Need bracket mounting advice for table

[Erik Litts]

In my first foray into making an actual finished item (as opposed to framing) my son and I made a makeup table for his mother for Christmas. I also made her a lighted mirror for it.

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My issue is with mounting the mirror to the table. I had brackets made that would screw to the underside of the table and provide a support to rest the mirror against and give it kind of a "floating" look. However, when I had them made, I didn't take into account the fact that while we planed the crap out of the top of the table to get it mostly flat, the bottom of the table isn't anywhere close because my first attempt at gluing up a slab went about as well as you'd expect someone's first attempt to go. (the table has 3 coats of poly on it already)

So the bottom of the table isn't flat, smooth or possibly even totally parallel to the top, which will make mounting 4 brackets that are supposed to be perfectly in line with each other rather difficult. The brackets are 2" wide pieces of 1/8th" mild steel with a 105 degree bend so that when they are mounted with the bend facing up, the mirror can sit on them and tilt backwards.

At this point, the best notion I can come up with that doesn't involve planing the entire bottom of the table would be to attach a mounting plate of plywood to the bottom of the table with some kind of leveling compound between the plywood and tabletop to fill in space and give me a totally parallel surface to attach too.

Is there some much simpler method I'm just not thinking of? If my method seems to be the most workable, any ideas what kind of filler/leveling compound would be the best option?

If it matters, all the strips in that tabletop are face glued, so the top and bottom of the table is entirely edge-grain.

[John K Jordan]

Yikes, I'd be inclined to flatten the bottom somehow. Do you know anyone with a wide jointer or a drum sander? I've flattened things about that size using 60 grit paper on my 22-44 drum sander. A drum sander can make the bottom parallel to the top.

Plywood that was properly shimmed might work, and even stay flat if it was thick enough but that seems a shame on such a nice table top. Hey, do you know anyone with metal working capability? I'm imagining a 1/8" or so steel plate cut to the same shape as the top but a little smaller, smoothed edges, painted black perhaps, with the brackets welded or otherwise fastened to the bottom of the plate.

[Steve Jenkins]

If you have a router you could lay the top face down and make a bridge for the router and flatten just the areas where the brackets go. The bridge can be a very simple affair.

[David Utterback]

Good straightforward suggestions. You might also mount the mirror on the wall.

[Erik Litts]

Yikes, I'd be inclined to flatten the bottom somehow. Do you know anyone with a wide jointer or a drum sander? I've flattened things about that size using 60 grit paper on my 22-44 drum sander. A drum sander can make the bottom parallel to the top.

Plywood that was properly shimmed might work, and even stay flat if it was thick enough but that seems a shame on such a nice table top. Hey, do you know anyone with metal working capability? I'm imagining a 1/8" or so steel plate cut to the same shape as the top but a little smaller, smoothed edges, painted black perhaps, with the brackets welded or otherwise fastened to the bottom of the plate.

Well, the top looks pretty good (relative to my lack of skill), but the bottom looks like a dog's business. I didn't even bother putting that side through the planer (which was my big mistake) because I had already lost more thickness on the top than I'd intended and I used the bottom to test out the different stains I had to see which I liked once it was actually on wood. I have some decent sized pieces of 1/2" birch plywood still laying around that I could make a mounting plate out of. I didn't even think of just using shims, but I suspect that would work just fine.

I think this will be my "Plan B".

[Erik Litts]

If you have a router you could lay the top face down and make a bridge for the router and flatten just the areas where the brackets go. The bridge can be a very simple affair.


I do have a router. I've got my grandfather's old craftsman 315 model router. I just haven't used much at all, so I didn't think of this as an option. When I imagined flattening out the area where the brackets would go I was imagining trying to do it with a planer or a chisel and just cringed at the idea. A router would actually work just great if I can put together the bridge you spoke of.

I think I'll try this as "Plan A" unless someone comes in with a 20 minute fix I can do with the tools I have. (I'd love to run it through a sander, but don't know anyone with a 36" wide one)

[Erik Litts]

As an aside. I have to say that my first feeling when I got it "finished" enough for my son to present as to his mom for Christmas was:

"Ok, this gives you the idea. But what I'm actually going to do is throw this one away and do another one without making the dozen or so major errors I did this time"

[james glenn]

I would look at methods to flatten the areas where the brackets mount at the bottom. Chisel, hand plane, sander, etc.

This is where I get myself in trouble. If making a bridge for the router is not possible, I would try making an 'L' bracket for my router which would reference the top face and let me rout parallel grooves for the brackets on the underside.
Probably not safe or smart, but I could fab it quick and get something close to equal depths from the face.

