dreaded plinth making

[ara]

i need to make some plinths for a show ive got coming up...around 6-7 in all, anybody know what is the best way to do this?

mostly need to be around 1.5m high and about 40cm (squared) on the top. if possible i would like to make some perspex tops for a couple of them.

any cheats way of doing this?
good wood/imitation wood to use?
ways to join it?
strength needed? (the heaviest piece that will be on them is about 10kg or i think about 40lbs (?)
one piece needs to be attached to the plinth from underneath, should i make it in two sections?
fool proof way of getting things straight??
i am really bad at that...my least favourite part of sculpture!

i know it is a simple question but i am not very logical when it comes to uncreative tasks like this so any tips are very welcome.

cheers
ara

[fritchie]

I can give only partial answers, and they won't be much help. In all but my first show the gallery supplied plinths, or as we generally say here, bases/pedestals. I made several in different heights/widths, of 1/4 inch plywood, reinforced at internal corners with 2 x 2 inch wood.

The plywood tended to bow inward at the base, which had no reinforcement , but I didn't have time to add anything to keep it rigorously straight, so I went with the slight bow - not really a problem, but not really professional.

I DID angle-cut the edges, so the corners were clean. They were painted dark gray or white at various times, as I used them at community, amateur exhibits also.

On your weight issues, 22 English pounds equals 10 kilograms.

[Merlion]

Just brief (slightly abrupt) comments as I am in a hurry. Display plinth of that size are generally made from plywood, not plastic.

Doing straight and accurate sawing of the 1.5 m x 40 cm (5 ft x 16 in) boards is important. Hand sawing is not recommended. Even sawing by portable circular saw is not too easy to be kept very straight. Thus suggest asking the timber merchant to saw the 40 cm wide boards as they have sawing machine.

Suggest using pneumatic nail gun to nailing them together, rather than hammering. If it is well nailed together with overlapping joint, wooden bars at the inner corners are not necessary.

Covering by black valvet will make them look very professional, especially if the plinths are not well made. Suggest using manual stapler on the valvet.

[Thatch]

You can get large cardboard tubes used for making concrete foundation posts at a building supply, cut a circular piece of thick MDF to go inside and use dry wall screws to hold it in place. Then either paint or cover it. This will be light wieght and extremely strong. Flat black paint is always good and keep a can to touch it up after transport.

Experiment with the painting of it. The cardboard is treated so you might need to lightly sand it before painting, possibly prime it before topcoating it. The only hard part to this is cutting the round board to go in the top of the tube. It should easily hold 50 kilos.

Thatch

[ara]

Originally Posted by Thatch

You can get large cardboard tubes used for making concrete foundation posts at a building supply, cut a circular piece of thick MDF to go inside and use dry wall screws to hold it in place. Then either paint or cover it.

Thatch

cheers thatch that sounds promising! are they really cardboard tubes tho? i find it hard to believe that they could be strong enough? i will follow up that tip tho

merlion, i like the idea of the velvet, sounds very posh! i dont have a pneumatic nail gun, just an ordinary elec screwdriver..would screwing it together and just painting (and/or countersinking) the screwheads be ok?


yeh perhaps getting the wood cut professionally is the best idea, but i was hoping to keep the cost as little as poss.


re-inforcement at the base also, cheers fritchie (and thanks for the weight correction :P)

[dondougan]

Hi Ara,

I make sculpture stands for my stone sculpture out of wood 2x2 frames that are clad in 1/4-inch plywood, and have a short 'kick' at the bottom to set them off the floor. The final finish is flat wall paint. The way I do it the wood does not have to be mitre-cut, and the stands are relatively inexpensive, lightweight and easy to move.

If you email me dougan.sculptor@juno.com I can send a pdf file with the construction details.

Don
www.dondougan.com

Some detail shots below.

[Rojellio]

Originally Posted by ara

cheers thatch that sounds promising! are they really cardboard tubes tho? i find it hard to believe that they could be strong enough?

Sono-tubes really are made from cardboard. It is a waxed cardboard similar to meat packing boxes. They are designed to be filled with concrete without blowing out... so I imagine they are quite strong. Building centers typically have the 6", 8", 10" and 12" size. Concrete supply places tend to have them larger.. all the way from 6" to 6ft.

[ara]

hi guys, man i cant believe it..everytime i have a technical issue, you guys well and truly come up with some amazing tips!


thank you so much everyone!

i am going with the sonotubes for the time being as i dont really have time to get hold of lots of cheap wood make sure it is cut correctly etc etc

will post piccies once they are in use

also found this page from a pottery site where they have been used before as pedestals, some more interesting info on topping them with perspex etc

http://www.potters.org/subject79255.htm

cheers again

ara

[evaldart]

Boiler fabrication outfits always have some nice cylindrical steel cut-off. Big diameters. Tell em you'll give em a hair more than the scrap price and that you'll remove them yourself and they'll likely deal with you. You can put some HEAVY stuff on these (usually have to weld a top on it).

[ara]

again a great tip! but i dont have a welder for the time being but that is definately something i can do later, thanks!

found this site

www.essextubes.co.uk

if anyone else is looking for some in the uk no idea on price though must phone them...
i think they even send you a top if you want one!

[Merlion]

Ara: I don't know why you'd like your plinth to be 1.5 m (5 ft) tall. This is tall.

If you would not mind 4-ft tall plinths, plywood boards come (at least over here) in 4 x 8 ft size. Thus you can have each board sawed into twelve 4 ft x 16 in pieces. Twelve pieces would make the 4 sides of three plinths.

As you are not sawing in tiny quantity, plywood merchants (again over here) do not charge very much for accurate machine sawing.

Thus if I were to make 6 or 7 plinths of size 16 x 16 x 48 in, I would order 3 boards and have them sawed as mentioned. I would then borrow or rent a pneumatic nail guns and nail them together. I would also use a portable power sander to send them smooth if you are painting.

Nailing by nail gun is strong enough without a need for screws.

These tasks would probably take me two days, perhaps one day if I have everything ready.

One of your earlier points is about securing a plinth from underneath. I suggest first securing it to the top 16 x 16 in board, before screwing the top board to the 4 sides of the plinth.

[Alfred]

One thing to consider is storage and transportation. I have made over a dozen pedestals for myself and to keep things simple I make them so that they are stackable. Each base is only slightly smaller than the other one. I make three different sizes and that keeps the storage and transportation size down. To construct them I use a method called pocket screws. This is where holes are drilled at an extereme angle and then the two pieces are joined by screws. I drill the holes on the inside so that there's nothing to repair on the outside. Once I'm done I paint it with a flat enamel paint which allows me to wipe them with a damp cloth when I need to clean them. I've had these stands for three years now (and I don't treat them gingerly) and they're still as solid as the day I built them.

Ara, I know you probably can't use the pocket hole method as it requires a specific jig, but do consider stacking. It makes a world of diference when you're loading a vehicle or keeping things in a corner of your studio.

Alfred

[Merlion]

Originally Posted by Alfred

One thing to consider is storage and transportation...

I very much agree. Making them equal size takes up space. Making them stackable, with one bigger than the other is a good solution.