Dave Ronyak
Member
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2007
- Messages
- 2,234
(Project completed November 2010)
I started with a Sketch-Up drawing of the basic design of the table.
I thank Barry Londrigan and Brice Burrell for their help with Sketch-Up. But for the most part I relied on hand drawn sketches from which I developed a cutting list of actual dimensions as I proceeded. Many of the dimensions of the individual pieces depend on the thickness of the stock used.
And here is the finished table.
And another photo of the table together with the Four Piece Entertainment Center it was designed to complement.
This Coffee Table was designed and built to complement my large wall unit/entertainment center completed December 2008. See http://festoolownersgroup.com/member-projects/four-piece-entertainment-center-and-bookcases/ for a full description of that project. The table is 44 inches x 44 inches x 14 inches high. The exposed members are solid red oak. The stone top is granite approximately 36" x 36" x 1 1/8" thick. I say approximately because the slab was not cut perfectly square as requested of the supplier; one side was straight about one half of its 36 inch length then changed angle or curved slightly thus making one of the straight side edges about 1/8 inch shorter than the other. I did not discover this error until well after bringing the stone home in the trunk of my car. And I did not want to risk breaking the stone by attempting to reload it into to the trunk of my car and taking it back to the vendor. And I knew the vendor did not have another piece of stone with the desired colors and patterns to use in cutting a new piece.
The Coffee Table comprises an inner supporting table structure to support the granite slab, three separately constructed nesting tiers forming its upside down truncated pyramidal shape, and a separately constructed top "picture frame" supported around its inner periphery by a lip on the inner supporting table and adjacent its outer periphery by a spacer strip attached to the inner sides of the uppermost tier of the inverted pyramid.
This modular design and construction approach was chosen due to the considerable weight of the finished table, and of some of its components, and my working alone in my small garage shop. Total weight is about 400 pounds, the granite slab alone weighs about 160 pounds.
The inner [granite slab] supporting table structure was constructed using two pieces of three-fourths inch thick birch plywood supported by a poplar post at each corner. Each of the posts are attached to the bottom sheet of plywood with a single 10 x 50 mm Domino tenon and glue. The top sheet of plywood was attached to the tops of the posts with screws and indexed using Domino tenons glued into the tops of the posts but not glued into the plywood. While not shown in the photographs, the underside of the top is braced to help ensure that it would remain flat under load and thus prevent the granite slab from cracking when in service. There is a central X-brace and an inner square and an outer square of poplar pieces that are carefully fitted, then glued and screwed to the underside of the plywood top and to one another. Sorry, but I do not have any photographs of that bracing.
Construction involved use of several Festool? products including TS 55 and multiple MFTs (old style), Domino? machine, OF 1400 router, RO 125 sander, ETS 150/3 sander, ETS 125 sander, LS 130 sander, CT 22E vacuum, shop-made "Nagle" Clamping Blocks, and Fuji HVLP spray finish equipment.
Following is a photograph of a pair of "Nagle" Clamping Blocks. I so named them in honor of Wayne Nagle who gave me the idea. They are made from scraps of plywood, bevel cut cutoffs and strips abrasive cloth glued to the surface that will contact the mitred workpiece to be drawn with a clamp. I used pieces of old 4" x 24" sanding belts that broke at their [3M brand] fiberglass-reinforced taped butt splices.
View of pair of "Nagle"Clamping Blocks.
Here is a photograph of the "Nagle" Clamping Blocks in use to draw together the mitred (bevel cut) corners of each of the tiers. I did not have enough bar or pipe clamps long enough to draw these Domino reinforced corners together so I used these Nagle Clamping Blocks.
Each tier of the Coffee Table was constructed of lengths of solid red oak of about 7/8" thickness by about 6" wide. Each successive tier overlaps and nests about 1 1/2 inches into the tier layer preceding it. Because I do not have a Kapex or other trustworthy CMS and the pieces were too long to push through my table saw in my small shop, the mitred corners of the tier layer pieces were cut as bevels using my MFT 1080 and TS 55 saw. For this operation as well as machining the Domino tenon mortices thereafter, it is very important that the stock pieces be straight, flat, and of even width and thickness with parallel long edges. Any variation in these parameters will adversely affect the bevel cuts, the location of the Domino mortices and thus the mitre joints. Construction of this project should go much faster for anyone with a Kapex CMS!
