DIY - TRAY // DIY-THAT'S SIMPLE

The extraordinary serving tray made of Plexiglas can be produced very quickly and with simple tools at home by youself. Its depth specially allows carrying high glasses and cups which easily can tip or slide.

Tips: Once turned around the tray it can be used as a base for different objects such as your Laptop. Furthermore the surface of the plexiglas can be designed individually and laminated with your motives. Set your imagination free and be creative!

Material:

Following materials will be used:

Plexiglas-Platte – 4mm thickness – 25 x 50mm
round timber Ø10mm, 2pcs 500mm/ 2pcs 250mm
rubber O-rings 8pcs 3 x 40mm
squared timber 60 x 40 x 300mm

Tools:
clamps 2pcs
drilling machine
wood drill 11-12mm
hot air gun
hand saw
scriber

For a precise work I have prepared a drawing as a PDF file which contains measurements I used. The drawing can be downloaded here for free.

Download Link: DIY - Tray

Now you can begin! Put two squared timber of same size on a flat surface and place the plexiglass panel upright between them so that its short side is laid up on the surface. With the help of two clamps the plexiglas panel should be fixed gently between the timbers.

Next step you heat the plexiglas with a hot air gun directly above the clamp edge. In order to not overheat the plexiglas, move the hot air gun back and forth with enough distance to the plexiglas surface (minimum 10cm). While doing so make sure that you don’t stop too long on one spot and heat on both sides of the panel. After 2-3 minutes give a light pressure on the panel and continue heating until it starts moving by itself under gravity. Then bring it to a horizontal position and let it cool down. Now repeat the whole process on the other side.

The vertical surfaces are placed for drilling on a useless wood timber. Use a scriber to mark the position of the holes with the help of the template. This helps to set the drill exactly.

For the assembly you need the round timber that you shorten to the specified length with a hand saw. Insert two of the longer wooden sticks through the holes and don’t forget to set two rubber O-rings on the sticks between the holes. Now pull the O-rings over the edge of the plexiglas and finally over the stick again so that the sticks cannot slide. Align the sticks in the right position. Therefor I used O-rings with cord size of 3mm and inner diameter of approx. 33mm. On the same principle attach the shorter sticks as handles on the ends of the longer sticks.

I would be pleasured if you would share some photos of your work with me.