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mission coffee table - considering options

Darren Wright said:
With the drawers you may want some steel support above them, even at 1" thick for the top I'd suspect it will flex without a full rail below if anyone sits on it.
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Art Mulder said:
Maybe I should just try for a thicker top and skip that front stretcher. ;)
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According to the sagulator (http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator.htm)

- 1" thick black cherry, 22" wide, spanning 37.5" will sag .04" with a 400lb load on the center (ie: two adults standing on it)
That is 1/25 of an inch, by the way

- If I increase it to 1-1/2" thick top, the calculated sag drops to .01" under the same conditions

- I just realize I made a mistake -- I do have a back rail behind the drawers, so let me redo this with a 19-1/2" width.
- 1" thick = sag of .05" (1/20 of an inch) I don't get that, as intuitive it should be less... I suspect the sagulator is intended for shelving, so it is assuming that the shelf is NOT attached at the back. And yes, I just did some googling which confirms that it does NOT make any allowance for the shelf being attached at the back.

So I think I'm going to go back and get rid of that front rail. (and maybe see if I can get the top 1-1/4 or 1-1/2" thick...)

...art
 
so much for sleeping on it... after my sagulator work I went back and worked up v5, two of them.
On one of them I'm back to the shallower top, but with the new corbels.
On the other I'm experimenting with raising the lower shelf up. I made some 2-3/4" lower end rails, connected them by long stretchers, and put a 3/4" shelf on top of it.

LOML is not keen on it. Now we're definitely going to sleep on any more design changes.

mc-v5-flat.jpg mc-v5-flat-shelf.jpg
mc-v5-undershelf.jpg
 
Art Mulder said:
According to the sagulator (http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator.htm)

- 1" thick black cherry, 22" wide, spanning 37.5" will sag .04" with a 400lb load on the center (ie: two adults standing on it)
That is 1/25 of an inch, by the way

...art
Click to expand...

What is the purpose of the table and how much stuff are you going to keep on it? Sounds more like your building a home entertainment center/aka stage. (wife allow you to have two gals dancing on it?):p:rofl:
 
Randal Stevenson said:
What is the purpose of the table and how much stuff are you going to keep on it? Sounds more like your building a home entertainment center/aka stage. (wife allow you to have two gals dancing on it?):p:rofl:
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It's a coffee table, Randal. There will likely be a plant on it. Plus a pile of books. One or two cups. Last weeks newspaper, and ALWAYS a pair of feet.

(I was never allowed to put my feet on the coffee table when I grew up. Nuts to that. I build it for the feet.)
Aside from all of that, I have four kids. Three boys. All of them are heading towards 6'4", by my estimation.

We don't do "delicate" around here.
 
that's me and one 8 year old meeting your weight limit.

art, you've put up a lot of nice designs, pick one and get a move on it. too many variations will drive you nuts.

im waiting to see final pics.
 
When I was a kid, age 5 or less, all of our neighbors and friends and my parents seemed to have this kind of furniture. Since I was that age I have seen the tables from all of the angles you have drawn, including from the bottom up.

1) I definitely like the spindles.

2) Will the drawers actually be useful or will they just get loaded with stuff. You know what I mean. Five years later you empty the drawers to clean them and you find that set of missing snow tires.

3) In reality, what would you put in the drawers? The remote? A pencil? A note pad? So do you really need the drawers or could the drawers be quite a bit shallower? Most of my original shop drawers were built 3" deep inside There were 20 drawers in the first two cabinets. All of them have at least 1" of empty space at the top. Therefore when new drawers were built, the vertical, inside dimension was made 2 1/2" and some even shallower.

4) I did not care for the top heavy version

5) How are you planning on suspending the drawers? Had you thought of having them open from either side of the table? How many shins will get bruises if they open towards the seating?

6) I REALLY love full extension drawer glides. They save an awful lot of 4 letter words that seem to come up when you are looking for something like the orange and chartreuse striped socks.

I like the feel for what you are doing. You brought back a bunch of great memories. Thanks.

Enjoy,
JimB
 
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allen levine said:
pick one and get a move on it. ... im waiting to see final pics.
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I was afraid of that... You'll have to be patient, folks. I was thinking 4-6 months for this project. I originally thought I'd poke at the design for a month, but this exercise here has gone by in a flash. Now, coincidentally my buddy (he of the canoe project) was asking if I'd like to take a road trip out to the lumber yard. So I might be looking for some 8/4 and 4/4 cherry soon...


Jim C Bradley said:
...
2) Will the drawers actually be useful or will they just get loaded with stuff. You know what I mean. Five years later you empty the drawers to clean them and you find that set of missing snow tires.

3) In reality, what would you put in the drawers? The remote? A pencil? A note pad? So do you really need the drawers or could the drawers be quite a bit shallower? Most of my original shop drawers were built 3" deep inside There were 20 drawers in the first two cabinets. All of them have at least 1" of empty space at the top. Therefore when new drawers were built, the vertical, inside dimension was made 2 1/2" and some even shallower.

4) I did not care for the top heavy version

5) How are you planning on suspending the drawers? Had you thought of having them open from either side of the table? How many shins will get bruises if they open towards the seating?

6) I REALLY love full extension drawer glides. They save an awful lot of 4 letter words that seem to come up when you are looking for something like the orange and chartreuse striped socks.
Click to expand...

Hi, Jim!

I also like full extension slides. I was thinking of something like these self-closing full extension units from LVT.

Yes, I considered having them open from either side -- but only for about five seconds. I think that is harder to build, and harder to keep them securely closed, for minimal benefit. My opinion.

As mentioned originally, the drawers are primarily there in the design for a place to tuck the laptop out of the way. And yes, I know they'll catch clutter. That's what drawers do. We all struggle with it. :bang: But I will be keeping them as shallow as possible. Certainly not more than 3" deep, and that 2-1/2" dimension is also a possibility.

But on the other hand, extra storage space for the winter tires is an attractive option! :D
 
4 to 6 months? What's the rush? :D

I think it's a good idea to let the design stew, or is it ferment, for a little while. You may decide it needs changing.
 
Hi Art, I built an AC coffee table for our living room last winter. I built it out of an oak floor I salvaged from a house in Huntington Woods, Mich. It was roughly based on some plans I got on from Woodsmith Shop, which produces excellent plans.
 
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