Each tier of the Coffee Table is corbelled out about 2 inches relative to the adjacent tiers,. A filler strip of poplar was used to make up the required overall thickness. Oak edging was applied to the exposed bottom edges of the poplar strips just in case someone wanted to look upward at the table while laying on the floor.
Each tier of the Coffee Table is sized so that it nests into the tier below it. The bottommost tier is simply rests on the floor in the completed table. It is not attached to the base. Although the table could be designed so that its bottommost tier rested on a lip extending outward from the base, such a design would require removal of the plywood top of the inner supporting table to enable installation of the bottommost tier. The design I used enabled assembly of the corbelled tiers, followed by insertion of the inner stone slab supporting table, then the granite slab, then the top "picture frame" surrounding the granite slab.
A simple wooden gauge block was used to hold the nested middle and uppermost tiers at the desired elevation while small stop blocks were attached inside the tiers to support them at the desired height in the completed assembly.
The members of the oak "picture frame" surrounding the granite slab were mitred using my MFT 1080 because they were too long to conveniently and accurately slide through my table saw using a mitre gauge and I did not want to bother constructing a sliding jig. Again, those with a CMS can do this much faster than the method I used.
The "picture frame" pieces were intentionally cut slightly long and slightly wider than needed in finished form to enable fitment to the granite slab which was not a true square, and for later trimming of the outside edges to match the uppermost tier of the corbelled sides. This "picture frame" was fitted piece by piece, one corner at a time, then each corner was glued using a pair of 8 x 40 mm Domino tenons.
As you can see from the next photograph, one of the framing pieces had to be coaxed into position due to the granite slab not being square, with one of its sides having a taper beginning about midway of that side to the corner.
[It's been about three months since completion of this table and there is no evidence of joint separation to date.]
If I had had a helper or other means available to help me install and remove the granite slab for multiple trial fitments, I would have made the top "picture frame" complete then used the granite slab in inverted position as a template or to create a template for use in routing the "picture frame" to the exact inside contour required.
After the "picture frame" was glued up, with the granite slab and tiered side layers still in position, I scribed the underside of the "picture frame" using a pencil to follow the contour of perimeter of the uppermost tier. Then I removed the "picture frame" from the table, inverted it, and used a Guide Rail and TS 55 saw to cut away the excess wood so the outside edges of the "picture frame" would very closely match those of the uppermost tier, then sanded them to final contour and finish using my ETS 150/3 and LS 130 sanders.
Not shown in the photographs is a thin layer of oak (about one quarter inch thick) that I attached to the inside of the uppermost tier of the corbelled outer frame to support the oak "picture frame" adjacent its outside edges. I chose a gap of about one quarter inch to match that of my Four Piece Entertainment Center.
Because the table was constructed as several sub-assemblies, I stained and finished them individually.
The finishing schedule is the same as employed in my construction of my Four Piece Entertainment Center and Bookcases. A combination of solvent and water-based materials were used. The final finish coats are water-based lacquer from Target Coatings (Oxford brand).
To facilitate safer transport of the granite slab, I modified a common furniture dolly by installing a pair of fixed (non-castored) wheels about midway of the long sides of the dolly frame. These wheels when installed projected slightly greater distance downward from the frame than the pairs of castored wheels at each end of the dolly. These non-castored wheels enabled rolling the dolly while holding the granite slab nearly vertical with one edge resting on the dolly without risk of the dolly suddenly moving sideways and causing loss of control of the slab. It also facilitated maneuvering the dolly with granite slab over door thresholds between my garage shop and my house.
After installation of the Coffee Table, I reinforced the floor joists under that room by installation of additional rows of blocking. That's another whole different project, but here is one photograph of that work. I used my recently purchased T12+3 drill with angle chuck for this work because many of the joists are on 12 inch centers.
