CAT Jobsite Burl Deep Pour Epoxy Table

I'm starting on a very exciting and challenging project featuring a jobsite staged using the natural burlwood as the mountain topography (to mimic Camelback mountain) paired with miniature construction trucks.

I was first presented with an AI rendering concept with the approach of... is this possible in real life? A few emails and phone meetings later we all had a clear scope of what I was to try to achieve with this build and how I might accomplish it.

Sourcing the right wood was the easiest element of this project because once I saw the rendering I knew I had just the burls in my stash that had been waiting for this project. Once I showed the burlwood slabs to the CAT team they immediately saw the potential to become this wild table. The cross shaped pedestal will be created from matching burl and clear resin.

Although I have over 8 years of experience making epoxy slab tables, I had never before been tasked with creating a table with hyper realism featuring diecast models and replicating a muddy-sandy desert jobsite scene. I went through a handful of tests from pre-sealing the models that had acrylic paint jobs, rubber tires, and other plastic parts to ensure compatible reactions with casting resin, The sculpt-able concrete layer was a completely new thing for me so I did a test pour for that to experiment with thickness and set/work times in my shop environment and how to pose the diecast machines. My son helped me pour the final ground layer and pose the models in the mud according to direction from the CAT creative team.

Once the ground layer and diecasts were cured and sealed the clear deep pour resin could start. In total I used 18 gallons of deep pour epoxy in this piece. Before the deep pours I used about 1.5 gallons of table top resin pre-sealing the burl, 3 gallons of shallow casting resin to form a 1/2" thick base layer, and about 1.5 gallons of the sculptable resin concrete for the ground.

The 3.75" thick resin & burl composition was then joined to a 2" thick curly maple base layer that I ebonized for contrast. The client requested this change for the visual impact of the added thickness. Finishing the edge turned out to be quite a struggle in that the concrete layer in between the resin could not be cut, routed, or sanded with usual blades or abrasives for wood or resin so I had to invest in diamond grinding/polishing discs to achieve perfect clarity. The final thickness at 5.75" really makes a massive presence with the glass lens-like view into the table.

This show piece is now on display in the main lobby at CAT's Camelback Phoenix office next to The Global Ambassador.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/609b77_ca7e738686324d92aaef30f7f8581352/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Custom Epoxy Jobsite table on display in the lobby at Caterpillar offices at Camelback.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/609b77_87fd9cc2960d49f1b7a52a9e539b7f4c/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Custom 4ft round epoxy jobsite table loaded up for delivery glowing in the sunset in the back of my '63 C10

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/609b77_3727e2c4ce70420286bc8d775d9bbcd0/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

First deep 9 gallon pour of clear resin into the table over the sealed ground layer, diecast models, and burl wood.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/609b77_e9a9ec5ab9db4dd59781eadd63f0b73f/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

My son helping me pour the layer of formable polymer resin concrete ground layer.