Oh my god, that was a pain in the ass. But well worth it:

Dremel tools are a handy thing. Amateur makers across the land swear you can make anything with a Dremel. More season makers know the actual truth is that you can destroy anything with a Dremel. So you have to be careful what you apply your Dremel tool tool. More specifically make sure it’s something that you don’t want want. That, my friends, is exactly what Dr. Responsible and I had. There are sections of the bar that we want to cut out to spell out the words “Molly’s Bar” in backlit cutouts for our sign. Before we go any further though, let’s get a good look at the new toy.

Ah the Dremel 300. That name might not mean anything to you now, but I have a feeling it will be synonymous badass roughly 10 minutes after this blog post is up.

Here it is opened up. It comes with a lot of cutting, sanding, and polishing bits. Also, very important to our project, it came with a saw guide. This circular piece lets us place the guide flush to the surface we’re cutting to ensure that the cutting bit is perpendicular and, if necessary, at a controlled depth.

I took an exacto knife and traced the printed letters we taped to the bar last week. Pushing hard while cutting, I scored our pattern into the wood to make it easy see when cutting with the Dremel. Then Dr. Responsible used the new toy to cut the letters out. Here’s a video of Dr. Responsible’s First Go at the Dremel. Speaking of strategic removal of unwanted things…

After all was said and done, we got the word “BAR” cut out of the front. Doesn’t it look nice?

Next week, we’ll finish cutting out “MOLLY’S” and get started on backlighting the sign. We’ll use the same plexiglas and tissue paper plan from the top of the bar. See you all next week.

Are you at a bar right now? Take a good look at your bar. Now back to Molly’s Bar. Now back to the one you’re at. Sadly your bar is not Molly’s Bar. Molly’s Bar now has paper outlines of her fabulous sign to be. Tonight Dr. Responsible and I put marked out with fantastic precision where the back-lite, cut-out sign letters will be. One day these amazing holes in wood will shine bright pink across the great playa horizon to alert all that they might get a drink here. How about that? I’m on a horse.

On Sunday night, we built a rig to cut clean arcs using my jigsaw. The rig is just a 6′ 1×4 with a rigid attachment to both the jigsaw and the arc’s center. We put 4 nails through one end of the 1×4, spaced appropriately to allow the jigsaw to mate with it. We then cut a notch out of the board to allow for the movement of the blade. At a distance equivalent to the desired radius, we drilled a hole slightly too big for a #10 screw, and attached the screw to the center point of the desired arc. Here I am preparing to use it on our electronics bed:

As you can see, it came out pretty great:

We used the same setup to cut out the shelving. Here we are enjoying the fruits of our labors:

Up next: spacers and a plexiglass bar surface.

Last night we finished building and fastening the legs to the floor of the bar, including putting washers on all the screws holding the legs on:

The best idea we’ve had so far on this project is to use cabling to sturdy the frame. Magneato and I both came up with this idea at the same time over lunch; it’s pretty great that we both get to have had the best idea on the project. Last night we decided to put cabling only on every other leg, but it’s easy to add more if we later determine that the bar is flimsy. Here’s a close up view of the cabling:

Fun fact: the alcohol sensor arrived today, so we might end up wiring that together on Sunday.

Today Dr. Responsible and I, aided by our two guest stars, Cherry and Tricia went to Home Depot to get materials and then began construction of a new bar we’re building for Mojito Molly and Camp Tissue and a Plan for Burning Man 2010. The bar would be a large 180 degree arc, 8 feet in diameter. The front is to be made of plywood with our logo, and Molly’s name carved out of the front with back lights shinning through. The top will have plexiglass surface with  wood bottom. The space between the wood and plexiglass will be occupied with LED lights, stereo speakers, and electronic circuits which are yet to be fully planned out. One this is for sure though, we’ll be adding the new Alcohol Sensor we picked up at SparkFun to it.

Not to forsake at all function with form, the bar is designed to have two counter spaces on either side. The bar top ends just a foot shy of the whole structure on either side to allow for a lower counter space that’s the right hight for chopping and using a blender. A shelf will run underneath the bar top and act as store for bottles.

Tonight we tackled the materials purchasing, built the legs, and got them attached to the floor. We’re happy with the progress. The next time we meet up we plan to reinforce the legs with wire. If we have more time, we’ll get started on cutting the top, shelf, and counters to shape with the jig saw.