Or, as suggested above; mount the mirror to the wall.

[Erik Litts]

Good straightforward suggestions. You might also mount the mirror on the wall.


That's entirely too sensible and reasonable a suggestion for me to take it. I feel like I would be failing in the hereditary duty to be obstinate and overly picky about projects that was passed down to me by my father and grandfather.

:)

[David Utterback]

That's entirely too sensible and reasonable a suggestion for me to take it. I feel like I would be failing in the hereditary duty to be obstinate and overly picky about projects that was passed down to me by my father and grandfather.

:)

I have that same gene.

[Keith Westfall]

Turn it over and place a small board on edge, that would be suitable for a bracket, and scribe it to the contour of the bottom, and then trim to fit. then do another the same at the next point you would like a bracket at.

Then with them fastened in place (tape, tape and crazy glue etc) and then (if the top (now on the bottom) is flat to the world, take a straight edge and a small level, and mark both so that they are parallel (from side to side) to each other and level from to back with the top. That's clear, right???

Take them off, cut as required, and glue and screw them back on.

Disclaimer: Haven't ever tried it, but it seemed like a good idea when I thought about it... :D

[Steve Jenkins]

A simple router bridge. Took about 20 min to make.

[David Eisenhauer]

Sure seems like using a chisel to flatten/level out the areas where the brackets will screw into the bottom would be the easiest/quickest/least problematic way to accomplish this by far. Maybe I am missing something here or did not pay sufficient attention to the original post, but someone tell me why that would not be a fairly easy fix? I understand that each bracket location would have to be a "custom" fit, but they would be in no-show areas with easy access to the separate areas.

[Erik Litts]

Sure seems like using a chisel to flatten/level out the areas where the brackets will screw into the bottom would be the easiest/quickest/least problematic way to accomplish this by far. Maybe I am missing something here or did not pay sufficient attention to the original post, but someone tell me why that would not be a fairly easy fix? I understand that each bracket location would have to be a "custom" fit, but they would be in no-show areas with easy access to the separate areas.


I didn't go into detail but the reason I'm anti chisel are:

1. I suck with chisels and I'm very unlikely to be able to do a good job without mangling either the project or my fingers;
2. I don't have a full set of chisels and only have 2 old, out of shape chisels I've stolen from my father.
3. I really suck with chisels.

[Cristobal Figueroa]

I first wanted to say I like the creativity shown in your table, I am sure it will be a treasured gift when done. A router sled (bridge) seems like the easiest solution with a couple caveats. Depending on how out of parallel the bottom is to the top you may machine away more material than you would like considering you mentioned that concern previously. You could use the same router sled technique to create four flat and parallel to top areas for the bracket leaving the rest of the bottom as is. Which brings me to my next question. Is there a base for this table top or legs? Knowing that information will probably influence the solutions offered.

[David Eisenhauer]

No Eric, you do not suck at chisels. You only think you suck at chisels and are therefore determined to prove your ownself correct. You only need one chisel, and the width of that chisel is not critical. If you would be able to somehow mangle your fingers, OK then, I stand corrected and you do suck at chisels. Surely someone nearby will show up to your shop with a chisel and make you do it without any mangleization taking place. All joking aside, it really should be easy to do with a chisel and lots quicker than setting up a router sled or bridge but I do understand your reluctance at this stage. IMO, using a chisel for rudimentary tasks is a skill that should eventually be a part of your skill set without throwing yourself into full blown Neanderthal mode.

[Erik Litts]

Just because I know people like to see pictures. Here's the mirror that I'm going to be mounting. After I rewire it in parallel instead of series.

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[Dan Hahr]

If You have a drill press you could use a Forstner bit to level out just the back edge of the table top. This is assuming that you can support the top on the drill press table. If so, overlapping cuts with a forstner bit cleaned up with any sharp chisel should work nicely for creating a flat reference surface that will mostly be covered up anyway.

Dan

[Erik Litts]

Thank-you everyone for the advice! In the end the bottom ended up not being as much trouble as I'd worried. It was indeed not flat, but at least the lack of flat was uniform across the length of the table. I ended up using a router with a bridge to take out some of the irregularity and the brackets sat in practically the right position without much fuss.

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I still hate the legs though. I ended up just buying them at Lowes because I wasn't sure how to approach doing them myself. Unfortunately, the giftee is so thrilled with it as is, I doubt I'd be able to pry it away from her to do something else about the legs at a later date. I may have to just talk her into letting me throw some stain on them so at least they don't stand out so much.