Custom Entertainment Center

[FuseNova]

This is still a work in progress but thought I would upload some pics...

I wanted a "star-something" type entertainment center for my geek room to hide the game boxes, Tivo, and the resto f my junk but I couldn't find anything decent online. Our very own BobaDebt has done great work for me on a number of other projects and in this case, he turned this crappy pencil drawing:

into this 6' x 24" x 24" monster:

With the hard part done, it was time to get her painted and geeked out. First thing I did was paint it black, and weathered using sponge and dry brush. Because I expect a fair amount of heat in this closed body, I installed 6 cooling fans with thermostat.

The idea is to create several plexi panels with front and back decals to mimic a light panel from "Enterprise". In this picture you see one unlit screen used panel (top) and my backlit prototype.

Below is the cabinet as it sits today. I'm finalizing the graphics for the plexi covers. The beauty of this system is that I can change the theme from Enterprise style images to something like BSG very easily if I get bored with it....

The bottom drawers are probably the coolest part. they are full drawers with metal diffuser, red lens, and EL light sandwiched between the drawer face and the drawer.

Thanks for looking!

I'll update with more pics as I make progress.

 

[Wes]

True geek

Nice work guys!

 

[Rebelscum]

Very nice. I love to see projects like this.

 

[Alan Castillo]

I love it. Please do keep us updated with progress :thumbsup

 

[trekker670]

I'm actually working on a very similar project. I'm in the process of building a Star Trek themed family room. I love the entertainment center. Could you post any more info about the EL Light and Metal Diffusers you used? I'm looking to do something similar both in the entertainment center and on the walls.

 

[FuseNova]

EL is great stuff but not without its drawbacks. Couple of things to consider:
- These are expensive. Each 47cm x 11cm panel here cost $48 each. Because it was custom, there was a one time set up fee of $150. I only obtained a few quotes but glowhut.com came out on top.
- Inverters can be loud. My ignorance of EL power requirements may be to blame. I will figure this out before the project is over.
- I recently read the half life of EL is 400-800 hours which means it becomes half as bright in this time. You can increase this time by using lower voltage but obviously, its less bright. Double check this but it could be a show stopper.
- EL can give you a good zap if you touch the sides in the wrong way!
- Some EL can be cut to size but some can't. Be careful or you'll "brick" it.
- Don't buy red EL. It looks pink and you have to use a red filter anyway (as in my case!). In fact, most of the colors look washed out without filters in my opinion so go with white.
- And of course, the best part is EL is super cool and super thin so you can do things like this.

As for the diffuser, I looked at a ton of options for this project including air filters, sewing templates, baby gates, all sorts of grills, air diffusers, etc. I ended up buying a piece of 24" x 24" perforated aluminum at Ace Hardware for $39 but there are cheaper options including perforated vinyl, or you can rip out a 24"x24" diffuser tile from your office

Hope this helps and look forward to seeing your creation!

 

[Boba Debt]

That's looking great.

I can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[yt]

Cool!!

 

[FuseNova]

Vinyls and translights arrived... Still need to add the faux buttons and some EL chasers but I'm just about there...

 

[Lichtbringer]

I like it! :cool