Final results firstBackgroundI'm not the first one to do this, but I'd like to share my experience and after-thoughts.I had seen a few Weighted Storage Cube builds and I really liked them. One day I eventually decided I should make one. Then I thought "you know what's even better than a Portal cube? Two Portal cubes!" and decided to make a pair. This turned out to be a careless decision due the amount of work involved and my inexperience.I've followed the great plans by u/fetchbeer and took inspiration by both his build and u/IVIuggle one. I'm adding links to their DIY post at the bottom.The buildAs I mentioned, I've followed the blueprints from u/fetchbeer so you'll find all the measurements there.I've also redesigned the entire cube in Fusion360 because my initial idea was to 3D print the pieces at the angles and sides. If anyone is interested, I can polish up the project a bit and share it. I've rounded most measures to metric values.https://i.redd.it/vf19dut0qmv21.jpgFor the core, I got some plywood squares cut to measure. The original plan used MDF but I've read it contains formaldehyde so I decided to avoid it.To avoid seeing the layers, I chose to use all squares of the same size and cut the edges at 45°. A friend of mine helped me with his table saw.https://i.redd.it/7mb4kc1senv21.jpgThe next step was to glue them together to make a cube. Some masking tape helped to constrain the parts while assembling the cube. I used some straps and weights to keep the pieces tighten up after applying the glue.http://bit.ly/2V6lvoi peasy. Next, I cut the opening on all sides using a jig saw. Later on I had to file a bit the edge because it wasn't perfectly straight.http://bit.ly/2GNOzqK a Dremel and the milling attachment I made the slot for the plexiglass, which is 3mm thick in my build (more info on that later). The black circular frame you see on the plan will sit flush on the cube, locking the plexiglass in place.http://bit.ly/2V6lvVk this point I'm getting the feeling this is going really nice and smooth... the hard part has yet to start :)As I said, my idea was to 3D-print the "angles" and the small "side" pieces. I eventually decided to make them out of wood instead, like in the original plan. Once again, I passed on MDF and used solid wood instead (there are 45° cuts everywhere so if you use the plywood you'd see the layers everywhere and I'm not sure they can be hidden effectively with putty/sanding).Solid wood makes it probably easier to paint later (as discussed with u/IVluggle), but it's challenging to cut straight due to the wood knots. In fact, the only tool I've found suitable for the cutting (in particular the curved-45° bits) is a band saw. I had to get one for this project. The blade tended to flex quite a bit. I don't know if a professional band-saw would perform better, but in my case the results were not great and I had to do a lot of sanding later (like, a LOT).So, maybe investigate other options for the wood.That said, I cut the rectangles following the plan and I got these:http://bit.ly/2GU4jrZ is where I go "Crap... maybe making 2 cubes wasn't such a great idea".BTW, I suggest you make some cardboard templates and double-check the measures before cutting. Embarrassingly, I got several pieces wrong.Then, there's the gluing. I used the 3rd piece to keep the one being glued in position after putting it square.http://bit.ly/2V6lwsm, time to cut everything at 45°! This took much longer than I expected.Let's do the math... each "angle" has 12 cuts (plus the 4 small chamfers, but I'm not counting them). 8 angles means 96 cuts per cube... yikes!https://i.redd.it/zi35rc7k3nv21.jpgHere's a picture of a partially done piece. Unfortunately I don't seem to have other good pictures.As you can see, the cuts are quite wobbly at some points. The right edge also looks quite bad because I've used the Dremel to sand it off more quickly and I did a bit of a mess. The other pieces are better (note to self: next time you take pics, put the ugly stuff on the back).https://i.redd.it/f9ayja52fnv21.jpgFor the small chamfers, I've used a hand file because I felt the band saw was not going to make a good job.I had to do an insane amount of sanding to finish off the pieces to an acceptable level and they still weren't perfect. I used a power sander, but it still took forever.At this point I was really regretting the idea of making 2 cubes. This was like 50% of the project in terms of time.I will add some putty later on where needed to fill the holes.In the next picture, you'll see a dry fit test. I got the plexiglass and its circular frame laser-cut because they were not much more expensive than trying to make them myself and they would certainly look better. The plexiglass is 3mm thick and the frame is 4mm wood that I painted black.The smaller pieces on the sides are 3D printed. So convenient, at this point I wish I had printed the angles as well (see final notes).http://bit.ly/2GN6ZHV, for the white disc I had some issues. I 3D printed them as well, leaving "pockets" for the logo segments that I then filled with black paint. The paint didn't dry correctly on some of them due to the wind, leaving some cracks, and then I noticed that the paint made its way in between the layers, so they looked like crap when lit from behind.http://bit.ly/2V9JQts, I tossed them away and made new ones out of the same wood of the circular frame. I used the Dremel "compass" tool to cut the circles of the right size, then used sanding paper to make them rounder (still not as nice as laser cut, so I'd suggest you get them