Concrete Fiber Optic Buffet Top

The fiber optic buffet top got installed this weekend.

The finish ended up being a coat of the semi-penetrating soy epoxy. Since it ended up being very shiny I hit everything with some steel wool and then a coat of wax.

A couple layers of felt went down to provide some support for the fiber optic cables under the concrete.

Ooooooo

Ahhhhhhh

Sealing the Concrete Buffet Top

I have been falling behind on blog posts with our house being on a homes tour, traveling, and school. Meanwhile the concrete buffet top has been sitting and waiting in the garage. Pretty much all of the finish work has been completed so it getting old didn't impact grinding. Although at this point there isn't anything you could do other than burn up pads.

Here is a shot of the crushed Murano glass in the surface. The big pieces are all back-lit with fiber optics.

My cat Portland supervising.
I haven't found a sealing method that I really like. I have tried the Cheng sealer with wax, just wax, and acyclic. None do a good job of penetrating and bringing out the color. I like the idea and durability of traditional epoxies, but they make the concrete look like plastic. I am experimenting with a soy-based eco-friendly epoxy. It is supposed to bring on the color and not make the concrete look like plastic and be UV stable. It mixes in two parts like epoxy but is really thin. There is no odor at all, which is good for inside work.

Here is the applied product. I tried a roller and a brush. It went on a little streaky and became more uniform during drying. I am going to give it a day or so before making a verdict, although so far so good.

Buffet Top Reveal

The stripped buffet mold. The flowable concrete produced a very smooth texture with very few bugholes, just a couple on the edge.

The fiber optics all stayed in place. I used a razor blade to cut the fibers flush with the concrete.
Now it is curing under wet plastic before grinding.

Placing the Fiber Optic Concrete

The fiber optic buffet mold has sat covered in the garage for a couple weeks due to some other more pressing things. Today I got back to it.

Finished gluing the fiber optics in.

Some of the first ones came loose. The ones in the mold were fine but the ones glued to the glass pieces came off. I used more hot glue on this round and everything seemed to hold better.

After finishing the mold I was so close, so I whipped up a batch of mortar. Regular concrete would be too stiff and hard to consolidate around the fiber optic lines. There really isn't a good way to consolidate without breaking them loose. The mortar mix I decided on was very fluid. This mix didn't require any consolidation and was self-leveling. It is pretty simple and worked very well. I will probably be using some variant of this on some future projects.

Here are the specs:

- 2.5:1 sand to cementitious materials,

- 5% metakaolin clay,

- 0.4 water-to-cement ratio,

- 1:1 latex admixture to water,

- 3 pcy cellulose microfibers,

- 1.5 pcy polypropylene fibers, and

- a ton of high-range water reducer

I have had problems in the past with the cellulose fibers not dispersing in mortar mixes due to the lack of coarse aggregate. The sand, water, and fibers mixed for 10 minutes before starting to mix the concrete. That seemed to get everything broken up correctly.

I let the mix come to level and let it hang out for an hour or so to begin setting up.

After the concrete stiffened some I was able to lay over the fiber optic lines with less chance of pulling them loose. I laid a couple boards on the mold to help keep the fiber optics pointed in the right direction. The plan is to tape them to the bottom of the mold to hold everything in place. I also lightly troweled down any bumps.

It didn't feel like a pulled any fiber optics loose, but we will have to wait and see. Since I didn't vibrate the concrete at all there may be some extra bugholes. Stay tuned.

Fiber Optic Concrete Progress

The mold construction for the fiber optic bar/buffet top is coming along. I taped off the bottom, drew an abstract shape, cut out the shape, and glued in crushed glass. I almost cried while making the crushed glass out of a broken Murano glass lamp from Italy. It even had the master's signature but was unsalvagable as a lamp. The bigger pieces were glued in with a drop of epoxy and the little pieces sprinkled on after spray adhesive. What is the weird frame you ask, hold tight.

Here is the fiber optic setup. The bottom piece is the led light generator and the black encases all the fiber optics.
I bought a multi-strand setup that had small, medium, and large fibers. I cut enough to run into the cabinet and split the case open.

The bigger fibers got attached to the larger glass pieces to make them glow. I just attached them with hot glue. I will have to be careful placing the concrete, but they seem secure.

The strap is there to keep the fibers out of the way. I drilled very small holes into the white part of the mold and have been inserting the smaller fibers. This is a very time consuming process. It will be cool when finished and I can't rush otherwise the fibers will come loose.

Fiber Optic Illuminated Concrete Bar Top Project

The next concrete project is underway. This is a top for a bar/buffet. The concrete will be regular grey with crushed Murano glass and fiber optics.

The mold is pretty standard construction, 3/4" melamine with caulked edges. I only had white caulk so it blends in. The dimensions are 62"x13"x2".

The shape of this piece is pretty straightforward, however I am trying a few new techniques on this one. An abstract shape was drawn on painters tape and removed. Spray glue will be used to seed the red crushed glass in this pattern. The fiber optics will be glued to the back of the crushed glass in this section so the shape will glow through the glass.

I picked up some highly recommended low VOC semi-penetrating epoxy for this top. I haven't been real happy with the sealer/wax setup and don't like the thickness of traditional epoxy. Hopefully this new type will be the answer, stay tuned.