Embedded Light Table Into IKEA RANSBY Table

New IKEA RANSBY cost about 12000 RUR today, but probably you would not want to drill it right after you bought and assembled.

I got a used one and we used it for some times and one day my wife asked to make light table for her. And I decided to mount light table right into the table that she used for drawing.

I made few mistakes but got skill with woodworking router and got light table that do not take any additional space.

Bonus when you make it on you own you can choose any color of glass and light, and size.

BOM

IKEA RANSBY table - 4000 RUR
Acrylic glass - 800 RUR
LED tape - 900 RUR
12V adaptor - 200 RUR
Supplementary materials ~ 1000 RUR
Rent for co-working in workshop - 900 RUR

Apart from RANSBY table, light table (size of 370x420 mm) materials cost about 4000 RUR, which is about $62 or €56 in July 2016

Step 1: Step 1: Detaching Convertible Part and Removing Material

Use screwdriver to remove convertible part from main table.

Be careful with mirror on the back! Remove it or put some soft clothing to the back.

I used bubble wrap and wooden supports in order to protect mirror.

After that mark region on the surface where you gonna install lighting part, in my case it was 420x370mm

You will need woodworking router or even better if you will do it with CNC.

I recommend to remove laminate with small plain bit(3-5 mm radius) first and then use big plain bit(15-20 mm radius) to remove main part of wood.

You need to go deep about 10-12 mm because you will need support for mirror from back side.

In my case I make 6 mm for edge and 13 for main hole. Total thickness of the board is 20 mm.

Also keep in mind that you will need edges in order to support acrylic glass.

Step 2: Step 2: Pre Mounting Glass and LED Tape

Cut acrylic glass in order to fit.

I drilled a small hole for power wires and checked it how looks works attached to the table.

It was about 150 mm of wire, but I recommend to have more wire on the end of the LED tape.

DO NOT USE circular saw or jigsaw or any kind of saw it all.

That was my mistake, but I learned 2 lessons:

Best way is to measure exact size and shape and order it in laser cutting shop
Fully transparent glass is bad idea: light is too bright and surface doesn't look nice to live it as it is.

So I bought another acrylic glass, this time milky white color.

Step 3: Step 3: Mount LED

Firstly I thought to glue tape all around edge so it would be pointed 90º of view, but then I understood that it would be waste of light and I got 3m of tape, and I want to use most of it especially with milky white glass.

So I cut tape into 10 pieces and solder them with additional wires and glued them with hot glue to the wooden part.

Space between I covered with aluminium foil from chocolate :)

This way it light reflects better and evenly distributes.