Okay, let me walk you through this little project I tinkered with recently. The idea kinda popped up when I saw these random bits lying around my workshop: some rubber sheeting, a piece of what they call engineer board – you know, that pressed wood stuff – and a few lengths of timber. I thought, let’s see if I can make something… interesting. Called it my “rubber dancing engineer board timber” experiment in my head.

Getting Started

First off, I gathered the main players.

• The Rubber: Found a thick rubber mat, the kind you might put down for anti-fatigue. It was pretty springy.
• The Engineer Board: Had a leftover square of MDF, maybe two feet by two feet. Nothing fancy, just flat and solid.
• The Timber: Just some basic 2×2 wood strips I had from another job.

My goal wasn’t super clear at first, maybe some kind of wobbly platform or a base that had a bit of give to it. That’s where the ‘dancing’ part came from – I wanted it to move or react when you put weight on it.

Putting it Together

I decided to make a simple frame first. I cut four pieces of the timber to match the sides of the engineer board. Screwed them together to make a basic square frame. Easy enough.

Now, the tricky part: incorporating the rubber for that ‘dancing’ effect. My first thought was to put the rubber between the timber frame and the engineer board. So, I cut strips of the rubber mat, about the same width as the timber.

I laid these rubber strips on top of the timber frame. Then, I placed the engineer board square on top of the rubber strips. The idea was the board would sort of float on the rubber, giving it that bounce.

Securing the Board

Getting the board to stay put but still ‘dance’ was the next challenge. I didn’t want to screw it down too tight, ’cause that would kill the whole bouncy idea. I tried using some shorter screws, going through the board, through the rubber, and just slightly into the timber frame. I left them a tiny bit loose.

It sort of worked? When I pressed down on the board, it definitely had some give, a little wobble. It wasn’t exactly dancing a jig, but it had movement.

Testing and Tweaking

I put a few different things on it. A toolbox, a plant pot. It held up okay, and you could see the slight compression and movement from the rubber. It wasn’t super stable, obviously, that was kind of the point. Maybe useful for something that needs a bit of vibration damping?

One issue was the rubber strips wanted to squish out sideways a bit under load. I thought about adding some small retaining blocks or maybe using a different way to attach the rubber. Maybe cutting small rubber blocks for the corners instead of full strips? That might give more controlled movement. For this round, though, I just left it as it was.

The Result

So, what did I end up with? Basically, a slightly raised platform with a top that gives and wobbles a bit when you press on it. It’s made of engineer board, sitting on rubber strips, which are supported by a simple timber frame. It certainly demonstrated the ‘rubber dancing’ concept I had in mind, even if it’s not the most practical item I’ve ever built!

It was a fun little exercise, mostly using up scraps. Sometimes you just gotta put stuff together and see what happens. That’s half the fun of making things, right? Didn’t really solve any major problems, but it kept my hands busy for an afternoon.