a different take on a coffee table (WIP)

**Lplates** · 4th April 2014, 01:36 PM

I was bored in a work meeting one day and doodling in my notebook and I came up with an idea for a coffee table. I had originally wanted a solid all wood design but then I came up with this minimalist design and decided that I would need a glass top to show off the frame underneath which would be the "centerpiece" of the design.

Here is my early mock up (toothpicks and bluetac)
IMG_20131218_084336.jpg

So the first step was to cut the cubes that would form the corners, get the dowels that would be the cross braces and then attempt to drill some holes into the corners of the wood. I initially wanted to use a dark hardwood for the corner cubes but decided against it down at the woodshop because i couldn't find any in the right dimensions (roughly 90mm square) and also because i found a beautiful piece of oregon with really tight rings ( i later counted 75 rings in the piece i got so it's fair to say this is old growth that's been recycled from an OLD house/building). Note my shonky jig which did my head in trying to work out the angles to support the cube on one corner point. Turns out it was simple 180/3, which is what was confusing me, i was trying to divide by 4 (because its a cube). Anyway we got past that hurdle eventually and with the help of some tape to avoid tearout the result was pretty good.

IMG_20140331_181856.jpg IMG_20140220_184438.jpg IMG_20140220_184416.jpg

After i did some calculations to determine the length of the diagonals i cut a bunch to length and did a mock up.
IMG_20140305_183659.jpg

More calculations and many days later and I was able to work out the how long the horizontals needed to be and how far I would need to space them to allow me to make it all fit together nicely. Thankfully due to the mock up assembly attempts of which there were several, i wisely realised that i would need some formwork/template guidance If i were to have any chance of success. This is because the angle aren't all 100% correct and that makes things sit a few mm this way or that way, also that diagonal pieces are a pain to try and fit whilst also getting the height correct. So I created a template.
IMG_20140331_190501.jpg

I oiled up all the pieces in readiness for assembly as i wanted to avoid having to do it later when it would be more difficult
IMG_20140331_172418.jpg

Then came the day for assembly. I checked everything, got all my clamps together and realised that I would have a problem with the upright supports not having enough room for the diagonal braces, so some modification later and I was ready to go. I also added some support under the 12mm ply to make it more stiff and flat. I mixed my epoxy and got right into it. Things were going great until midway when the epoxy mix had an unexpected and somewhat sudden reaction with something in my brush (i'm guessing here, brush was previously used for PVA but had obviously been cleaned since) and went from liquid to solid within 2minutes, I had a bit of a panic since it was smoking and hot to touch so i dumped it in a bucket of water. I thought maybe it would have ruined my work but I was lucky that the bits on the wood hadn't fully solidified and i mixed a new batch and kept going. Anyway, here is the result.
IMG_20140403_174922.jpg IMG_20140403_174420.jpg

This is what the glue looked like after the reaction, the one on the left is the bad one, the right is the second batch which didn't have the same issue (i changed brushes too).
IMG_20140403_174942.jpg

Anyway taking it all off the form work tonight so hopefully it's flat enough for the glass top which i still have to order.

Wish me luck

**NCArcher** · 4th April 2014, 01:59 PM

pics not working for me

And I really want to see what you have created. It sounds interesting.

**cava** · 4th April 2014, 03:16 PM

Would like to see the photographs.

**Lplates** · 4th April 2014, 03:48 PM

second attemptIMG_20140403_174942.jpg IMG_20140403_174922.jpg IMG_20140403_174420.jpg IMG_20140331_190501.jpg IMG_20140331_181856.jpg IMG_20140331_172418.jpg IMG_20140305_183659.jpg IMG_20140220_184438.jpg IMG_20140220_184416.jpg IMG_20131218_084336.jpg IMG_20140305_183640[1].jpg

**Lplates** · 7th April 2014, 10:08 AM

When i got home on Friday I was all keen to take off the form work and see what i'd made. It's safe to say i'm very pleased with the outcome although there is a bit of a problem. Because i used ply as a base for the form work the top of the coffee table isn't perfectly flat, in fact the center pieces is several mm off, which means i will need to do something in order to get the glass to fit properly.

