I am finishing up the trim pieces for the bubble display. The last component is the top cover that will hide the top of the acrylic tubes (and hopefully keep bugs out of them!).

I cut the side off of a piece of 2″ PVC pipe and notched the ends to fit over/around the vertical end support and various mounting hardware. Then I used a universal metalic spray paint to give it a metalic look. Unfortunately, they didn’t have “alunimum gray” as a color option in spray paint that works on plastic, so I had to go with “Satin Nickel” which has a subtle bronze/gold tint to it. I’ll try it on the actual bubble display and if it doesn’t match closely enough I can always use it as my plastic bonding base coat and paint over it.

I used high temp hot glue to affix bright aluminum screens into the ends of the top piece, which will hopefully minimize the incidents of insects trying to get a drink and falling into the tubes. Admittedly, this may be a bigger problem in my not terribly well sealed garage than the office building where the bubble display will live…but it doesn’t hurt, and it also makes the ends of the cover look more professional.