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. If you'd like to see more videos like this
then please subscribe and if you did like the video then please
don't forget to give it a thumbs up. So thanks for watching,
take care and I'll see you again next time.
