Need suggestions - attaching tabletop to legs on this design

[Joel Daniels]

Hi all! I'm most of the way finished with a dining table build, and I never quite got around to planning the attachment of the table top to the legs assembly. I assumed I'd come up with some solution along the way, but I still haven't decided on anything yet and am wanting to not screw it up So I'd love some input on best techniques for this! Here's my design. The table top is 1-1/4" thick, 44" wide, and made of maple. The legs / stretchers assembly are also maple, and stout, so altogether they're fairly heavy - I need to be able to lift the table by the top to move it, without the legs falling right off!

I know I'll need to use screws or dowels in slotted holes to allow for the movement of the tabletop.

I recently came across this video and kinda liked this (around the 9:00 mark he makes some blocks with slotted holes, glues them to the underside of the table, and hammers a dowel through them into the top leg brace). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-SxsnG7CLc I really liked the no-fasteners approach here, and this seemed good until I got to thinking about the cross-grain gluing of the blocks to the table top - this glue joint probably won't fail, but could it? I'm torn; I don't want to find out the hard way. I went ahead modeled the blocks under the tabletop as placeholders.

[jack duren]

What’s the top?

[Jamie Buxton]

I make table like that in the following way. In the middle of each trestle there's a peg glued into the trestle, and there's a matching hole in the underside of the table top. The peg establishes the position of the top on the trestle. Near each end of the trestle there are slotted holes. A connector bolt goes up through the slotted hole into a threaded insert in the table top. Connector bolts have a large flat head so they naturally bridge the slot. I generally use 1/4-20 bolts and inserts.

I use brass knife-threaded inserts like these from EZ Lok. Their installer tool is absolutely worth the money. https://www.amazon.com/Z-LOK-Threade...1zcF9hdGY&th=1

[jack duren]

We usually just bolt it to the table. If your worried about movement, drill a 1/2 hole using a 1/4 bolt with a large washer.

[Joel Daniels]

I make table like that in the following way. In the middle of each trestle there's a peg glued into the trestle, and there's a matching hole in the underside of the table top. The peg establishes the position of the top on the trestle. Near each end of the trestle there are slotted holes. A connector bolt goes up through the slotted hole into a threaded insert in the table top. Connector bolts have a large flat head so they naturally bridge the slot. I generally use 1/4-20 bolts and inserts.

I use brass knife-threaded inserts like these from EZ Lok. Their installer tool is absolutely worth the money. https://www.amazon.com/Z-LOK-Threade...1zcF9hdGY&th=1

That is an excellent idea. I hadn't even considered that technique, that may be the answer...

[Joel Daniels]

What’s the top?

It's solid maple - boards laminated to 1-1/4" thickness and edge glued to 44" width, and 88" long. It's fairly heavy.

[jack duren]

We don’t get too crazy when mounting the tops on trestle tables. Regular tables I usually use Figure 8 clips…

[Edward Weber]

I've never seen anything like the method shown in the video (there's a reason why)
Try something else, like the suggestions above

[Philip Glover]

This is what I did on a trestle table that is currently WIP.
These clips are cherry and engage in slots that were made with a biscuit joiner.
The clips can be loosened and pivoted away to remove the top.

IMG_2058.jpg

Regards,
Phil

[Brian Runau]

That is an excellent idea. I hadn't even considered that technique, that may be the answer...

I've done this on my last two projects since they are in pieces and breakdown. Not hard to do wax the insert before installing it and go slow. Pins or dowels as a locater so bolts and inserts line up easy every time. Brian

[jack duren]

I do a lot of trestle tables. Usually not that complicated to install the top…