Deep-hole-in-small-box-a-different-take-on-the-inf

instructables

Deep Hole in a Small Box, a Different Take on the Infinity Mirror. by Stevens Workshop

First o I must give credit for the inspiration to these two Reddit posts, this is the rst one I saw and this is the one that inspired that rst one. Having seen these I knew it was something I wanted to make. I hope this Instructable inspires you to pick up the tools and give it a go. I completely messed up my rst attempt by trying to use some beach and ash o cuts that I unsuccessfully jointed, this is version 2 and so much better. The nal product is impressive, even if I do say so myself.

Supplies:

Most of the supplies will depend on the size of the

box you're planning to make. I used some really nice B/BB plywood, this is such a great material and so di erent from the 'normal' plywood you get from the big box stores. Very few (if any) voids and with the B grade face it's pretty much blemish free. It's a little heavier and quite a bit more expensive, I would say it's worth it for any 'public' facing project. The size of the box I made was determined by the mirror that my wife was throwing out, this was used as the bottom mirror. You'll need enough wood (ply) to make the four side of the box to a height of about 325 mm (13 inches). I decided to go for a bulkhead light for the inside of the box as I thought this was in keeping with a mine shaft. You'll also need a length of mains cable. The bottom mirror is a standard mirror but the top is where the 'magic' happens.

1

1. Glass topped coffee table

Deep Hole in a Small Box, a Different Take on the Infinity Mirror.: Page 1

1 3

2

2

1

1. Parts for the ladder 2. Wood for the internal cladding

1. Safety gear 2. Bulkhead light for inside the box

3. Plywood for the box

Step 1: The Bottom Mirror To reinforce the bottom mirror I mounted it to a piece of 4 mm plywood using some double-sided carpet tape. This gave a total thickness of 8 mm, you'll need to remember this measurement for later as this is the size of the router bit you'll need for the rabbet.

1

1. Double-sided carpet tape

Deep Hole in a Small Box, a Different Take on the Infinity Mirror.: Page 2

Step 2: Make Your Ladder I had originally planned to get an old ladder and chop hammer and painted it black to add to the mine shaft one of the rungs o . After searching Gumtree, authenticity. Facebook marketplace and local skips I didn't manage to nd anything cheap enough (free). The height of you ladder will be determined by the space between your two mirrors, you want to make I wasted so much time looking around, it actually took sure the ladder is tight up against the top mirror as me less time to make a quick single rung ladder. any large gap will ruin the illusion. You also want to make sure the rung is in the middle for the same Using a couple of 70 x 50 mm pine o cuts and an old reason. broom handle I knocked up a little single rung ladder. I distressed the pine by knocking it about with a

Deep Hole in a Small Box, a Different Take on the Infinity Mirror.: Page 3

1

1 1. Wood glued into place

1. Broom handle

Deep Hole in a Small Box, a Different Take on the Infinity Mirror.: Page 4

1

1. Black to add a little authenticity

Step 3: Making the Box Sides As I do with most projects I drew up the basic plan rst. I've attached the Sketchup le of the plywood layout. For added strength I decided to join the sides using super sized nger joints, to do this I made a quick jig, this allowed me to make multiple blade passes on my table saw, these were also at an exact 90º. I started by measuring the end of the long sides and dividing it by 5 to get the size of the ngers. These

were then marked out on both ends of the two longer sides. Once I had made the cuts to make the ngers I then used the cutouts to mark up the corresponding ngers on the short side pieces. Using the cutouts to mark up the second pieces ensures that the ngers line up. I dry tted the box together to ensure a good t before the glue up.

Deep Hole in a Small Box, a Different Take on the Infinity Mirror.: Page 5

1

3

4

2

1

1. 2002 mm long 2. 325 mm height 3. 555 mm long sides 4. 473 mm short sides

1. 18 mm birch ply

1

1

1. Super sized finger joint jig

1. Beautiful plywood with almost no voids

Deep Hole in a Small Box, a Different Take on the Infinity Mirror.: Page 6

1 1

1. Super sized finger joint jig

1. Finger joints laid out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWbyh-kcgMo&feature=youtu.be

1 1

1. Always mark out the area to be removed

1. Matched corners

Deep Hole in a Small Box, a Different Take on the Infinity Mirror.: Page 7

1

1

1. Marking out the other piece

1. Mark up

1

1

1. First layup

1. Tight corners

Deep Hole in a Small Box, a Different Take on the Infinity Mirror.: Page 8

1

1

1. Mallet to 'persuade' pieces into place

1. Full dry fit

View in 3D

Download

https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FXT/FDJQ/KGQJXAPW/FXTFDJQKGQJXAPW.skp

Step 4: Routing the Slot for Top and Bottom Mirrors Using an 8 mm router bit mounted into my router table I routed a slot for the bottom mirror around the bottom of each of the four sides. In the shorter sides this slot was stopped before the edge, so I was not visible from the outside. In one of the short sides I cut a 50 mm hole, this is centred around the bottom mirror slot, it's to allow the mains cable to pass past the mirror, through to the light.

