Thread: A Coffee Table With A Twist

The accessory trays simply slip into the void left when the table is closed?

If so - and they're a snug fit - they should stop the top piece from sagging. Not an ideal situation for several reasons, including wear 'n tear on the upper/lower surfaces of the trays, but they should stop any sagging so long as they're replaced religiously when the table is closed.

It'd be an interesting exercise if you're planning on lining the 'inner' table and don't want the edges of the liner to show above & below the accessory trays, but that's still quite do-able. More than anything, I'm curious as to how you intend to stop the trays from being inserted too far.

Of course, I could easily be reading things wrong.

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

The accessory trays simply slip into the void left when the table is closed?

If so - and they're a snug fit - they should stop the top piece from sagging. Not an ideal situation for several reasons, including wear 'n tear on the upper/lower surfaces of the trays, but they should stop any sagging so long as they're replaced religiously when the table is closed.

It'd be an interesting exercise if you're planning on lining the 'inner' table and don't want the edges of the liner to show above & below the accessory trays, but that's still quite do-able. More than anything, I'm curious as to how you intend to stop the trays from being inserted too far.

Of course, I could easily be reading things wrong.

Your're spot on with all the points you've made. These are issues I need to find a solution to so I really appreciate your post. One thing I was thinking of with the trays was the use of magnets to hold the trays in place... As for the lining showing, there will be a solid timber edging strip aprox 17 x 90mm on upper and lower leaf. I'll post some more photo's after I've let my dinner go down to give a clearer picture of the accessory trays etc.

So I've added a mitered edge to the back side of the table top to add more rigidity and increased the thickness from
12mm to 17mm.

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Here are some examples of the types of accessory trays, theres hundreds you could probably make.

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According to Sagulator I should get very little sag or deflection with 20kg on top of the closed table position.

I started by making the four legs which will become part of the side panels. The core is hevea timber laminated with 5mm Oak to make them hopefully look like solid oak legs.

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Next I did the joinery.

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Done, side's finished. Well, apart from the beading and fancy bits which will be done later.

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I forgot to show a close up of the joinery:

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I consider myself very much a beginner especially compared to some of you fine folks so If I've made any mistakes or there is an easier way of doing something that you can see, design or otherwise I'd really appreciate your help and constructive criticism as its the only way I'm going to learn and progress.

I hope you all have a great Xmas guys.

So having finally built a workbench/assembly table and after returning from England I set about continuing this project of mine. Firstly I wanted to change a few design aspects of the coffee table. I didn't really like the idea of the shelf so I decided to make a further four drawers above the two larger ones at the bottom. This gives the ability to store small game accessories like dice & cards.

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With the change of design in my minds eye I set about gluing some plywood together to level out the inside panels.I used my vac press for this job but as you you can see i didnt give enough room between the panels to stay flat so I ended up with one lifting up like a crane! (fool!):

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Once they were glued all I needed to do was cut them to shape and glue them to the side panels, my new vice came in very handy for one of the glue ups:

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Next was making the frame & pane back. Joinery was just basic mortise & tenon.

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The top and bottom shelves were made next, slightly oversized so I could cut them to size upon fitting. Just screw & glue joinery here.

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Next I made a dividing wall out of plywood then I tongue & grooved the end with white oak as that's what will be on display. This will be held in by dowels:

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Once I assembled it all I soon realised I had made a mistake, rectifiable fortunately!, The dividing wall was cut to the height of the sides, it needed to be cut to size as to allow the top shelf!. Luckily I hadn't glued the dowels at this stage so it was just a matter of pulling the thing out.

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Rectified!:

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This is where I feel I should have planned ahead a little better as I soon realised fitting the two shelf drawer dividers was not going to be easy due to lack of drilling access. Despite this I managed to come up with a solution and fitted the shelves by drilling the dividers outside of the carcass and screwing them in after:

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The top shelf was test fitted next. No issues there everything was nice and square. This will eventually be doweled in place but at this stage its better to leave until other things have been done beforehand.

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At this stage because of weight and mobility I decided to install some very nice antique brass casters, I got them off Amazon for for about $40. Molding will eventually conceal these but I will leave access to them as per the design.

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Next post will be making the panel molding.

Making that bench and the workshop drawers must have given you so much additional confidence when tackling a bit of 'inside' furniture. It's loooking very nice.

Originally Posted by aldav

Making that bench and the workshop drawers must have given you so much additional confidence when tackling a bit of 'inside' furniture. It's loooking very nice.

Quite true, I have less fear of messing up expensive timber now. Confidence is growing but I still doubt myself with certain things asking the question, am I doing this right or is there a better way of doing it?.

Because this will be house furniture I wont be using store brought drawer runners, I'll be asking forum members on a traditional way of making them run freely. As for the joinery I'll be using box joints.

Traditionally the way to do runners was coat them in candle wax to help slide and occasionally top the up with wax.[early with this advice but couldn't help myself]

Having milled some more white oak I set about making some molding for the outside panels. I used a classical ogee router bit and went back and forth from the tablesaw & router until I had enough to do all
three sides of the carcass, actually I did a little too much!.

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I've been meaning to buy myself a 23 gauge Pin Nailer for a while now, I opted for the Makita brand which is expensive for what it is but will be worth it in the long run:

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Onto cutting the Mitres now. This is where my cross cut sled really came into its own, it made the process very easy indeed, accuracy with this thing is superb cutting all mitre joints perfectly!, I'm so glad I made the sled the way I did because I can mitre both ends of the molding without touching any setup:

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With everything test fitted I finally glued and pinned the molding into place. The first one I used too much glue with the first one and I had abit of cleaning up to do which left one of the panels with some sort of stain. Not to worry though as the whole thing is going to be stained a dark colour anyway:

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