because the board is very delicate. And so the surface of the tabletop is prepared and it’s time to prepare the luminous solution and fill the cavities of the table with it.
Preparation of the solution: for this you will need epoxy resin, hardener and phosphor powder, it will glow. Everyone chooses the proportions of the mixture themselves; you can check the glow in the following way: give a bright flash to the mixture and turn off the light to see how the solution glows. Next, the author fills the cavities, having previously placed them under the tabletop wax paper, because the moves can be through. 
After completing this operation, the master left the tabletop to dry. And then I processed the edge of the table manual router.
Due to the fact that the board is rather weak in terms of density and integrity, the author screws these nuts onto the back of the tabletop. 
Misses glue metal plate and glues it. 
And in this way he screws the legs to the table. Well, the table itself is ready. 
Such a table will fit into any even the most sophisticated and expensive interior, and the cost of this table itself is absolutely cheap, but in stores such tables cost about $1000, can you imagine 😉 So take it this material note, and in order not to lose touch with us and our website, join our group
We all know very well that shawls, termites, bark beetles and other “lovers” of wooden food are one of the main destroyers of roofs, furniture, wooden floors etc.
If found the right approach to the damaged material and process it a little, then you can get an excellent original luminous table, which, for example, on some sites costs about 780-800 dollars. So let's get started.
1. To make such a table, try to choose boards that are most damaged by bark beetles. But, most importantly, do not forget to treat all material with chemical or heat treatment. Otherwise, the bugs will not stop and will continue to do their gnawing business. Fig.1
2. After this, plan the board on all sides. And then cut the pieces. Which will be equal to the length of the table. Rice. 2
3. If you want to get a wide tabletop, then here you will have to join several boards together. This procedure is performed using wood glue and tenons. The glue must be applied along the entire length of the board. Once you have done this, tighten the boards with clamps and let them dry. Rice. 3
4. All passages along which the woodworms moved must be treated by removing dust and rot (for this it is recommended to simply blow it out with compressed air). Rice. 4
5. Next, you need to sand the surface of the countertop itself to such a state that it is smooth and even.
6. The next stage is preparing the countertop for pouring with epoxy resin. Definitely under bottom side The tabletop itself must be lined with wax paper, and a special plexiglass border must be made on the sides. This procedure is mandatory, since bugs can make through passages.
7. Next you need to prepare the resin for pouring. To do this, it is tedious to measure out a certain amount of resin and hardener. You need to add phosphor powder to the epoxy resin (it is what provides the glow in the dark). As for the amount of phosphor itself, there are no certain proportions. You have to guess, so to speak. After you have already mixed the resin and phosphor, you need to use a flash on the resin, and then in a dark room look at the density of the glow itself. If you like everything and it fits, add hardener. Rice. 5
8. Now fill all the holes with epoxy resin. Due to its viscosity, it will not spread on the table, so it is recommended to level it with a ruler immediately after pouring.
9. Even after the resin has hardened, in any case, irregularities will remain on the surface. To do this, simply sand all defects thoroughly. Initially, use coarse sandpaper, and then move on to fine grain (somewhere from 80 to 400).
10. It is best to process the edge of the table with a hand router. Rice. 6
11. Well, the most crucial moment is finishing your table. Open the tabletop with varnish, and when it dries, sand it with fine sandpaper (1200 grit). This procedure needs to be carried out a couple of times so that the table shines well.
12. Due to the fact that the wood used is damaged and rotten, so that the legs are securely fastened, we use sheet material. To do this you need with reverse side tabletops, drill special holes for the nuts, then apply glue to the plates and glue them to the tabletop. Rice. 7