Mos Eisley Cantina Tables

Magnetically attached lamp? With a battery and magnetic sensor switch. Or a Qi type wireless phone charger to power it.

I get what you are saying. The light is part of the overall esthetic of the table but impacts the usability. What about mounting something like this pull up lantern, flush, so it's up and illuminated when you want it or down and off when you don't.

I am thinking maybe I just make a lamp that can be placed in the center that runs on batteries and recharge via USB. In reality, I think its one of those things that you build for "accuracy", but in reality it is never there as the table will not be used the same way as it was in the film. My take is that It was just a sci-fi way to upgrade the candles you had at your table back in the 70's or they used it to light the actors faces for the scenes maybe.

Bottom line, I am not going to drill a hole in the top to run power to a light.
 
We had this posted on The Parts of Star Wars Facebook page.
This trash can might be related. The cantina tables might be rain barrels. The tops are concave so anything that hits the top with drain to the center hole (which was plugged by the light).
Once you know about the concave top, you can't unsee it...
Everyone's cups tilt towards the center. :)

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The outdoor bin theory is an interesting one. But it does have at least a couple of problems. First, the tables are much larger in diameter than any normal public bin. (As well as being obviously a different proportional height)

And second, there’s no way the production team would have imported US-manufactured bins to the UK. Pretty much everything in terms of sets and costumes and props for the first Star Wars film was made in the UK by British teams.

Also, back in the 70s it was unusual for everyday low-tech products to be manufactured overseas and imported. Shipping costs were higher than today and there was still a large domestic manufacturing industry. So the idea of importing huge plastic bins from the US to the UK seems very unlikely. Even shipping tooling over to make something as humdrum as a bin feels improbable.

So sure. I could be wrong. But this idea doesn’t feel right to me. I think some sort of UK-manufactured bin or planter or whatever seems a much more likely theory.
 
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We had this posted on The Parts of Star Wars Facebook page.
This trash can might be related. The cantina tables might be rain barrels. The tops are concave so anything that hits the top with drain to the center hole (which was plugged by the light).
Once you know about the concave top, you can't unsee it...
Everyone's cups tilt towards the center. :)

View attachment 1914552
I am telling you…. You guys have everything

Now I have to find one of this stinka’s (literally)
 
That looks related for sure. But I have to mention that that is the most complicated looking design for a trash can I have ever seen. The way the black part sits in the gray part; the height of the bottom barrel; and then the handle on the cover. Seems like the designer had a very specific problem to solve.

That’s a good find though. Did anyone identify the manufacturer of those bins? Even shipping today would not be cheap. I found the loft water bin for a GONK in UK and shipping to Texas was expensive. Of course it was for one.
 
The outdoor bin theory is an interesting one. But it does have at least a couple of problems. First, the tables are much larger in diameter than any normal public bin. (As well as being obviously a different proportional height)

And second, there’s no way the production team would have imported US-manufactured bins to the UK. Pretty much everything in terms of sets and costumes and props for the first Star Wars film was made in the UK by British teams.

Also, back in the 70s it was unusual for everyday low-tech products to be manufactured overseas and imported. Shipping costs were higher than today and there was still a large domestic manufacturing industry. So the idea of importing huge plastic bins from the US to the UK seems very unlikely. Even shipping tooling over to make something as humdrum as a bin feels improbable.

So sure. I could be wrong. But this idea doesn’t feel right to me. I think some sort of UK-manufactured bin or planter or whatever seems a much more likely theory.
Could it be possible that they just shipped one to the studio and they made molds of that lone one?:unsure:
 
Could it be possible that they just shipped one to the studio and they made molds of that lone one?:unsure:
From what I've read, I don't think so. For Star Wars the nascent ILM, then based in Van Nuys (Los Angeles) only did miniature construction and photography and a handful of pickups. Everything else was done at EMI Elstree by British crews. Only with Empire and especially Jedi did then San Rafael-based ILM do a bunch of costume making, monster making and so on, with shipments to the UK.

Making the US-based cantina table theory even less likely, only the UK scenes have groovy tables. The LA-shot pickups, where ILM did in fact do the hasty prop and set construction, have smooth tables.

As I said, I'm not saying I think the idea of a connection between a US-made public waste bin and the Elstree prop tables is impossible. Just that it seems highly unlikely to me.

This has come up a lot in the past, where a US-based person says "oh - I know what found object they used! Here's this thing!" And this sets up a whole idea that turns out to be wrong. Because the object they discovered was made and sold in the US, and very few found items from Star Wars turned out to have been American-made. The Jawa torch/microflame and the Falcon chairback circle/Tupperware lid are two exceptions, so I'm not saying it's some sort of hard and fast rule. :)

Anyway. Sorry if this is taking the thread a bit off course...
 
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They have to be related, what ever they used in the UK - garbage can/planters pot. They found a US base source
 
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