Hey guys, I'm back with another update. I'm excited but also sad to finally be nearing completion of this thing; I feel like I won't know what to do with myself during my spare time when this is over!
With the artwork in I got to preparing the marquee area. I hadn't closed it off or covered the speakers yet, but I didn't want any light to shine through the speaker grills. My problem was that with the TV extending all the way to the top of the inner cabinet (you'll be able to see this in pictures below) there is no room to access the speakers from behind in case they needed attention. In addition, I wanted an enclosed box to diffuse and reflect the light behind the marquee so that it would light up evenly. So, I bought some foil tape and rubber foam weather stripping:
Next, with 1/8" MDF I measured and cut out a piece that would work as the back to the marquee box. I scribed the corners to accommodate for the batons. Then I covered the piece with foil tape:
I then took the weather stripping and created a barrier outlining the posterior portion of the marquee area to which the back piece could abut, and covered the sides, top, and bottom with foil tape:
Gravity holds the board in place as it leans toward the back of the cabinet. The weather stripping is soft enough so that there aren't any cracks for light to sneak through while also eliminating the possibility of the board vibrating from sound. It's easily removable in case I have to work on the speakers. Problem solved!
I bought some
LED tape and followed
as a guide for installing it. I like how the LED tape kit comes with a dimmer so that the brightness can be adjusted to my liking.
Here's how it looked at that point:
Now that the marquee box was finished there was another dilemma: light bleeding out of the sides of the marquee. I read that others have used the same foam weather stripping shown above, so I bought the thinnest I could find (3/16" thick) and gave it a try. It worked very well, but I wasn't satisfied with it because it created shadow lines on either side of the lit marquee that were each 3/16" thick. I needed something thinner, but not too thin, so I tried some of this foam mounting tape I had laying around.
I laid out a strip on wax paper, cut strips about 1/4" wide, and carefully adhered them to the sides of the cabinet just behind where the marquee sits. Here's a pic showing that.
I removed the red backing prior to placing the marquee. The color of the tape is grey. I thought it might be too thin, but it worked perfectly! No shadows, no light bleed.
Finally, to ensure the marquee was centered vertically I held it in position and marked the panel just below it with a pencil. Then with that line as a guide I took a staple gun and drove staples on both sides of the lower panel for the marquee to rest on. I made sure that the staples didn't stick out beyond the thickness of the marquee.
Here's one side with a staple:
The marquee resting on the staple:
With the marquee sitting in place on the staples it was easy to position the marquee retainers and use a Vix-bit (celf-centering bit) to predrill holes for them. I then fastened them down with screws that were spray-painted black.
Here's the completed marquee!
Oh, I almost forgot. The marquee was reverse printed by Lucian045. I purchased 3/16" Plexiglass from a local glass shop and followed
to adhere the "stickers." It was a little more difficult than I anticipated but it turned out great!
Next up: side art installation.