Wooly Willy Table

Step 5 Modify Ribba Frame

The top surface of the coffee table is actually not a table top at all - it's a Ribba shadow box picture frame from Ikea!

Disassemble the Ribba frame and liberate the square spacer that separates the glass from the back by about an 1".  It's got to be cut in half for the iron filings to get close enough to be properly affected by the magnetic pen. 

Take the spacer over to the table saw and cut it in half, so that you end up with two 1/2" thick squares.

**The first three pictures below show the dis-assembly of a small white Ribba frame, but, rest assured, the process is exactly the same with the big 19" one.**

Comments

[Brennn10]

For those of us without a table saw, what would be an alternative to cutting the spacer in half?

[noahw]

You go down to Home Depot and by some half inch molding and use it to build a spacer yourself from scratch.  Four pieces glued to the wall of the frame should work out just fine and requires only some very minimal cutting with a hand saw and a miter box.  Paint it white (at least on the surfaces that face the inside of the frame) and you're good to go. 

All in all, doing it that way might actually even be easier than cutting the spacer in half on the table saw since it's such a thin cut and the material is so delicate.