Restoration and Modernization of the Klamath Hall Periodic Table Display
| Prepared by | Jefferson Garman, Oregon Fabrication and Design |
| Prepared for | Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oregon |
| Subject | Periodic Table of the Elements display cabinet, ground floor, Klamath Hall |
| Rate applied | OFAD Internal Project Rate — $85.00 / hour |
| Revision | Rev. 2 — electronics parts and labor replaced with the collaborating supplier's written itemization of August 6, 2026, superseding the verbal package estimate carried in Rev. 1. |
| Companion doc | Project Proposal & Funding Request · Interactive Simulator |
1. Basis of Estimate
This quote is structured in eight stages, priced at the OFAD Internal Project Rate of $85.00 per hour. Materials are passed through at cost with a 10% contingency. Restoration of the noble gas discharge tubes is quoted separately as an option, for reasons given in Section 5.
The custom LED electronics are supplied by a collaborating engineer whose parts and bench hours are itemized separately in Sections 3 and 4. Those hours are carried at the same $85.00 rate as the rest of the project and are additional to the eight OFAD stages; they cover board assembly at the bench, not installation in the cabinet.
The estimate assumes 118 element positions. The cabinet's period-7 row currently displays elements through 114 with five apparently empty cubbies remaining, which correspond exactly to positions 113, 115, 116, 117, and 118. If that holds on inspection, bringing the display to the modern 118-element table requires no cabinet carpentry whatsoever — only new cards, modules, and specimen blocks. This is confirmed in Stage 1.
The estimate further assumes that the wooden specimen blocks in each cubby lift out freely, that access is available through the end doors at both ends of the cabinet, and that the heavy front cover therefore does not need to be removed at any point in the project.
2. Scope of Work by Stage
Stage 1 — Survey, Documentation, and Block Extraction
Before anything is disturbed, every cubby is photographed and catalogued so that all 118 specimens and cards return to their correct positions. The end access doors are opened and the interior surveyed: existing wiring and dead ballasts are traced, the frosted rear panel's material and removal path are established (see Stage 2 — whether that panel is glass or plastic governs whether its replacement is discretionary), the noble gas tube electrodes and their supply are identified, the existing pushbutton in the right-hand stile is identified, and the physical gold nugget referenced in the 2019 correspondence is located and its security verified. Cubby count, dimensions, and depth are measured and drawn. One sample LED module is test-fit to a representative block. The specimen blocks are then lifted out and transported to the shop.
Estimated 20 hours.Stage 2 — Backplane Design and Fabrication
The existing frosted rear panel is cracked. The crack itself is cosmetically and functionally tolerable and would not, on its own, justify replacement. The panel is replaced because it carries no provision for wiring, and a new translucent backplane is fabricated from 3/8″ acrylic or Lexan, machined with routed channels for the wiring harness and a connector opening behind each element position.
The material of the existing panel has not yet been confirmed and is determined in Stage 1. If it proves to be acrylic or Lexan, replacement remains a design choice. If it proves to be glass, replacement is not optional: a cracked glass panel spanning a public-corridor display cannot be retained, cannot be machined for the wiring channels this design depends on, and presents an unacceptable hazard to anyone working behind it. In that case the existing panel is removed, disposed of, and replaced in acrylic or Lexan regardless of any other consideration. The quoted materials figure assumes replacement either way, so this determination does not change the price — but it does remove one of the cost-reduction options described in Section 6.
The new panel is fabricated in halves for handling, each sized to pass through the access door at its own end of the cabinet, with the seam placed behind an existing vertical divider so that it is not visible from the front. Each half is fed as an independent electrical segment, which halves the current carried by any single run and allows one side of the table to be serviced without taking the other dark.
This panel becomes the electrical spine of the display: every LED module plugs into it. The result is a system in which any single module can be unplugged and replaced years from now without disturbing its neighbours or rewiring anything — which is precisely the failure mode that took the original fluorescent installation out of service.
