Light Table DIY
This has been project I procrastinated for the longest time. Honestly, it seemed a little daunting but when I did it, I don't really know why I hesitated for so long. It was actually very easy to put together. I will attempt to share the tutorial and also what I have learnt from my mistakes while trying to put it together. Hopefully it will help you and inspire more light tables! They are honestly a really great item to have because they make learning and playing so much more fun!
Items needed:
1 LATT table
1 18 inch by 24 inch piece of 5mm acrylic in barley white, with 1cm squares cut out from each corner
6 pieces of L brackets
1 LED light set
1 piece of mahjong paper OR light dimmer
So basically, I got the LATT table for free because someone was giving it away. Carousell is a great place to get a second hand one for cheap. I would like to encourage you to do this instead of buying it new to help the earth (I'm being serious here. I think we waste too much as a human race). The table we got was in TERRIBLE condition. It looked like it had been through the actual mud. I spent an evening scrubbing it out and removing all the stickers and it was as good as new (almost, but good enough!)
The acrylic was the hard part. I called about 4/5 places and they all quoted me $40 and above except this ONE place. Beautec quoted me $20+. It ended up being $21.40 and it was cut on the spot within 10 minutes. The kids got to witness the very cool cutting too! They are open weekdays 8.30am-5pm and Saturday 8.30am-2.30pm. Avoid their lunch hour as they are short handed and won't be able to do it so quickly for you. They only accept cash to remember to bring enough... if not, the factory is right next to Toa Payoh Central so it's not THAT bad.
The LED light set was from a random shop at Henderson. They helped me to hook up the main connection and sold me extra connectors based on the number of strips I intended to have. The more the better. I bought 3 connectors which allowed for 4 strips but I believe that 5 would really have been more ideal. They sell it in a roll of 5 metres and I spent a total of $31.90 for all the parts. If you can, go for the added dimmer so that you can dim the light to your desired intensity. I didn't realise that there was this option, so I used a couple of layers of mahjong paper instead to reduce the glare and help diffuse the light more.
The L brackets were a suggestion from a very smart friend of mine. I actually hammered the bottom in at first but because the overlap at the sides were not much, I had to angle the nails and it honestly didn't feel safe enough to me. I really didn't want any possibility of the bottom dropping and hurting the kids. The L brackets were super inexpensive too, 4 pieces for $2.50 at the local mamashop. A peace of mind for $5 is hardly any cost at all. It also makes removing the bottom so much easier if you ever need to make adjustments.
Okay! On to the tutorial!
STEP 1:
Unscrew the short side of the table and insert the acrylic sheet in place of the table top. Screw back the side and set aside. If you are using the mahjong paper technique, stick the paper on the underside of the acrylic before you insert it into the table.
STEP 2:
Cut out a small corner of the original table top to allow for the LED connector to be threaded through.
STEP 3: Stick on the LEDs to the original table top however you prefer to. I flipped the piece around so that the smooth laminated side would be on the bottom. I did this because the table was filthy and I had to scrub it and in the process, the cardboard became really fuzzy and flaky. So I stuck on paper with some glue then put the LEDs on. Obviously, you don't have to do this. But if you end up with a fuzzy piece like mine, this is what you'll want to do. Don't be daunted by the electric work on this. If you know how to put batteries into a toy, this will be easy peasy. The connectors are just clips (like those keep fresh clips) so you just need to clip to join one row of LED lights to the next.
STEP 4: Secure the original table top onto the bottom of the table using L brackets: At the for corners and in the middle of the long sides. The table top will warp if you don't do the middle pieces (I left it at only the 4 corners for only 3 days and it already started to sag and warp.) No drill is required for this step! Just a screwdriver, a nail and a hammer. I hammered the nail in slightly and immediately pulled it out to make a shallow hole for the head of the screw to go into the wood easy. Then just screw the screw all the way in. The table top piece is not heavy at all so I didn't need to secure both screws. I didn't do any for the bottom. Just the one screw you see there, making removing the bottom easier if there was ever a need to adjust or replace the LED.
THAT'S IT!
The most time was spent gathering materials.. The actual putting it together was maybe 20 minutes max. Seriously very simple.
