Thread: WIP Bottlecap Table

My sister had this idea a few years ago, and made a top, so I made a table to put it in. She used grout to fill the gaps after gluing them down. Grout is fairly easy. The way it was grouted grouted left mostly just the tops of the caps exposed. I thought it looked cooler when you could see the 3 dimensional qualities of the caps.

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I think I'll leave grout as a last resort. I would prefer resin, but if push comes to shove I may go with grout and glass top.

Ok. So, a second design. I quite like this one.

The left side door hides the fridge. The right siode is the back of a loungechair, which I will also need to design and then make. It will have a vertical back so that it lays flush with the front of the table (as seen) however will have a hidden angled board for the backrest (ill get around to sketchup'ing the lounge soon) for more comfort.

Good idea for a table,what about sheet of 6mm toughtened glass on top of the bottle tops easy to clean,won't stain if you put a hot drink on it.If you where here in perth i could get you one no problem,i replace sliding doors and windows and get loads end up dumping them! You may have to lift it a few mil off the lids possibly with the clear self adhesive buttons,enjoy collecting your lids!

Already suggested earlier on by someone Like i told them, its not really out of the question. I just dont have enough bottlecaps atm, I thought I did. So im making the table for now, accounting for the addition of bottlecaps later. Its a tossup between resin, grout, or a glass tabletop as you've said. It'll all come down to what I can afford/be bothered with later down the track I spose...

Hi powerb, cool project. I'm with the other couple of guys in regards to placing a glass top over the bottle caps. Especially like the idea of using sand, then placing the caps, then finishing with glass. Trying to think of something wrong with this but can't. What's cool about this is that if you fix the glass down in a way that makes it removeable, you could change around the bottle caps at leisure. You could first scatter them randomly...then when you get tired of that create a pattern...or even write a word or two with them. Every few weeks/months/years you could change the whole look of it at will. You're not even restricted to bottle caps then, you could throw some shells in or whatever small objects take your fancy.

*ponders stealing this idea for project of my own*

In regards to the design you posted up earlier, a couple of things I thought of..

-Maybe you could raise the height of the upper section. Not sure how close to scale you've drawn it but it looks a bit small and out of proportion to me. Having more wood up there on the backing would allow you to sculpt a simple design along that top edge and make it more homely and less officey.

-Giving a large round to each front facing corner on the two side plates would help with that too.

-I'd look at extending your bottle cap design all the way back, covering the whole table top, instead of stopping as you've drawn it. Would have greater impact that way.

-As I said, not sure about scale, but reducing the thickness of those legs will give it a less industrious look also.

Miltrik, feel free to use the idea. I definitely can't claim it as my own, unless you copy entirely :P In which case I'd be happy to share any problems along the way to help you out.

Yeah I'm kinda steering away from that first design. I've posted up another, its midway up on this page (page 3)

Um yeah I made it on sketchup so I used real measurements, don't remember off the top of my head though. I think from tabletop to the top of the back was 30cm give or take a bit? But yeah as I said I've gone away from that a bit...

I prefer my second design as it includes a lunge/couch/comfy chair/whatever you wanna call it.

Also, what would be the best timber to use? I was thinking MDF again, as I used in my hsc project, but it may be a bit pricey... I guess I would need to construct a cutting list first...

And I've never veneered before, is it easy enough to do?

Or even veneered plywood. Thoughts?

I'm beginning to draw up the loungechair component now, I've been lazy this week...

Tried to upload these a few times, but internet is really bad lately and couldn't... So yeah here is the 'chair' component of the table.

Hold that thought Powerb. I believe you have been misinformed as to the volume of resin required for your 2m x 700mm x10-15mm thick table top.
I honestly believe you will have left over resin if you buy 2 litres only.
Please think about it like this: a litre is a litre regardless of the fluid involved. Could your table top hold 7 large bottles of Coke at a depth of 15mm?? I don't think so.
Plus there is the volume of the filled (with very cheap plaster-of-Paris) bottle tops that will not require filling with expensive resin. Maybe sealing the underside before placement and pour, but not filling.
I think Big Shed may have moved his decimal point 1 space too far. If filling the whole table top without bottle tops, it would take 1.4 litres for 10mm thick and 2.1 litres for 15mm thick.
I hope this makes things a bit clearer for you.

Originally Posted by Tom the Tin Man

Hold that thought Powerb. I believe you have been misinformed as to the volume of resin required for your 2m x 700mm x10-15mm thick table top.
I honestly believe you will have left over resin if you buy 2 litres only.
Please think about it like this: a litre is a litre regardless of the fluid involved. Could your table top hold 7 large bottles of Coke at a depth of 15mm?? I don't think so.
Plus there is the volume of the filled (with very cheap plaster-of-Paris) bottle tops that will not require filling with expensive resin. Maybe sealing the underside before placement and pour, but not filling.
I think Big Shed may have moved his decimal point 1 space too far. If filling the whole table top without bottle tops, it would take 1.4 litres for 10mm thick and 2.1 litres for 15mm thick.
I hope this makes things a bit clearer for you.

I'm not a maths genius, but can we agree that a cubic metre is equivalent to 1000 litres?

So, to arrive at cubic metres we need to multiply LxWxH, easier if we do that in metres, so we get 2000mm/1000 = 2m, 700mm/1000=.7m and 10mm/1000 = 0.01m,

2 x .7 x .01 = 0.014 cubic metres x 1000 = 14 litres

multiply by 1.5 to get the volume for 15mm = 21 litres.

Admiittedly, this is for the whole LxWxH, without any bottle tops, but that was the question that was asked.

Where did I shift my decimal point Tom?

I'm no maths genius either, not by any stretch of the imagination.
There it is! Imagination. That which I could not imagine as being possible actually is. It happens all the time.
My sincere apologies Big Shed. You win, I'm not here for an argument

Hey guys, so two things.
1) Thoughts on the design of the chair part? and
2) Material suggestions?

Bump.