Hi!

First of all sorry for my English, then..

I wanted something nice for my livingroom and I thought: "what is better than drinking beer on your beer caps table?"

I got this idea from another instructables and I loved it as soon as I saw it.

The table top is made by 687 caps, from beers of all over the Europe, submerged with transparent epoxy resin.

The top surface is like glass, but you can see the caps trapped in.

Step 1: Bill of Materials

Main components:

- 1 Living room table

- 687 Beer caps

- 1.6 kg of Bi-component epoxy transparent resin "Water effect"

Wooden frame components & tools:

-plastic adhesive tape (for sealing the frame)

-plastic layer (to obtain smooth surface in contact with resin)

-scrap board wood

-screw

-saw

-drill

-screwdriver

Miscellaneous:

-Glue

-paper adhesive tape

-blotting paper

-pliers

-Sponge

-file

-saw

-plastic container

-old credit card

-old pen

-paper clip

Step 2: Collecting Beer Caps..

You have to drink a lot of beers, all of them opened with something like forks, lighters and so on, without bending the caps. You can not use a bottle opener, otherwise your caps will be for evere bended..

You can see the picture, these were my first caps.

I was collecting caps for 2 years, because I selected them for colours, drawings and dimensions (all the caps have the same diameter, the standard one for commercial beer bottles)

Step 3: Select the Drawing

I was tring a lot of drawings in the meanwhile I was collecting caps.

First of all I put an adhesive paper tape on the edge of the table, in order to prevent the caps falling down.

Then I tried with the caps random on the table, after with the word "BEER", but I still did not like it.

I made others attempt but I was not satisfied.

Finally, I got the idea, The rhombus pattern! You can see the drawing I made to explain in a clear and simple way the caps geometry.

I matched the caps with similar colour and I begun to prepare the rhomobus.

I made small and big ones, each one of a different colour, and so I created the final drawing.

Step 4: Glue the Caps

Once finished the drawing, I glued the caps on the table, otherwise when you pour down the resin, you do a mess, because the resin goes below the caps and move them up.

I left the glue dry for about 2 days, i didn't want bad surprise..

Step 5: Smooth the Caps

Once glued all the caps, you will find that the table is not exactly wide as you needed, so I'was obliged to Smooth the extra surface of the caps. I used an iron file and an iron saw.

Step 6: Make Seal With Plastic Adhesive Tape

Before pouring resin, you need to create a wall all around the table, in order to block the resin falling down!!!

I decided to create a wooden frame, with a plastic surface inside to create a smooth edge of resin and, to prevent the resin from pouring down on the ground between the plastic surface and the table, I used a plastic adhesive tape, glued all around the edge of the table.

Step 7: Make Wooden Frame

I realized the wooden frame with scrap wood, cutting the axes at 45° and piercing them with 2 holes for screws.

I glued the plastic surface on the inner side of the wooden frame.

I put the frame on the ground (with the screws not still tightened), then I put the table inside and then I pull up the frame in the correct position. After That I close the frame thightening the screws.

By this way, I could compress the table inside the frame only with the power of the screws producing the seal to block the resin.

Step 8: Pouring Resing

I used transparent epoxy resin, "water effect", dry in 24 hours. When drying, the resing produce heat and air bubbles, so I choosed a slow-solidifying type of epoxy resin.

I put the table in my bathroom and closed the door, because I live with my cat and I could not allow the cat doing and leaving little footsteps on all the table!

I poured all in a time, to avoid bad visual effect between two layers of solidified resin, and I explode one by one all the bubbles I could see! (with a metallic clip)

I was exploding bubbles three times, at the beginning of the process (on the morning), in the middle (after lunch time) and least but not last after dinner (more or less twelve hours after the pouring).

Step 9: Smoothing the Solidified Resin

Once the resin is dry, I waited a couple of day to be sure the drying process was completed. After that I smoothed the edges all around, because they were very sharp, like knives. You can see the photos!!