Estimated 24 hours.Stage 3 — Specimen Block Modification
The wooden specimen blocks are free-floating and roughly 95% identical, which makes this a fixture job rather than a carpentry job. A milling fixture is designed and built, after which each block receives a pocket for its LED module, a routed wire channel, and a connector relief. The small number of non-standard blocks are handled individually. All work is performed at the bench; nothing is cut, drilled, or altered on the cabinet.
Estimated 21 hours, including fixture design and build.Stage 4 — LED Module Integration
Custom LED boards, populated and soldered by the collaborating supplier (Section 4), are received, installed into the modified blocks, and terminated. The harness is built and dressed into the backplane channels. Every position is checked for continuity and correct addressing, and the completed assembly is burned in before reinstallation. The supplier's board-assembly hours are quoted separately and are not duplicated here; this stage begins with finished boards in hand.
Estimated 18 hours.Stage 5 — Controller, Power, and Network
An embedded Raspberry Pi controller, driven through a purpose-designed SPI interface board supplied by the collaborating engineer, is mounted inside the cabinet together with its power supplies, fusing, distribution, and a wireless access point for control. Power supply sizing and thermal layout receive particular attention here: the original fluorescent tubes faded prematurely in this sealed cabinet, and the replacement system is deliberately specified to run well below its thermal limits so that it does not repeat that failure. The supplier's one hour for bench assembly of the supplies is quoted separately; the hours in this stage are for in-cabinet installation, routing, and commissioning of the controller.
Estimated 14 hours.Stage 6 — Control Software
Software development covering the animation engine, colorization of elements by chemical group, illustration of periodic trends, idle attract animations, and the browser-based control interface. A working front-end prototype of this interface has already been developed at no cost to the department and accompanies the proposal as a live simulator.
Estimated 20 hours.Stage 7 — Element Card Modernization
The display is presently out of date on its face. Four elements are still shown under their provisional IUPAC placeholder symbols — Uun, Uuu, Uub, and Uuq, which have been named Darmstadtium (Ds), Roentgenium (Rg), Copernicium (Cn), and Flerovium (Fl) respectively — and five further elements, 113 and 115 through 118, are absent altogether. Beyond these corrections, the descriptive text on the cards reflects the scientific priorities of the era in which it was written; the Gold card, for example, still describes the element chiefly as an object of human vanity rather than as the material on which modern microelectronics and infrared optics depend. All cards are rewritten, redesigned, printed, and mounted. Because this work happens while the blocks are already on the bench for Stage 3, it requires no second handling of the specimens.
Estimated 14 hours.Stage 8 — Reinstallation, Commissioning, and Handover
The backplane, blocks, specimens, and cards are returned to the cabinet against the Stage 1 photographic record. The system is commissioned, brightness and colour are tuned in situ under hallway lighting conditions, and the glass is cleaned. Handover includes operating documentation, the software source, and a small stock of spare modules and connectors so that the department can perform routine replacement without a service call.
Estimated 13 hours.3. Costing
| Stage | Hours | Amount | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Survey, documentation, and block extraction | 20 | $1,700 |
| 2 | Backplane design and fabrication | 24 | $2,040 |
| 3 | Specimen block modification | 21 | $1,785 |
| 4 | LED module integration | 18 | $1,530 |
| 5 | Controller, power, and network | 14 | $1,190 |
| 6 | Control software | 20 | $1,700 |
| 7 | Element card modernization | 14 | $1,190 |
| 8 | Reinstallation, commissioning, and handover | 13 | $1,105 |
| OFAD labor subtotal | 144 | $12,240 |
The electronics are supplied and bench-assembled by the collaborating engineer described in Section 4, against his written itemization of August 6, 2026. His hours are carried at the same Internal Project Rate.
