Portable Styrene Columns

The challenge of this project was to make a pair of portable columns that can fit in my minivan so I can take them to speaking engagements and exhibit booths (yes, these columns are intentionally two different heights – see John Bosco’s dream of the two columns). In this case portability meant light weight and collapsible. I chose two inch thick insulation Styrofoam and a wooden coffee table as a base.

First I pealed the plastic coating off one side of the Styrofoam sheet. Next I measured two inch wide strips marked the sheet with a chalk line. Then I took a hack saw blade and placed a strip of tape at two inches to serve as a depth gauge. The blade does a decent job of slicing the foam when you don’t have a hot knife and I didn’t mind the rough edges. I sawed all the way through the foam but didn’t break the plastic coating on the back side. I reinforced the plastic coating with some tape. I’m pretty sure I used painters tape or masking tape but this would be a good application for duct tape. Once the whole sheet is cut into two-inch strips but still attached to the plastic backing, it was possible to roll it into a tube shape.

From here I measured the diameter of the column and made a template. I cut a disc that would go inside the column and keep the strips from curling tighter. Then I cut two concentric rings and sanded down the edges with a light duty power sander to shape them into quarter-circles if you were to bisection them. Next I cut two square slabs of foam and glued them together with white glue or wood glue (I probably used both interchangeably throughout this project). After that I glued the concentric rings to the square slabs and then glued the disc to the slabs inside the rings, leaving a moat that the column shaft is inserted into. This set of foam pieces forms the top.

An identical set of foam pieces forms the bottom only the whole assembly is glued to a coffee table bottom. In this pair of columns I used only the bottom board of the coffee table with the legs still attached.
Since the columns are intended to be white like marble they do not need to be painted. The wood of the coffee table did need a coating of Kilz water base white primer. Water base Kilz will work on Styrofoam as well but I’m not sure about the aerosol in the spray can. It might cause the foam to denature.

The column in the photo of me carrying it on my back is assembled from two top pieces… no wooden base. My wife took the picture in my driveway and I shopped out the background and put in a public domain image of a Greek temple I clipped from Wikimedia Commons. Notice the subtly missing column in the right corner of the temple. I painted over it in PS with the clone tool.