Adam Savage's One Day Build: Acrylic Display Box!

As seen in his trip to the barbershop for his MacReady cosplay beard, Adam has built a custom clear acrylic box for his latest obsession with fake beards, which serves as both a transport vessel and display case. Follow along as Adam designs and constructs this box to fit his fake beard needs--imperfections and all--and he does the whole build while wearing the beard!

Shot by Adam Savage and edited by Gunther Kirsch

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Intro bumper by Abe Dieckman

Thanks for watching!

#AdamSavage #FakeBeard #OneDayBuild

[themedicinemann]

Manager of a TAP Plastics store here! Love the video, and thanks for the shout out Adam! We are all big fans of you at my store! You actually did pretty good! Just trim the masking rather than peeling entirely next time. That allows you to see your glue joint while still protecting the rest of the sheet. Anywhere you get the cement that you don't want, you can always use a clean buffing wheel with no rouge on it to take out the hazing from the glue

[kevinmbrooks]

A nice addition would be a mirror on the back (or just set the case in front of a mirror) so someone can see themselves with the beard when they look at it.

[parkerlayfield]

Should totally make a second one that is a “in case of beard emergency, break glass” vessel

[markdonnelly]

I laughed way too hard at the image of Jamie's moustache scooping off sesame seeds!

[wood]

I’ve actually done this for a living. Here’s some tips. Set up a router table it’s the same edge you get from a jointer. Set up an oxygen & hydrogen torch for flame polishing exposed edges. Acetylene introduces soot it’s objectionable.
Do not glue sanded or flame polished edges. This introduces heat which has a lasting effect even after the heat has dissipated. The acrylic will craze after glueing.
Use a glass cutter to score your paper masking. Then use kerosene on a dampened cloth to allow the adhesive to release on the scored line. The glass cutter will not scratch the acrylic unless you make unnecessary multiple passes. Sand the acrylic if you are going to wheel buff. But do not glue that surface. The router table is key. You can achieve 0.001 accuracy. You can use 3M double stick to flush trim to a template for repeatability.
Flame polishing requires some practice.

[joelmcfadyen]

My favorite builds are the ones where Adam finishes it and just starts laughing, it's so wholesome!

[philiphochendoner]

I love the caveat at the beginning. Honesty about these builds just MAKES them so much better. Kudos!

[MrGreenAKAguci]

It's always fun to watch Adam indulge in his box building passion.

[sam.oates_]

There's something about the format of your videos that just makes me feel like I'm hanging out with you at the shop. I love it! I love your building style and how happy it makes you too.

[shipwrek]

Sign maker person dude guy here! So, if you want an edge that's super flat and clean you saw cut (triple chip blades are your friend) over-sized 0.125". However you do not need an edger/joiner/jointer! You need a mounted router or even a dremel and straight cut router bit. Works exactly the same and far more likely to be in the home shop. Then you shave .0625" off each edge and you're good to go. Best part is if you use a bearing bottom straight cut bit then you can make a template out of wood or scrap plastic or whatever and now you can produce exact matching multiple parts.

[seanfannin]

Hey Adam! Been watching your 1-day builds for some time now and I've been working with acrylic for over 10years. I love Tapp plastics, but there are some things that need to be addressed. First, the acrylic should NEVER be cut on a table saw, as it leaves large grooves (tooth marks) in the acrylic. If you really want museum-quality cuts, you should use a laser cutter, otherwise half of your time will be spent smoothing the edges and it will never become uniform. First, even a high-quality laser cutter can leave remnants on the edges, which will create bubbles and laser etchings when you 'flood' the edges of the the acrylic with weld (#3). On the laser cut edges, you should use a 400-grit or higher sand paper to very lightly smooth it out any inconsistencies from the laser cutter to prevent bubbles when you lay down the acrylic weld. You need to use a square on each side to ensure that there is a proper 90-degre angle on each side. No need for tape if you use a square and take your time (hold for 3+ minutes with pressure at each side). Because the tape will eventually throw off the angles and dimensions of the box. Also, you NEVER want to vertically pour the weld, as it will cause the weld to run down the sides of the acrylic. The weld should always poured flat/horizontally to not only ensure that it doesn't drip, but it will also flood the seem of the acrylic. BTW...My builds have also been featured in Make Magazine ;-)

[FrostCraftedMC]

BEARD by Savage would be such a great accessory line

[soupfork]

Tested: Would you like to watch Adam hand sand acrylic for 30 minutes?
Me: Yes, but why so short?

[Dardrum]

Just learning that acrylic can be cast or extruded makes this video priceless, thank you

[elisabethreeves]

As a TAP Plastics fabricator I can confirm that I was yelling at you a little bit (sorry)

But the real thing is that you made the box and that you like the box and that you are sharing both of those with the internet.

***THERE'S MORE THAN ONE WAY TO MAKE A BOX***


You could get a better flame polish with more heat. You do want it to get melty but don't let it burn (acrylic can catch on fire). Oh, and try not to polish before gluing. The solvent can craze the joint (cause a web of tiny cracks in the plastic).

[darthveagan]

I used to work as an architectural model maker and one of my favourite jobs was making the acrylic guards for the models because I would get to flame polish like 30 feet worth of 1/4 inch acrylic and it was so satisfying!

[TLZ]

Will we be seeing a Wilson volleyball with a red face and straw hair in a feature one day build? Cause this beard would be perfect for a Tom Hanks castaway cosplay.

[onesadtech]

Adam, I am very impressed by that perfect centering by eye! Something similar happened to me when I was swapping a new rack into my car, I couldn't find my caliper and just centered the new rack by eye, and when I found my caliper later and checked it, it was accurate to less than a mm. 😂

[carlzr]

Adam's story about Jamie's moustache at the beginning killed me.

[chriskeeble]

There is something "very lovely" about that display case! Thanks for sharing - I've just last week arranged a huge sheet of acrylic to make some display boxes... and then saw this!! Wish me luck!