Again, another dry t, this time with the mirror in place. I then routed a slot all around the top edge of each side, this slot was 4.5 mm deep as I was planning to use a 4 mm top mirror. The slot was cut to half the width of the sides, this gives the top mirror enough area to rest on. All the top slots were stopped to line up with the corresponding slot on the joined piece.

Deep Hole in a Small Box, a Different Take on the Infinity Mirror.: Page 9

1

1. 8 mm router bit

1

1. Stopped rabbet

Deep Hole in a Small Box, a Different Take on the Infinity Mirror.: Page 10

1

1

1. Dry test fit with mirror in place

1. Hole cut out for mains cable to pass through

1

1. Stop mark on router table fence

Deep Hole in a Small Box, a Different Take on the Infinity Mirror.: Page 11

1

1. Stopped rabbet cut around the top edges

Step 5: The Top Mirror Once I had routed the slot around the inside top edge I was able to measure up to get the top piece of glass. I went to my local glass / mirror centre, having given them the measurements and told them what it was for, they strongly recommended I got toughened glass. This is a service they o er but there was a week delay. Having collected my new piece of toughened glass it was time to make the top mirror.

It took two attempts as I completely messed up the rst one, I hadn't cleaned the glass well enough and managed to stick the mirror lm to itself and crease it. I decided not to lm my second attempt as I really needed to concentrate. I'm pleased to say the second attempt went much better and I now had a serviceable top mirror. Please take the time to watch the video, even if it's just for the trick on how to remove the mirror lm backing.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures / video of me making the actual top mirror.

Deep Hole in a Small Box, a Different Take on the Infinity Mirror.: Page 12

1 4 2

3

1. Soapy water spray bottle 2. Sticky tape 3. Card for pushing out water 4. Mirror film

https://youtu.be/92fILDmSH-o

Step 6: Glue Up All the sides had now been nished it was time to glue As shown in the second picture I made two corner up the box. blocks to allow me to put some clamping pressure across the box to square it up. DON'T FORGET TO PUT IN THE BOTTOM MIRROR. If you do you won't be able to add it in later. I also put The box was then left for the glue to set. the top mirror in place to make sure the box was square around it. The following day I sanded all the outside faces. I used Titebond 2 wood glue but any PVA wood glue would work ne. Make sure you cover all the mating surfaces, if like me you're using plywood, make sure you use enough glue as the ply is thirst and you don't want a dry joint.

To the outside faces I applied 3 coats of Danish oil, sanding lightly between coats.

Deep Hole in a Small Box, a Different Take on the Infinity Mirror.: Page 13

1

1. Squaring block

1

1. Never have enough clamps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e_mOVz6z04&feature=youtu.be

Deep Hole in a Small Box, a Different Take on the Infinity Mirror.: Page 14

1

1. Tight corners

Step 7: Fitting Out the Inside Again to maintain the illusion of the mine shaft I clad the inside of the box with some un nished shiplap. This was a great nd because it was out of the bin at the timber merchants. After this I hot glued the bottom of the ladder into position on the bottom mirror. I also ran a bead of hot

glue down the back of each leg to hold it to the side. On the opposite side to the ladder I passed the wire through the hole up to the bulkhead light. This was wired and screwed to the side, a 6 watt LED was installed and the top put on.

Deep Hole in a Small Box, a Different Take on the Infinity Mirror.: Page 15

1 2

1. Shiplap inside the box 2. Distressed home made ladder

1

2

1. Bult head light 2. Power cable pass through

Deep Hole in a Small Box, a Different Take on the Infinity Mirror.: Page 16

Step 8: Feet To lift the box o the oor I added some feet, these were made from some plywood o cuts. The main reason was to allow the mains cable to pass out of the box without being squashed and damaged.

Deep Hole in a Small Box, a Different Take on the Infinity Mirror.: Page 17

Step 9: Finished Results The end result was superb and exactly what I was hoping to achieve. It must be convincing because I showed one person who proceeded to look under the box to see how this 'magic' was being done. The 'magic' of this is how a 'one way' mirror works... As it was explained to me by the guy in the mirror shop is

that the refection is always on the side of the mirror with the most light. This is why the police turn o the light when they are observing the interview from outside. On the table when the light inside is o it just looks like a mirrored top, when the light is on you get the internal re ections, this is even more e ective when the external light in the room is o too.

1

1. Mirror top

Deep Hole in a Small Box, a Different Take on the Infinity Mirror.: Page 18

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA4rn-hKDUo&feature=youtu.be

1

1. That's a deeeeeep hole

Step 10: Go for It I hope this has inspired you to have a go too. Awesome! I really like how you did the inside of this table with the ladder and lamp :)

Deep Hole in a Small Box, a Different Take on the Infinity Mirror.: Page 19