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Thread: Need to stabilize this table

  1. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
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    McKean, PA
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    15,594
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    Make a welded steel frame out of 1-1/4" square tubing of the same design as your existing wood leg structure and then cover the tubing with 3/8" thick wood on all sides except the side that touches the under side of the table. You will have the strength of steel and the outside will be wood. You will have a strong frame and the look that your customer wants. Your budget will take a hit unless you can pass the cost of the new steel & wood frame along to your customer.
    Lee Schierer
    USNA '71
    Go Navy!

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  2. #17
    Join Date
    Apr 2017
    Location
    Michigan
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    2,758
    Michael
    Better joinery would help a lot. Starting with the top;

    It looks like a solid wood top, which is fine but it will expand and contract a lot with the seasons. It may also warp. Make a substantial apron, say 3" tall x 1" thick hardwood. Recess this about 2" back from the edges so it will not show. Assemble it with box joints or corner brackets or something. At the center of the ends, glue the top to the apron about 4" wide. At the center of the sides glue the top to the center of the apron about 6". Understand that the apron is going to flex with the top.

    Now the legs; See if your customer will accept a little taper to the legs. Say 2 1/2" square at the top and 2"' at the bottom. This will add a lot of stability and it will look much better anyway. Notch the legs to fit over the corners of the apron. You now have a good opportunity for glue and screws thru the apron and into the legs. Don't connect them to the top, the corners of the top must be free to move.

    Then add the decorative apron between the legs. Make it 2" x 1/2", or a little thicker. Fasten it to the top the same as the structural apron. Add glue blocks in the 4 center areas connecting both aprons and the top. Screw these to the top. Add glue blocks in the corners also. These will buttress the legs. Don't connect them to the top, the corners of the top must be free to move. If the top needs fastening down at the corners devise something to allow expansion.

    The base; It is now not very much needed structuraly but it is part of the design so go ahead and add it. Keep it at least 1/4" off the floor to keep it from rocking the table.

    Now back to the top for a moment; If there is a misfit, you don't want the top to be too small. Have the top overhang the legs and apron by a little, 1/4" at least. You can always trim it off. Work out the dimensions before making the structural apron.

    Best Wishes
    Tom

  3. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Alan Caro View Post
    Michael Furey,

    To stabilize the table without calling attention to it, remove the table top boards at the corners and use a countersunk corner bracket and on the bottom of the trestle (paint it out), for example:

    Attachment 375893

    Where you have more depth into the vertical components, the corner lag screw can be larger diameter and longer.

    Alan
    This, top and bottom is your best bet with that design and the constraint of using wood.With one caveat, the top and bottom boards should include haunch tenons into the leg to provide added torsional stability.

  4. #19
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    USA
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    5,582
    I think the base design is, unfortunately, not going to hold up. Way to vulnerable to racking and maybe thats what you are already seeing. The simplest fix would be to add some diagonal bracing at each and every corner, top and bottom. These could be 2x2's for example. If they were 6 or 8 inches long they would virtually eliminate racking and I don't think they would compromise the basic design much if any. Of course, this means 4 braces at each corner spanning between vertical and horizontal members. How you attach them will be super important. I might suggest dowels for example but better yet would be pegs (with a tad bit of drawbore to help put some tension on the bracing).

  5. #20
    Personally, I'd give it a shot adding hidden angle brackets to the top and bottom. Then if it wobbles again, add visible angle brackets between the legs and aprons. Paint them. I mean, it's this or trash the whole thing, so I say "Hail Mary's" are appropriate.

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