| Electronics — supplied by S. Wiemholt | Hours | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Unpopulated LED circuit boards, 118 element positions | — | $600 |
| RGB and white-light LED emitters | — | $130 |
| Ribbon cable and interconnect | — | $110 |
| Raspberry Pi controller | — | $85 |
| Raspberry Pi to SPI interface board (supplier's own design, proven) | — | $85 |
| LED power supplies | — | $60 |
| Electronics parts subtotal | — | $1,070 |
| Populate and solder all 118 LED boards | 12 | $1,020 |
| Assemble and wire power supplies | 1 | $85 |
| Electronics labor subtotal, at $85.00 / hour | 13 | $1,105 |
| Electronics package total | 13 | $2,175 |
| Remaining materials | Amount |
|---|---|
| Translucent backplane stock — 3/8″ acrylic or Lexan, two sheets | $600 |
| Connectors, terminal blocks, and hookup wire (118 positions) | $250 |
| Power distribution, fusing, and enclosure | $150 |
| Wireless access point and control display | $150 |
| Card design, printing, laminating, and mounting | $150 |
| Fasteners, adhesives, and finish materials | $150 |
| Controller storage, mounting hardware, and cabling | $80 |
| Remaining materials subtotal | $1,530 |
| Base scope summary | Hours | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| OFAD labor, Stages 1–8 | 144 | $12,240 |
| Supplier electronics labor | 13 | $1,105 |
| Total labor at $85.00 / hour | 157 | $13,345 |
| Electronics parts | — | $1,070 |
| Remaining materials | — | $1,530 |
| Materials contingency at 10% | — | $260 |
| Total materials | — | $2,860 |
| Total, base scope | 157 | $16,205 |
4. Collaborating Supplier — LED Hardware
The LED modules are custom hardware supplied by Steve Wiemholt of the University of Oregon. They are not off-the-shelf strip. Two properties of the custom design are worth noting, because they are the reason a commodity product was not specified:
- Custom LED pitch. Commercial addressable strip has a fixed spacing that does not align with the cabinet's element grid, which would leave dark, wasted LEDs stranded between compartments. The custom boards place light only where the elements are.
- Combined RGB and white-light emitters. Each module carries both colour and white LEDs. The colour channels serve the pedagogical function — group colorization and periodic trends — while the white channel provides natural, accurate front lighting of the physical specimens, which pure RGB does not render well.
The supplier has additionally proposed 50 × 50 mm display cubes for those elements that cannot be physically exhibited, so that every position in the table lights identically whether or not a specimen is present.
The controller is driven through a Raspberry Pi to SPI interface board of the supplier's own design, already built and proven in service. Using it in place of a general-purpose breakout removes the most common source of trouble in a project of this kind — marginal signal levels between a 3.3 volt controller and a 5 volt LED chain — and it is offered here at parts cost.
The figures in Section 3 replace the supplier's earlier verbal package estimate with his written itemization of August 6, 2026: $1,070 in parts for the base scope, 13 hours of bench labor, and a further $250 of high-voltage hardware and 2 hours of work that belong to Option A and are quoted there.
5. Option A — Noble Gas Discharge Tube Restoration
Quoted separately — $2,150
The historical noble gas discharge tubes in the right-hand column are dark. Their restoration — glasswork, electrode replacement, gas fill, and new high-voltage supplies — can be performed in house, and the visual result would be the single most striking element of the finished display.
It is quoted as an option rather than folded into the base scope because it carries materially different risk. The tubes are decades old, their fill and electrode condition are unknown until they are opened, and antique glass does not always survive being worked. Isolating this line keeps that uncertainty from putting the rest of the project's price at risk, and allows the department to proceed with the base restoration independently of it.
Driving the tubes from the same control system as the LEDs requires one piece of design work that is not yet finished. The intended method is to sense the white-light LED at each noble gas position with a phototransistor and fire the corresponding high-voltage brick from that signal, so that the tubes follow the animation without a second addressing scheme. The supplier considers this straightforwardly solvable and it is budgeted as such; it is disclosed here because it is the one part of this option that has not yet been built and tested.
