My Fortress of Solitude

4th of July was a day of progress. Spent most of the day mounting and gluing the acrylic tubes to the foundation. The image above shows the 3 sizes of crystal. I started with 2, then went back to TAP PLASTICS to buy a second round of the medium and large, and figured a smaller tube would make good filler.


Here is 1 of 4 foundation pieces (the underside). They will rest on my cubicle walls. 1 piece works like a shelf, just sits on another shelf. The other 3 have to sit in a cubicle wall only i inch wide. Mostly made of cheap wood, wood glue, and screws. I was worried about sliding, so using foam window sealer as padding. (Not the cleanest screwing or glue job, i know but you wont be seeing the underside.) Then slapped a basic white coat on the sides that will show.



I've been using E6000 to mount the tubes to the wood foundation. Works like amazing. It takes about 30 minutes for the bond to hold, then you have about an hour to nudge, and adjust the angle before its too late.

I used heels of shoes to hold down the tubes while the glue drys. A shoe was the only object in my house that could hold these. Since i have 60 crystal tube mounts, I figured one at a time, by hand, would have taken forever. This way, I was able to do about 6 at a time. Using a triangle ruler made it really easy to lay down a bunch of guidelines. None of them are perfect, just eye balled matching the tube to the 45 degree line. But organic is good.

It's a shame these will all be covered by paper.
Looks cool just like this.


As of today, this is where I am. All 4 pieces of the foundation, with MOST of the tubes glued down. I have a few spare (6-8) pieces left, Once i start wiring the LEDs I may find room for 1 or two more.

The LED phase will take some time. Seeing how I've never wired anything before, I must bone up on research so i don't set this thing aflame the first time i turn the lights on. Ebay shopping for LEDs as we speak... or as i type.