Hi everyone, welcome to Techydiy.
I am Nigel and
in this video I am going to show you
how I built an Infinity illusion mirror.
The infinity mirror consists of
a wooden frame,
a mirror in the back,
some led lights around the middle and
a partially reflective mirror in the front.
Partially reflective mirrors are also know as
one way or two way mirrors and
they reflect some light and allow the rest to pass through.
The infinity illusion effect comes from the light reflecting between the two mirrors
and the partial mirror allowing some of the light to pass out each time.
So let's have a look at the parts
that I have used:
Firstly wood for the frame,
A mirror tile from Ikea,
A reel of white 12 volt LED tape,
A sheet of glass,
silver reflective window film
and a square of plywood for the back.
You can find a full list of all the parts
and tools in the video description and
also on my website which you can access
by clicking the i symbol in the top
right-hand corner of the screen.
The first job was to create the profile for the sides of the frame and I did that on a router table.
The profile has a groove for the partially reflective mirror and
a rabbet for the full mirror.
To make life easier, I cut the wood in half.
Then I cut a rabbet in each length of wood
with a 16mm diameter straight bit
and followed that by a groove
with a 4mm diameter straight bit.
I then set the mitre saw to 45 degrees and
cut one of the two lengths of wood in half
and then move the right hand piece over to cut
a new mitre on its right hand side.
I cut the second length of wood in half
and once again moved over
the right hand piece to cut
a mitre on it's right hand side.
Next I mark the final length
on one of the side pieces
and I used the sacrificial fence to
cut it exactly to size on the mitre saw.
I clamped the offcut onto the fence
as a stop block.
And used that to cut the mitres on the
other three sides
To make sure everything was okay,
I dry fitted the sides,
along with the glass and the mirror.
Next I sprayed the insides of
the side pieces with matt black paint.
Then I applied wood glue
to one of the sides,
assembled the frame
and clamped it together with a band clamp.
I checked that it was all square
and left it to dry.
To reinforce the two glued corners,
I installed wooden dowels
and to make drilling the holes
for the dowels easier,
I made up a jig, which was a block of wood,
cut at 45 degrees, with two tubes strapped to the face
acting as guides for the drill bit.
This was clamped on one side of the corner
and a block of wood clamped to the
other side, to ensure a clean exit hole.
I applied wood glue and tapped the dowels through the holes.
Then once the glue had dried,
I cut off the excess and sanded them flat.
The next job was to install the LED strip
onto the frame.
Now I could have wrapped the tape
around the inside in one piece
but I thought it would look
more uniform if I cut it into four
sections and then soldered them together with flexible wire.
So I cut three lengths of
LED tape at the marked positions.
Tinned the connections on each
tape and also the stripped wires.
I soldered the wires to the tapes,
removed the backing from the first
length of LED tape and
using a pencil line that I had marked
earlier, stuck it to the side.
I then repeated the process for
the other two lengths of LED tape.
Making sure that they were orientated in the same direction.
The wiress were then soldered to
the neighboring led tapes, connecting
positive to positive and negative to negative.
This was a good point to test
the LED strip and you can see the
Infinity effect starting to take shape.
I realised at this point that I would need
a place for the power cable to exit the frame,
so I routed a slot in the fourth side.
I decided that it was a good idea to
paint the top and the inside edges of
the frame before the glass was installed.
The paint I used was from Rustoleum with
a silver base coat and a chalky graphite topcoat,
designed to be rubbed back for a distressed look.
First of all I applied the silver base coat
( I did get carried away and painted
the sides as well which I
(shouldn't have done).
Once it was dry I
applied the chalky graphite coat and
when that was dry, I rubbed it back with a
stainless steel kitchen scrubber.
Finally I applied a coat of lacquer to the
inside edge and the top.
Next I applied the
silver reflective mirror film to the glass.
I used two pieces of masking tape
stuck to either side to separate the film
from its backing and I used a mister
to spray soapy water onto the film.
The glass was cleaned thoroughly
before I started the process
and I wore plastic gloves to
avoid fingerprints.
I used a silicone squeegee blade
to remove the air bubbles
and then i cut the excess away with a
sharp knife.
I left the mirror film too dry overnight
and then installed it into the frame,
with the film facing inside.
Then I applied wood glue and clamped the frame,
checked that it was square
and left it to dry.
I drilled holes through the two
corners using the drilling jig,
applied wood glue to the dowels
and tapped them in place.
Cut off the excess
and sanded them flat.
Then I applied silver paint to the sides
followed by the graphite coat.
Rubbed it down with a stainless steel
scourer and applied lacquer.
The next job was to install
the fourth LED strip.
I cut a short and
a long length of flex.
Stripped the ends of the wires,
twisted them together,
tinned the wires and
then soldered the wires to the LED strip.
I removed the backing from the LED strip
and stuck it down.
The wires from the left hand LED strip
were soldered to the newly installed strip, keeping the polarity the same.
The short wires from the newly-installed LED strip were soldered to the right-hand strip,
again keeping the polarity the same. So in effect I created a ring circuit
with the power fed in at one corner.
The long wires were then connected
to a DC power adapter socket.
The power cable was secured in place
with hot glue and I also used it
to insulate the soldered led connections.
Wearing gloves to avoid fingerprints,
I cleaned the partially reflective mirror
and also the mirror tile
and then installed the mirror tile
into the frame,
followed by a plywood back,
which was then secured in
place with nails.
So the final thing to do was plug it in.
I think the infinity mirror has worked
really well,
but please leave a comment
and let me know what you think?
All the parts and tools used in the project are
listed in the video description and also on my website
and I will put a link to that on the end screen.
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So thanks for watching, take care and
I'll see you again next time.