laying out table legs on an oval

[Eric John]

Gmorning everyone

Sooo, I began to make an oval coffee table. The idea is an oval bricklaid skirt which is to be veneered.
I built the apron up to three inches high and the oval is 28 x 48 and 1 1/4 thick. I used an ellipse jig.
now im trying to lay out the legs thinking I will join them to the oval with a bridle joint. the legs are 1 3/4 sq. and taper after clearing the skirt.
having a little difficulty wondering how to square the legs to the oval. then of course how to accurately cut the grooves inside and outside the apron.
Anybody have suggestions? appreciate anyones input.

Regards
Eric

[Lee Schierer]

Do you still have the alignment points that you used for your jig? If so you should be able to work off those to layout your legs.

If not you will need to find the widest points on the length and width of your oval with a scale or tape measure. This way won't be as exact as using the original axis layout, but if you are very careful it should get you close enough that the error won't be visible.

Note for the Future: Clearly mark the major and minor axis on the underside of the blank before cutting an ellipse or oval. Leave these marks in place until you are ready to apply the finish.

[Prashun Patel]

I did a table like that a couple years ago.

Instead of trying to put the legs at the 'corners' put them in the middle of the 'ends'; that is, at the apex of the curves. At that exact point, the leg can join the apron squarely.

[Andy D Jones]

If you need to recreate the major and minor axes, from the minimum and maximum "diameters", you can verify or fine tune them by making sure that:
1. the two diameters should be perpendicular to each other.
2. any perpendicular line to an axis should meet the curve at equal distances from that axis.
3. perpendiculars to an axis, equidistant from the center, should also be equal length.

If you want the legs at the ends of each axis, now you know accurately where they need to be.

If you want the legs at the "corners" you have a little more work to do.

First, is your apron ellipse the same ratio (major to minor axis length) as the table top? Or is the apron a fixed distance from the edge of the top? There is a difference. If the W/L ratio is the same, the distance from apron to table edge will be greater along the long axis. Either way, the apron ellipse center and orientation will match that of the top.

Once the axes are accurately fixed, then define four corners using perpendiculars to the long and short axes. Those four corners define a rectangle, which you should adjust such that the length to width ratio match that of the ellipse of the apron (which, per above may be different than the top).

I would suggest a housed bridle joint for the legs would be stronger than a (curved) bridle joint, and probably easier to fit in the long run.

-- Andy - Arlington TX

[Andy D Jones]

Per above, squaring the legs to the apron can be done with a set of dividers.

From the center point on the apron where the center of the leg will be located, draw an arc (about the same radius as half the leg width, but not important). Where that arc crosses each side of the apron, draw a line from one crossing of a side, to the other crossing of the same side. Repeat for the other (inner/outer) side of the apron.

Those two lines should be parallel. The bottoms of your notches in either side of the apron, should be parallel to those lines. The lines should be as far apart as possible while keeping each line inside the wood of the apron, to preserve as much apron as possible.

The distance between those two final lines determines the width of the saddle notch in the top of each leg, which should be centered on the leg.

-- Andy - Arlington TX

[Eric John]

Thanx everybody!

and yes finally last night got it figured out, from the major/ minor axis, figured a rectangle.
then using trammel struck points from inside dia of ellipse and outside of ellipse, struc a line
which appears square to arc. then suared off that line for 1 3/4 leg.
Now just to cut "slots" on inside and outside for bridle joint, a little more head scrtching.

[Eric John]

Thanx Lee,
contributed this morning

[Lee Schierer]

Thanx Lee,
contributed this morning

Way to go Eric, thanks