Need Wrap Ideas for Steel Stand

[Rython]

R2R community:

I need to crowd source some brainstorming.

I have a roughly 2' x 4' peninsula stand made of coated steel that I want to wrap. I don't want to drill it. I also don't want to spend more than probably $200 or so.

I like the modern white piano finish look. My current idea is to buy custom cut opaque white acrylic sheets and attach them by gluing them to Z Clips. Then I would glue Z clips to magnets and magnetically attach the Z Clips to the stand. With sufficiently strong magnets the Clips won't move, but also the panels won't be hard to remove when I want to do some maintenance.

So far i've found ACRYLITE® extruded white acrylic that is .118 in thick at $3.57/sq in. For 4 panels I come in within budget.

So my questions for anyone who has been down a similar path (or who has an idea) are:

1. Is that acrylic going to be so thin that it's flimsy? Is that thick enough to diminish sump noise at all?
2. Should I try to account for the distance from the stand caused by the magnets/clips in my measurements to make it appear close to seamless? Intuitively I think it would still look fine with small gaps at the corners, but my intuition has been wrong before. What do you think?
3. Do you know of another similar material I could buy custom cut that would be more cost effective and/or higher quality for the application?
4. Do you have a good source for sealed (and strong) magnets at competitive prices?
5. Do you know of a better source for custom cut opaque white acrylic than Acrylite?

Thanks in advance to the community!
Chance

 

[Dierks]

Well... I dont know if these are the correct answers but I would think:

1 - Not if there are gaps, I would think it wouldn't do much. It will help some but not as much as you probably want. Now with no gaps I think it would do pretty well.
2 - I would make it as seamless as you can. I am a big fan of this as well!
3 - No I dont, the only other one I can think of is laminated wood but it would be crazy heavy.
4 - Loots of people on here seem to like: https://www.kjmagnetics.com/ Not sure because of the selection or if its because its high on the Google Search but I have used them before and it was just fine.
5 - Nope, sorry Im not much help!

I hope you get this thing up and looking the way you want! I would love to see pictures as you build/after the build is complete! Good Luck!!

@Crabs McJones Do you think this might get more traction in the DIY Section? Just would love to get him some more thoughts!

 

[Rython]

Thanks for the response. You're probably right. I'll order some magnets and see if I can figure out what dimension panels I'll need for a tight fit.

Thanks for the link!

I will post a photo when I get it together.

 

[Rython]

Yeah I didn't realize there was a diy forum. Should have realized. I'm going to have to figure out how to seal the tops and bottoms too. Maybe something designed for doors or Windows would work. Yeah a move to DIY would be helpful. Or I could repost there.

 

[Dierks]

I just figured it might get a bit more traction over in that section. I know an #admin can get this changed over there for us! I think this will look great when you are done!

 

[Crabs McJones]

Moved

 

[MikeyLikesit]

Hi, I am a modern cabinetmaker here in Nashville, TN. If you are looking for Hi-gloss acrylic (which is the piano finish you spoke of above) it is about $35/sq.foot. Laser edgebanded. Perfect panels.

super matte and faux wood are same cost (middle photo)

 

[Rython]

Thanks Mikey,

That's beautiful and the exact look I was going for, but that price is about 8 x my budget . I'm going to have to find another solution.

I found 1/8 in. HDPE sheets that are pretty inexpensive. I'm sure they aren't high gloss, or even laser edged, but they fit the budget. I could get enough to wrap the whole stand for just over $200. My only question is whether they will be reasonably rigid or if they're going to bend like poster board.

I could possibly do 1/4 inch but that would blow my budget by $100. 1/4 in. seems more likely to be rigid and muffle some sound, but honestly I know so little about these materials i'm just guessing.

I'm probably going to have to line the interior edges with weather stripping or something to get some measure of seal when the panels are attached. Otherwise, I imagine most of the sound would leak out anyway.

Maybe i'm just barking up the wrong tree and should abandon the slick plastic look and just Kilz some particle board and line it with sound-proofing insulation. At least I could check off one of my design goals without destroying the budget.

 

[Rybren]

I used 1/2" plywood with a plastic edging to protect the sides and painted it white. I just used regular semi-gloss, but I'm sure that you could achieve a high gloss finish using a different paint.
It is attached with magnets for easy removal.

 

[Rython]

The edging is a good idea! The edges were the whole reason I didn't want to use plywood. Now i'm thinking i'll just drill partial holes into plywood to recess some rare earth magnets. That will make it sit flush or nearly so.

 

[MikeyLikesit]

High Gloss that is perfect is really expensive.

I would get some 3/4” prefinished maple, get some PVC edgebanding and apply it. Then just pay a painter to spray it with High Gloss using HVLP gun.

 

[Rython]

I have a painter in the family, so i'll do just that. Thanks for the tip @MikeyLikesit !

 

[MikeyLikesit]

nice... I would actually revert to using MDF. Make sure he uses two coats of primer. The MDF really sucks up paint.

 

[Nohatch]

I used high gloss paint on the inside of my stand and it's holding up great! Easy cleanup with water spills.