Follow your Playa Tech plans and cut all the bench pieces out. We used a table saw, a circular saw, and a band saw.
The most difficult part of this project was cutting the butterfly shape out from the back of the bench. Our team used a Shaper Origin hand-held CNC router, a very nifty tool which is owned by our local makerspace. This tool uses registration stickers on the plywood to "know" its place in space on the project and cut out an svg file.Â
A standard CNC router could work here too, but you'll need a bed size of at least 4x4.Â
You could also use a handheld jigsaw and drill, if you have a lot of patience.
Next, I used a small palm router with a roundover bit to round over the edges of all the holes. I also ran it along the edges of the plywood to smooth everything out and make it feel finished.
I realized that some of the spars were very thin -- some had broken already in the transport process and others looked sure to snap as soon as someone sat back on the bench. I fixed them by adding "splints" from thin pieces of wood cut to size on the table saw. I sanded it as flat as possible, then filled in any holes with wood filler and let it dry. The next day, I took a hand sander and palm router and sculpted the spars into something that looked pretty and intentional.Â
It all worked out pretty well except for the side cut between the two wings made on one side (before deciding that would compromise the integrity). I tried to patch that up as best I could with splints and glue and filler, and it looks pretty good, but the seam didn't survive the festival.Â
Pro tip: don't cut the wings apart.
The bench still felt pretty flimsy -- I definitely recommend using thicker plywood if you can. This used 2x4s from a scrap pile to reinforce the edges of the back seat, and to make the whole thing a little sturdier.Â
Get the LED acrylic in place before reinforcing the back, if your design goes close to the edge of your bench. I had to remove and replace the 2x4s a couple times and make some rabbit cuts, and futz until it was right.
Use a rotary sander to get everything sanded down as nicely as possible and give the bench a test assembly.Â
Page last edited May 14, 2025
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