[attachimg=#]
I started with a Sketch-Up drawing of the basic design of the table.
I thank Barry Londrigan and Brice Burrell for their help with Sketch-Up. But for the most part I relied on hand drawn sketches from which I developed a cutting list of actual dimensions as I proceeded. Many of the dimensions of the individual pieces depend on the thickness of the stock used.
And here is the finished table.
And another photo of the table together with the Four Piece Entertainment Center it was designed to complement.
This Coffee Table was designed and built to complement my large wall unit/entertainment center completed December 2008. See http://festoolownersgroup.com/member-projects/four-piece-entertainment-center-and-bookcases/ for a full description of that project. The table is 44 inches x 44 inches x 14 inches high. The exposed members are solid red oak. The stone top is granite approximately 36" x 36" x 1 1/8" thick. I say approximately because the slab was not cut perfectly square as requested of the supplier; one side was straight about one half of its 36 inch length then changed angle or curved slightly thus making one of the straight side edges about 1/8 inch shorter than the other. I did not discover this error until well after bringing the stone home in the trunk of my car. And I did not want to risk breaking the stone by attempting to reload it into to the trunk of my car and taking it back to the vendor. And I knew the vendor did not have another piece of stone with the desired colors and patterns to use in cutting a new piece.
The Coffee Table comprises an inner supporting table structure to support the granite slab, three separately constructed nesting tiers forming its upside down truncated pyramidal shape, and a separately constructed top "picture frame" supported around its inner periphery by a lip on the inner supporting table and adjacent its outer periphery by a spacer strip attached to the inner sides of the uppermost tier of the inverted pyramid.
This modular design and construction approach was chosen due to the considerable weight of the finished table, and of some of its components, and my working alone in my small garage shop. Total weight is about 400 pounds, the granite slab alone weighs about 160 pounds.
The inner [granite slab] supporting table structure was constructed using two pieces of three-fourths inch thick birch plywood supported by a poplar post at each corner. Each of the posts are attached to the bottom sheet of plywood with a single 10 x 50 mm Domino tenon and glue. The top sheet of plywood was attached to the tops of the posts with screws and indexed using Domino tenons glued into the tops of the posts but not glued into the plywood. While not shown in the photographs, the underside of the top is braced to help ensure that it would remain flat under load and thus prevent the granite slab from cracking when in service. There is a central X-brace and an inner square and an outer square of poplar pieces that are carefully fitted, then glued and screwed to the underside of the plywood top and to one another. Sorry, but I do not have any photographs of that bracing.
Construction involved use of several Festool? products including TS 55 and multiple MFTs (old style), Domino? machine, OF 1400 router, RO 125 sander, ETS 150/3 sander, ETS 125 sander, LS 130 sander, CT 22E vacuum, shop-made "Nagle" Clamping Blocks, and Fuji HVLP spray finish equipment.
Following is a photograph of a pair of "Nagle" Clamping Blocks. I so named them in honor of Wayne Nagle who gave me the idea. They are made from scraps of plywood, bevel cut cutoffs and strips abrasive cloth glued to the surface that will contact the mitred workpiece to be drawn with a clamp. I used pieces of old 4" x 24" sanding belts that broke at their [3M brand] fiberglass-reinforced taped butt splices.
View of pair of "Nagle"Clamping Blocks.
Here is a photograph of the "Nagle" Clamping Blocks in use to draw together the mitred (bevel cut) corners of each of the tiers. I did not have enough bar or pipe clamps long enough to draw these Domino reinforced corners together so I used these Nagle Clamping Blocks.
Each tier of the Coffee Table was constructed of lengths of solid red oak of about 7/8" thickness by about 6" wide. Each successive tier overlaps and nests about 1 1/2 inches into the tier layer preceding it. Because I do not have a Kapex or other trustworthy CMS and the pieces were too long to push through my table saw in my small shop, the mitred corners of the tier layer pieces were cut as bevels using my MFT 1080 and TS 55 saw. For this operation as well as machining the Domino tenon mortices thereafter, it is very important that the stock pieces be straight, flat, and of even width and thickness with parallel long edges. Any variation in these parameters will adversely affect the bevel cuts, the location of the Domino mortices and thus the mitre joints. Construction of this project should go much faster for anyone with a Kapex CMS!