Let me know if you have any ideas, at this stage I was just thinking to put in some smaller pieces of dowel on the corner pieces to raise the glass slightly, not sure yet. I also thought about adding little adjustable feet to the whole thing but then I reconsidered as i don't want to detract from the wood finish.

IMG_20140404_174909.jpg IMG_20140404_174918.jpg IMG_20140404_174856.jpg IMG_20140404_174945.jpg IMG_20140404_175010.jpg

**NCArcher** · 7th April 2014, 10:42 AM

I like the concept LP. Will the weight of the glass make it unstable? Interested to see.
I would route a recess in the outside blocks and remove the thickness of the glass on the inner block so the glass sheet would just drop into place.

**rod1949** · 7th April 2014, 01:33 PM

That pretty bloody good

**Tonyz** · 7th April 2014, 05:56 PM

Love it just flamin fantastic, Immagine some noodle here making round balls on their lathe for you more like the blue tack.

Watching this one

**Christos** · 7th April 2014, 06:25 PM

I am thinking some clear plastic half rounds (I am just not sure on the actual name). These you can get from hardware store and are used to stop two hard surfaces from scratching one another. The flat side is sticky and will attach the most surfaces.

As you have one corner lower than the rest you might be able to sand the other half rounds and apply spray adhesive to the flat side to make it stick to the wood.

**Lplates** · 11th June 2014, 12:03 PM

It's been a while since i started the thread, i've since finished the table (got the glass) and i've also made another mini version which has a douglas fir top instead of glass. This newer coffee table is about a quarter of the surface area with a similar height and slightly different leg configuration but still in the same style.

Here are some pics that may explain better

IMG_20140504_092346.jpg IMG_20140504_092303.jpg IMG_20140504_092411.jpg IMG_20140606_173422.jpg IMG_20140608_095407.jpg

I've also attached the sketchup files if anyone is interested. The dowels aren't exactly accurately drawn but you get the gist.
coffee table.skp
glass coffe table.skp

**Evanism** · 11th June 2014, 12:35 PM

Very nice.

Are all the rods the same length?

**Christos** · 11th June 2014, 12:49 PM

The end result with the glass on top looks very good. It gives quite a bit in interest to the piece.

The mini-me that you made also good. Did you try it with a piece of glass? I am thinking that if you make another mini-me you might want a slightly smaller blocks for the underside.

**Lplates** · 12th June 2014, 03:04 PM

Originally Posted by Christos

The end result with the glass on top looks very good. It gives quite a bit in interest to the piece.

The mini-me that you made also good. Did you try it with a piece of glass? I am thinking that if you make another mini-me you might want a slightly smaller blocks for the underside.

Thanks guys,

I didn't try the "mini me" with glass. It needs the top to keep the upper blocks aligned properly. The upper blocks are fixed to the tabletop using 10mm dowels, two in each block. I was considering using glass but given that the upper blocks aren't joined together in any way (other than to the lower blocks) there is too much possibility of movement. I could have put horizontal links in but then that would make things look a bit busy.

You're right about the use of smaller blocks, the proportions are a bit off but i just wanted to keep the same theme as much as possible.

**Lplates** · 12th June 2014, 03:08 PM

Originally Posted by Evanism

Very nice.

Are all the rods the same length?

Thanks. All rods are the same length except the diagonal ones (ie joining a block that isn't on the same plane). If you like the design check out the sketch up drawings and you can use the measure tool there to see the rough lengths. I wasn't a fan of sketch up myself initially but once i did one or two tutorials on youtube i found it really simple to use and quite useful for a project like this which requires a lot of calculation to work out angles and dowel lengths.

Cheers
mat

Thread: a different take on a coffee table (WIP)

Thread Tools

Search Thread

a different take on a coffee table (WIP)

not sure what's going on with the pics

and the (almost) finished product

Similar Threads

Coffee Table

Coffee table

Wanting to Buy - 2xTV unit, Coffee Table Dinnng room table

Tall Coffee Table/Desk/BookCase/Holdall of important bits/Sofa Table

Kitchen table to Coffee table

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions