Giant Magnifying Glass for high end Manhattan retailer

Freestanding magnifying glass after completed installation

The goal of this project was to build an 8’ tall magnifying glass that would stand on an angle as though it was being used to magnify the ceramic display behind it. We made sure to keep the proportions the same as we scaled up so that the finished product would maintain the same dimensionality and feel of a standard sized magnifying glass.

Welded steel base and plywood handle staged on our shop floor

By far the biggest challenge in in this project was engineering the base which would need to support the cantilevered weight of the magnifying glass frame and acrylic lens. We settled on making a welded steel base with a tubular steel support that reached all the way to the magnifying glass lens and frame though the plywood tubular handle.

Skeletal magnifying glass frame before edge banding and laminated finish

We knew we had to make the frame and lens as light as possible, so we used 1/4” acrylic and build a hollow frame using wiggle board and Ultralite MDF cut on our CNC. We also were able to cut handle insert pieces out of plywood to receive the support from out tubular steel which was welded to the steel base.

Freestanding magnifying glass set up on our shop floor with steel counterweights

The CNC plywood inserts allowed us to apply a black laminated finish all around the “handle” of the magnifying glass and be able to transport in 2 pieces, with the final assembly leaving no visible fasteners for a seamless look. We also built a laminated shroud to cover our steel base, which then got printed vinyl applied on site to match the surrounding wall and floor finish to enhance the floating look of the magnifying glass.

Side view of the installed magnifying glass inside the finished space