| Option A — noble gas discharge tube restoration | Hours | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Glasswork, electrode replacement, gas fill, and commissioning | 18 | $1,530 |
| Rig high-voltage bricks and firing detection (supplier) | 2 | $170 |
| Labor at $85.00 / hour | 20 | $1,700 |
| High-voltage bricks (supplier itemization) | — | $250 |
| Electrodes, gas fill, and consumables | — | $200 |
| Materials | — | $450 |
| Total, Option A | 20 | $2,150 |
The 2024 correspondence in this thread records that the department holds spare gas discharge tubes. If those are still on hand and serviceable, the glasswork in this option reduces substantially and should be re-quoted downward once they have been inspected.
| Base scope | $16,205 |
| Option A — noble gas discharge tube restoration | $2,150 |
| Total, base scope with Option A | $18,355 |
6. Assumptions and Exclusions
This quote assumes:
- The Internal Project Rate of $85.00/hour remains current (see the rate year note in Section 1).
- 118 element positions, with the five vacant period-7 cubbies confirmed in Stage 1. A decision to remain at 103 positions would reduce Stages 3, 4, and 7 proportionally.
- The wooden specimen blocks lift out freely and are approximately 95% of a common pattern.
- Access is available through the end doors at both ends of the cabinet, and the front cover is not removed at any stage.
- The replacement backplane is fabricated in acrylic or Lexan and handled in halves, each of which passes through its own end access door. No component of the installation requires an opening larger than those doors.
- Should the existing rear panel prove to be glass, its removal, disposal, and replacement in acrylic or Lexan is treated as mandatory rather than discretionary, for the reasons given in Stage 2. The quoted materials figure already provides for replacement and does not change.
- No structural or cabinet woodwork is required.
- The display remains on its existing cord-and-plug supply; no building electrical work is in scope.
- The supplier's parts and hours hold as written on August 6, 2026, and his 13 base-scope hours are recovered as internal recharge at $85.00 rather than at an outside vendor rate (see the flag in Section 4).
- Board assembly proceeds at the supplier's quoted rate of roughly six minutes per board, with rework absorbed within that line.
This quote excludes:
- Acquisition or replacement of physical element specimens, including any specimens for positions 113 and 115–118.
- Refinishing, repair, or structural work on the cabinet, its glass, or the surrounding wall.
- Building electrical or network infrastructure work.
- Any scope change arising from conditions discovered in Stage 1 that could not be established from outside the cabinet.
Cost reduction, conditionally available. If Stage 1 establishes that the existing rear panel is acrylic or Lexan, it is serviceable as it stands despite the crack, and the department may elect to retain it and route the wiring against its face rather than through a machined backplane — saving the $600 material line and a portion of Stage 2. This is offered for completeness rather than recommended: it forfeits the concealed harness and the plug-in module architecture, which are the features that make the finished display serviceable by department staff without a return visit. If the existing panel is glass, this option is unavailable and replacement proceeds as quoted.
7. Notes on Value
- The installation is fully reversible. Nothing is cut, drilled, or fastened to the cabinet. All modification is confined to the loose wooden specimen blocks and to a replacement rear panel. The display can be returned to its present configuration at any point in the future.
- The display is currently incorrect. Four element symbols on public exhibition have been superseded by their permanent IUPAC names, and five elements are missing. This is a factual error on a teaching display in a chemistry building, independent of any question of lighting.
- The failure mode is designed out. The original fluorescent installation failed as a unit and was impractical to service, which is why it has stayed dark. The proposed system is modular and individually pluggable, and is specified to run well within its thermal envelope in a sealed cabinet.
- Development work has already been contributed. A working interactive prototype of the control interface, including a full 118-element model and protocol-level simulation, has been built and is included with the proposal at no charge.
Quotation prepared by Jefferson Garman, Oregon Fabrication and Design, University of Oregon. Revision 2, August 6, 2026, incorporating the collaborating supplier's written parts and labor itemization in place of the verbal package estimate carried in Revision 1. Hours are estimates in good faith and are billed as incurred against the stages above. Materials are billed at cost. This quotation is valid for 60 days from the date of issue and is subject to confirmation of the current fiscal year rate schedule and of the basis on which the collaborating supplier's hours are recovered.
Accompanying documents: Project Proposal and Funding Request · Interactive Control Console Simulator · Hardware Deployment Plan