Tetris TV Stand

A challenge was put out a while back to build something out of 1 sheet of plywood. Responding to the challenge, I wanted to create something that was functional, that I needed, and that was geeky. I decided on making a TV stand to serve as a little gaming center for the small number of consoles we had.

The result was a Tetris-inspired TV stand, with 3 compartments for different gaming consoles, and a LED strip that lit up the Tetris blocks that served as the background for the stand.

Here's how I put it all together!

The materials I used:

3/4" 4x8 sheet of maple plywood
LED stip
1/4 20 thread wood screws
Screw feet
Dowels
Pocket hole screws

Tools:
Wood glue
Painters tape
Paint
Clear coat
Pull saw
Circular saw
Orbital sander
Chisel
Square
Router with a V-bit
Hand planer

I started by sketching out an initial idea for the TV stand in my notebook. I took my sketch and went into Sketchup to draft out the TV stand. This allowed me to figure out how big I could make the TV stand and still fit all the pieces on 1 sheet of plywood.

After calculating the dimensions of each piece, I fit them on a template of a 4x8 sheet of plywood and headed to the store

I picked up the materials I needed, and started by measuring and drawing the back piece for the TV stand. I cut out the back piece for the stand, then I measured and marked equal square sections for each of the block pieces. Using my router with a V bit, I carved out the tracks for each of the blocks.

Because I was using a smaller V bit, I cut a little deeper than the V bit, then went back afterwards with a hand planer and evened out the edges on each of the cuts. This gave it a nice, layered look that will separate each of the block pieces.

I took painters tape and laid it into the cuts, then started painting each of the sections. I picked a green color for the square Tetris piece, blue for the long Tetris piece, and red for the L Tetris piece.

Once it was all dry, I sprayed a light layer of clear coat on the background to help prevent any nicks or scraps that might happen when putting the rest of the stand together.

Using my reference sheet, I measured and cut out each of the remaining pieces to fit around the background piece. I marked areas to put dowels and then screwed holes into each side of the pieces I was connecting and fit the dowels in.

Without gluing, I assembled the TV stand together to make sure all the pieces fit together, and after I was sure that everything fit and looked good, I took it all apart to get ready to paint

With all the pieces taken apart, I painted each side of the boards white - making sure to keep the sides free of paint.

With the paint dry, I started to assemble the stand. I put the dowels back in, glued the pieces together, and then started clamping the whole thing down.

Originally my plan was to only use dowels and clamps to combine all the pieces together, but I didn't have clamps big enough for some of the sections of the stand. To fit the rest of the stand together I drilled some holes and used pocket hole screws to secure the remaining pieces together.

Note: At this point I didn't glue to top pieces onto the stand, as I still need to add the LED strip before final assembly.

For each of the section of the stand, I drilled a hole in the center, near the back of the stand, for power cords and other cords to fit through.

I took the top piece and measured a center line through each one, then used a chisel to carve out a slot for the LED strip to feed through the divider pieces. This needed to be done on both the left divider and the right divider.

I attached the top pieces to the stand, then cut pieces of a dowel to fill the pocket holes that I created when screwing some of the pieces together. I used a pull saw and cut the dowels flush to the stand, then started to sand everything down.

I used 220 on the painted parts, then worked my way from 80-220 on the bare sections on the front of the stand.

Using some of the leftover scraps, I glued 3 layers together, and then marked and cut 4 pieces to be the feet. On the bottom of the stand, I measured and marked a uniform distance from each corner, then glued and screwed the feet to the stand.

Taking a square, I marked the center of each foot, and then drilled a hole and screwed in the 1/4 20 tread wood screw. I threaded the screw on feet to ensure that the initial hole was deep enough for the adjustable foot to fit all the way down.

With the stand fully assembled, I took some paint and touched up some of the areas that needed it, then sprayed the whole thing down with a few layers of clear coat.

Once dry, I fed the LED strip through the slots that I chiseled out for it, then adhered the LED strip to the top part of the stand. I turned it on to test it out, and it looked great!

After getting your TV, consoles, any video game related figures, toys, whatever you have to complete the ensemble, fit and in the TV stand, the last and most important step is to enjoy!

If you want to see more projects I've made, you can check out my YouTube channel here
or find me on Instagram @iamthebeardlessman

Now you know how to do it, watch it being made!

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