Build a bench for your backyard or your festival theme camp that shows your logo or camp mascot in glowing rainbow colors.Â
Playa Tech is a system of furniture plans designed by Sunshine Zwern. Create benches, tables and chairs from a single sheet of plywood using common wood shop tools. The furniture packs flat, then slots together in minutes, allowing you to bring an entire living room set for your festival camp in the back of your Subaru. This system is rapidly gaining popularity with the Burning Man crowd, and I've seen it being used at festivals nationwide.
Our camp decided to get a bit fancy this year and worked together to create this Playa Tech Butterfly Bench. The butterfly is cut with a handheld CNC router from a sheet of 3/4" plywood, and then back-lit with edge-lit 1/4" acrylic, 30/m NeoPixels and running WLED software powered by a Sparkle Motion board. It's a lovely addition to our camp setup, and makes an absolutely lovely "selfie spot" in any garden.
The LED build is pretty easy on this project. The challenge is in the woodworking. But, who doesn't love a good woodworking challenge?Â
Powering
Use any 5v USB power supply with at least 2A to power this bench. If you plan to leave it outdoors you can look around for an outdoor rated supply, or just build an enclosure for your power supply and plug it into an outdoor extension cord. The Sparkle Motion board can be powered through the USB C port or through the 2.1mm jack so either type of supply will work.
If you're camping you can use a USB Battery Pack to power the bench for several hours. There are only around 120 lights in this bench so your battery will last all night!
If you plan to use the bench indoors or mostly on sunny days, the Adafruit snap-fit enclosure is an easy solution. Or use the waterproof enclosure if you plan to leave the bench outdoors in the rain.
Bench Materials List
- 1 sheet of 3/4" to 1" plywood
- 8-10' of 2x4sÂ
- Additional scrap wood for strengthening & support
- 1 Qt Black Outdoor house paint
- 1 Qt White Primer paint
- 2 oz Acrylic paint for the orange spots
- 1 Qt Outdoor polyurethane sealer
- 2 sheets of 1/4" acrylic -- mine was around 3'x4'
- Clear packing tape
- Clear 1/2" heat shrink
Tools List
- Table Saw
- Miter / chop saw
- Band saw
- Handheld CNC Router : this is owned by my local MakerSpace
- Soldering iron & accessories
- Handheld routerÂ
- Projector for tracing our design
- Rotary Sander
- SandpaperÂ
- Painting supplies (roller, various sized brushes)
- Hot glue gun
Page last edited May 14, 2025
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