Now you have a beautiful table for all the beautiful light table activities! 20 minutes of work for hours of fun, I don't know about you but to me it's definitely worth it!
Items needed:
1 LATT table
1 18 inch by 24 inch piece of 5mm acrylic in barley white, with 1cm squares cut out from each corner
6 pieces of L brackets
1 LED light set
1 piece of mahjong paper OR light dimmer
So basically, I got the LATT table for free because someone was giving it away. Carousell is a great place to get a second hand one for cheap. I would like to encourage you to do this instead of buying it new to help the earth (I'm being serious here. I think we waste too much as a human race). The table we got was in TERRIBLE condition. It looked like it had been through the actual mud. I spent an evening scrubbing it out and removing all the stickers and it was as good as new (almost, but good enough!)
The acrylic was the hard part. I called about 4/5 places and they all quoted me $40 and above except this ONE place. Beautec quoted me $20+. It ended up being $21.40 and it was cut on the spot within 10 minutes. The kids got to witness the very cool cutting too! They are open weekdays 8.30am-5pm and Saturday 8.30am-2.30pm. Avoid their lunch hour as they are short handed and won't be able to do it so quickly for you. They only accept cash to remember to bring enough... if not, the factory is right next to Toa Payoh Central so it's not THAT bad.
The LED light set was from a random shop at Henderson. They helped me to hook up the main connection and sold me extra connectors based on the number of strips I intended to have. The more the better. I bought 3 connectors which allowed for 4 strips but I believe that 5 would really have been more ideal. They sell it in a roll of 5 metres and I spent a total of $31.90 for all the parts. If you can, go for the added dimmer so that you can dim the light to your desired intensity. I didn't realise that there was this option, so I used a couple of layers of mahjong paper instead to reduce the glare and help diffuse the light more.
The L brackets were a suggestion from a very smart friend of mine. I actually hammered the bottom in at first but because the overlap at the sides were not much, I had to angle the nails and it honestly didn't feel safe enough to me. I really didn't want any possibility of the bottom dropping and hurting the kids. The L brackets were super inexpensive too, 4 pieces for $2.50 at the local mamashop. A peace of mind for $5 is hardly any cost at all. It also makes removing the bottom so much easier if you ever need to make adjustments.
Okay! On to the tutorial!
STEP 1:
Unscrew the short side of the table and insert the acrylic sheet in place of the table top. Screw back the side and set aside. If you are using the mahjong paper technique, stick the paper on the underside of the acrylic before you insert it into the table.
STEP 2:
Cut out a small corner of the original table top to allow for the LED connector to be threaded through.
STEP 3: Stick on the LEDs to the original table top however you prefer to. I flipped the piece around so that the smooth laminated side would be on the bottom. I did this because the table was filthy and I had to scrub it and in the process, the cardboard became really fuzzy and flaky. So I stuck on paper with some glue then put the LEDs on. Obviously, you don't have to do this. But if you end up with a fuzzy piece like mine, this is what you'll want to do. Don't be daunted by the electric work on this. If you know how to put batteries into a toy, this will be easy peasy. The connectors are just clips (like those keep fresh clips) so you just need to clip to join one row of LED lights to the next.
STEP 4: Secure the original table top onto the bottom of the table using L brackets: At the for corners and in the middle of the long sides. The table top will warp if you don't do the middle pieces (I left it at only the 4 corners for only 3 days and it already started to sag and warp.) No drill is required for this step! Just a screwdriver, a nail and a hammer. I hammered the nail in slightly and immediately pulled it out to make a shallow hole for the head of the screw to go into the wood easy. Then just screw the screw all the way in. The table top piece is not heavy at all so I didn't need to secure both screws. I didn't do any for the bottom. Just the one screw you see there, making removing the bottom easier if there was ever a need to adjust or replace the LED.
THAT'S IT!
The most time was spent gathering materials.. The actual putting it together was maybe 20 minutes max. Seriously very simple.
Now you have a beautiful table for all the beautiful light table activities! 20 minutes of work for hours of fun, I don't know about you but to me it's definitely worth it!
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