Mobile Lazy Susan??

[iron bark]

Hi to all,

I have been away from the forum for almost a year - now back into it.

I have a large iron bark outdoor table 10' x 3' and want to use a lazy susan on it. I am happy with making the lazy susan, but wondering if anybody has come up with any innovative ideas for having it able to be slid from one end of the table to the other e.g. on some sort of rail system so it can be accessed by all at a large table. Some ideas I have thought about are using small ball bearings as wheels but I am a bit stumped when it comes to the rails or whatever else might be suitable, and still look tidy.

After such a long break, it is great to see the forums have only got better and more informative.

Cheers, Ned

[Sturdee]

The only way would be to cut some dadoes across the table top, but they will be rather impractical.

Suggest you make 2 lazy susans to cover the whole table.


Peter.

[malb]

Solid or slotted table top? If slotted, and if slats have a reasonable roundover, you might be able to set some nylon sliding door style rollers into the base of the lazy susan so they run in the gaps, bit like a railway track in reverse.

[BrettC]

Seems pretty straightforward but gotta say that I've never seen one. Why not two evenly spaced rails joined at each end of the table so it's basically a rectangle. Could make it out of a nicely finished hardwood.

Make a tongue and groove (tongue for the rails) join a square (grooved) sliding base on which the lazy susan is mounted and which slides along the rectangle.

This should cover stability, provided that your join is nice and accurate - you could use wax to ensure it slides ok.

Love to see pics of this :U

[bookend]

How wide are you intending to make the susan?

I ask this because the mobile system you are suggesting will require a lot of table space set aside for the susan to move up the length of the table and inevitably, table users will forget to set this space aside. You may end up wishing you had never done it if you keep the susan low on the table. A 3 foot wide table with a 12 inch susan, doesn't leave a lot of space if that 12 inches must go the length of the table.

If it was me, I'd just make a couple of removable susans and rest them on the table.

If you are really keen on the mobile susan idea, how about elevating some rails above the level of the tops of wine glasses and creating more usable table space. Another thought here is that the elevated rails could be designed to rest on the table and hook between slats, rather than doing any drilling or trenching and damaging the table top.

[Harry72]

A lazy Susan for a outdoor/BBQ table would need to be at least 550 wide, otherwise you'll only get one salad bowl on there:(.
You'd want 1200+ wide table, possibly raise the Susan 150 high on a rail/raised stretcher it may gain you a little extra breathing room and be a nice feature if you build it into the design of the table.

[iron bark]

A belated thanks to the people who replied - some good food for thought there - the ideas/suggestions are much appreciated

[thkoutsidthebox]

You could design one pretty easy yourself using ABEC Skate bearings and some aluminium tubing. Mount short pieces of tubing under the lazy susan with the bearings attached, and use either recesses in the table top, or tubing rails on the table top, for the bearings to run along. I used ABEC bearings and aluminium tubing or angle for rails on each of my last two cnc routers. M2c. :)

[echnidna]

Stick a track and model train with flatop carriages on the table instead of a lazy susan

[thkoutsidthebox]

Stick a track and model train with flatop carriages on the table instead of a lazy susan
That would be very cool. :) An electric model trail, but use the track and electronics, and rebuild the carriage parts from wood, like a wooden train. That would definately be a talking point when people are over! :2tsup:

[iron bark]

Yes, the model train idea has been considered but discarded because of lack of lateral stability, but I suppose with a lot of work, one could be built with a wider track and no suspension to give the required stability. To get back to my initial question, it probably hasn't been done because of all the considerations raised here on the forum. Oh well, the patent office will not be required this time around.
Thanks again guys for the interesting and innovative comments.

Ned

[echnidna]

Such a "train" might only need 1 rail as a guide.
The carriages could all have wheels that run directly on the table top.

[iron bark]

You're right Bob, I reckon small roller skate type nylon wheels with reasonable bearings would work well, with a tongue type track guiding a nylon/teflon slider in the base of the "train", but it does mean a fair bit of the table centre has to be clear of anything - it would be fine on a wide table.