Each tier of the Coffee Table is corbelled out about 2 inches relative to the adjacent tiers,. A filler strip of poplar was used to make up the required overall thickness. Oak edging was applied to the exposed bottom edges of the poplar strips just in case someone wanted to look upward at the table while laying on the floor.
Each tier of the Coffee Table is sized so that it nests into the tier below it. The bottommost tier is simply rests on the floor in the completed table. It is not attached to the base. Although the table could be designed so that its bottommost tier rested on a lip extending outward from the base, such a design would require removal of the plywood top of the inner supporting table to enable installation of the bottommost tier. The design I used enabled assembly of the corbelled tiers, followed by insertion of the inner stone slab supporting table, then the granite slab, then the top "picture frame" surrounding the granite slab.
A simple wooden gauge block was used to hold the nested middle and uppermost tiers at the desired elevation while small stop blocks were attached inside the tiers to support them at the desired height in the completed assembly.
The members of the oak "picture frame" surrounding the granite slab were mitred using my MFT 1080 because they were too long to conveniently and accurately slide through my table saw using a mitre gauge and I did not want to bother constructing a sliding jig. Again, those with a CMS can do this much faster than the method I used.
The "picture frame" pieces were intentionally cut slightly long and slightly wider than needed in finished form to enable fitment to the granite slab which was not a true square, and for later trimming of the outside edges to match the uppermost tier of the corbelled sides. This "picture frame" was fitted piece by piece, one corner at a time, then each corner was glued using a pair of 8 x 40 mm Domino tenons.
As you can see from the next photograph, one of the framing pieces had to be coaxed into position due to the granite slab not being square, with one of its sides having a taper beginning about midway of that side to the corner.
[It's been about three months since completion of this table and there is no evidence of joint separation to date.]
If I had had a helper or other means available to help me install and remove the granite slab for multiple trial fitments, I would have made the top "picture frame" complete then used the granite slab in inverted position as a template or to create a template for use in routing the "picture frame" to the exact inside contour required.
After the "picture frame" was glued up, with the granite slab and tiered side layers still in position, I scribed the underside of the "picture frame" using a pencil to follow the contour of perimeter of the uppermost tier. Then I removed the "picture frame" from the table, inverted it, and used a Guide Rail and TS 55 saw to cut away the excess wood so the outside edges of the "picture frame" would very closely match those of the uppermost tier, then sanded them to final contour and finish using my ETS 150/3 and LS 130 sanders.
Not shown in the photographs is a thin layer of oak (about one quarter inch thick) that I attached to the inside of the uppermost tier of the corbelled outer frame to support the oak "picture frame" adjacent its outside edges. I chose a gap of about one quarter inch to match that of my Four Piece Entertainment Center.
Because the table was constructed as several sub-assemblies, I stained and finished them individually.
The finishing schedule is the same as employed in my construction of my Four Piece Entertainment Center and Bookcases. A combination of solvent and water-based materials were used. The final finish coats are water-based lacquer from Target Coatings (Oxford brand).
To facilitate safer transport of the granite slab, I modified a common furniture dolly by installing a pair of fixed (non-castored) wheels about midway of the long sides of the dolly frame. These wheels when installed projected slightly greater distance downward from the frame than the pairs of castored wheels at each end of the dolly. These non-castored wheels enabled rolling the dolly while holding the granite slab nearly vertical with one edge resting on the dolly without risk of the dolly suddenly moving sideways and causing loss of control of the slab. It also facilitated maneuvering the dolly with granite slab over door thresholds between my garage shop and my house.
After installation of the Coffee Table, I reinforced the floor joists under that room by installation of additional rows of blocking. That's another whole different project, but here is one photograph of that work. I used my recently purchased T12+3 drill with angle chuck for this work because many of the joists are on 12 inch centers.
[attachimg=#]
