Custom Table Top Display
Making a custom table top display for my other business TeaLightBox.com was an important eye opener as I realized what I was doing wrong with that website based on first-hand feedback by attending a few trade shows with the concept.
Designing a custom table top display is only part of having a proper presence at a trade show and for me, it was essential as my first experience was laying the sides of the TeaLightBox.com offerings on a table and everybody thought I was selling coasters.
If you aren’t familiar with TeaLightBox.com, it’s a business I started about a year ago as an offshoot of CNCROi.com, watch the video below so that you understand the concept and an idea of what I was trying to do when attending a few trade shows.
As you can see in the video above, the first I made for TeaLightBox.com, it’s due for an update because you can see how the logo displays the first version of the tea light box while the animation shows a different one, the branding doesn’t match!
The first thing I realized with my custom table top display for TeaLightBox.com was the need for the website to be front and center, hence having the website right at the top of the display as well as on each tea light ever manufactured so people know where to get more.
At CNCROi.com, we do custom fabrication day in and out, design through fabrication, as a result, making this custom tea light box display was second nature and the point that I was my own client actually made it a bit more interesting as I didn’t have to send design updates and prototypes as I’d normally do for approval each step of the way.
I’ve done a lot of projects using plywood, far more than I’ve released content about on this website but due to NDAs I wasn’t able to show them but here’s a custom plywood project that I use on a daily basis, it holds my laptop that I run my laser from and it’s been years since I made it and it still works fine for me!
The material I used for this TeaLightBox.com custom table top display was 1/4″ 6 mm plywood, it’s strong, light weight and looks great after being CNC laser cut producing a fantastic contrasting edge.
I really enjoy the custom tea light business, it’s just so creative and fun but it was missing a few key ingredients that I couldn’t figure out myself and as a result, going to the trade shows revealed a lot of very good things that I had completely missed so I plan on relaunching TeaLightBox.com in the month of January 2019 using many of the lessons I learned from people visiting my booth in person.
CNCROi.com‘s wonderful Austrian wide-format industrial laser is plenty powerful to easily cut through this plywood, it’s precise within 5 nanometers and makes quick work of producing what I made a CAD document of to create the paths for this custom table top display.
I’ve made a lot of projects using plywood, the reason for using the laser over our CNC router is the fact that contrast is produced as byproduct of production, the hot laser burns the edges of the plywood, producing contrast that otherwise would have to be painted if I had made this custom table top display using our router.
Doing custom fabrication every day for customers across 4 continents might sound stressful but it’s really quite a bit of fun, the ideas, designs and concepts that I’m prevy to really make each day unique and interesting in their own light.
Of course, I use warped plywood for this project, the customers always get the best stuff and in this case, it actually helped produce a better friction cut and assembled design as the material had built-in pressure to push in various directions once assembled, keeping it all together without requiring any glue or nails, other than the backing with TeaLightBox.com branding.
This is why when you look at these photos, you can actually see the various parts of this custom table top display pop out once they are laser cut at CNCROi.com.
Running a mostly virtual business regarding my customers, spending a few days with constant feedback as to what is good and not good regarding the TeaLightBox.com business model was a great investment in time well worth it to me, nothing really can replace having ideas and instant feedback thrown to you to improve upon things.
I really enjoy using all the equipment at CNCROi.com, each has a cost and benefit and it’s finding the best fit for the application I’m using the material for which makes the most sense to me.
The most important part of running a business is enjoying what you do and improving the lives of customers who employ me, as I tell my friends and clients, I don’t have one boss, I have infinite bosses, some of them buy one tea light, others come to the shop with a few skids of material to be worked upon but they are ALL MY BOSS and a pleasure to work with.
This is version two, the first version of this custom table top display was just lacking an interesting visual which I think this one does greatly, it was a more functional design meaning it would carry the tea light sides during transport as it was essentially a box that held inventory while the newer design is more open.
And here we go, the finished TeaLightBox.com custom table to display, as mentioned in the video, this was a good first step but I’m going to make a third version of this based on feedback at the trade shows to make the design more flexible to the environment it’s going to be in, no more needing 25 tea lights that kept breaking as they were too fragile for the rigors of the road.
Need a custom table top display, any size, shape or material?
Contact CNCROi.com right now!