made with the rest of the stuff if you go through a laser service).After that, I painted them with wood primer and white acrylic paint.To add the logo, I had to make a vinyl mask to spray-paint the segments in black. I tried to reuse it multiple times but it wasn't working well, so I made one mask for each disk. I used an exacto knife to cut them out of a full vinyl sheet, using a 3D printed template to speed up the process.Then, it was only a matter of spray-painting them:https://i.redd.it/m260lk4bfnv21.jpgOk, let's go back one step. I decided to get a light-blue plexiglass instead of the white one or core-foam, because I didn't like the idea of having to power the cube to make it look right. As mentioned, the plexiglass is 3mm thick, because that's the only thickness I could find it in that color. It turned out to be semi-opaque and suitable to being lighted up with a cheap LED light bulb, so this played out quite nicely.I used a shallow threaded rod to mount the lightbulb holder at the center of the cube and to provide a passage for the mains wiring at the same time. Quick, cheap and effective.http://bit.ly/2GRSq5T I'm testing it upside-down, it obviously comes from the bottom in the final piece. Looking at LED lightbulbs, they seem to be a bit more "directional" compared to the incandescent ones, so I bought a long one just to make sure the sides of the cube would get enough light. I went for a cold white, although it probably doesn't make much difference.http://bit.ly/2VbFt11 to put everything together... or not? I believe you have 2 options at this point: you can either finish off the pieces, paint them, and glue them at the end, or you can glue them, finish them and paint at the end.I went for the second option, although as you'll see later it requires to mask the parts during painting and that's not a quick job.In the picture you can also see I've used some putty to fill some parts.http://bit.ly/2GOHO88 now... more sanding... doh. If anything, as the pieces are now glued to the cube it's easier to do.I added some more putty to seal any gap between the 45° edges and the cube. Which means, you guessed it, more sanding.http://bit.ly/2V6XmxP to paint.I used 2 coats of wood primer, 2 coats of white acrylic paint on the entire cube, then masked the corner/side pieces and painted the core in light-gray acrylic paint. I applied the paint using a brush because the surface is just too complex for a roller. In hindsight, I could have tried to spray-paint it, I thought it was going to be more expensive but I haven't actually checked. If you have an airbrush you don't need me to tell you what to do.The masking job is time consuming, I believe it took me 1h per cube. I would recommend getting a stretchable masking tape because it was very tedious to do the curved parts in multiple segments!Also, heads up for newbies like myself: although painting doesn't take much time, you need to wait (in my case 24h) before applying the second hand. Also, for each coat you can only do the top and the sides: you have to wait for the paint to dry to turn it upside-down and do the bottom. In short, it's going to take days, be patient.http://bit.ly/2GOnJ1z, testing! (pun intended)The photo doesn't show the real color, it's much more blueish.http://bit.ly/2VaeQti if you got this far, you're done!AfterthoughtsI made various mistakes in this project, but the biggest one is probably that I didn't carefully plan how to employ these cubes. I thought I was going to use them as bedside tables (hence the pair) but in the end I'm not too happy with the way they look next to my bed, so I'll have to find another placement.I underestimated the amount of time and effort it takes to make one of these toys. Think twice before making multiple units. It might seem I'm stating the obvious but I'm normally a very rational person and yet I was so excited about this project that I overcommitted.If I have done it, you can do it.If you're a beginner like me, don't expect a perfect result: that requires experience, time and tools. Overall, I'm happy how they turned out, even if they're not as polished as I thought the would be.The wood I used for the angles is 27mm thick, which is thinner than the 32.8mm on the blueprints. It's okay, but if I had to do it again I'd try to get the right value, it would make the cube "bolder".Actually, if I had to do it again I would 3D print those angles! See, this was my original idea. I dropped it because it was going to be more expensive (lots of plastic required) and since my printer is not big enough I had to ask a friend to print them for me, but we're talking about roughly 1 day of printing time per piece (=8 days per cube) and his printer (Ender 3) was having some adhesion issues on a part this big.But now, I wouldn't even think about it and buy a bigger 3D printer. I mean, if you like woodworking, by all means go for it. Otherwise, the extra money would more than compensate the hours of manual work.For reference, if you were to 3D print the parts, my estimate was 4.7 Kg of PLA per cube for angles, edges and logo discs. As you saw, the discs didn't work out well for me though, so better get them laser-cut.I didn't keep track of the time I spent on this project, but I can say I started 3 months ago and worked on it most weekends. Keep in mind I'm not experienced.Total cost was about 250€ per cube.Reference buildshttps://www.reddit.com/r/DIY/comments/3cx8x3/weighted_storage_cube_diy/https://www.reddit.com/r/Portal/comments/39mlst/weighted_storage_cube_end_table/ via /r/DIY http://bit.ly/2V936Ht
