Laser Cutter Table
In October of 2015, I took the plunge and put down money for a crowd funded laser cutter. In January of 2018, after years of delayed delivery dates, I finally received my very own Laser Cutter. Problem was, I didn't have a great place to put it. I have made plenty of tables and work spaces for around the house, however, none were exactly the right size or sturdy enough for the laser cutter. A typical table project for me, between the hardwood top and the table legs (whether pipe fittings, or designer stainless steel legs from Amazon) usually clocks in around $200. After the price tag on the laser cutter, I didn't feel like plunking down another sizable chunk of change for a stand. I decided to make the challenge for this table to be an economic one: The table had to cost less than $50.
Required Resources: 10 hours, $45
Size: 42" x 20 x 24" Tall
Materials: Pipe 2x3 Lumber, 1/2" Dowel Rod, Angle Brackets
Finish: "Emmet's Good Stuff" (2 Coats)
Tools: Planer, Jointer, Circular Saw, Bar Clamps, Orbital Sander
New Techniques:
Softwood: I usually hew (no pun intended) towards hardwoods for projects. They're more durable, and frankly more beautiful choices for a piece you intend on showing off. However, per board foot, even the cheapest hardwood (plain hard maple?) is going to run you 4-8x the price of softwood/ pine lumber. I went to Home Depot and picked up $30 dollars worth of 2x3 lumber. This ended up being ~20, 8 foot lengths of lumber. The wood planed very easily, although, I did have a crazy amount to do. I probably passed ~1000 linear feet through the machine that day; about 3 hours worth of planing. Needless to say, my neighbors probably hated me. The glue up was relatively easy and the finished surface looked surprising clean, given the state of the lumber before prep. The table top ended up being >2" thick, which was necessary to achieve a high degree of rigidity. With a little filler (I used the wrong color though, ugh), and a coat of finishing gel, the >$50 table was complete. The real test was whether or not it could take the weight of the laser cutter without noticeable deflection... so I stood on it, jumped around and ultimately deemed it fit for prime time!
New Joints: For the legs I tried lap joints for the first time. Lap joints are when you overlap two pieces of wood and glue the faces together. It is a moderately strong joint, but it relies entirely on the strength and quality of the glued interface. I made a jig/template to get the inverted trapezoid shape right and clamped both sets of legs together overnight. In the morning I ensured the strength of the joints by match drilling a hole through the lap jointed faces and pounding through a wooden dowel soaked in glue. After the set, I flush cut the dowels and sanded the whole piece down to a classy finish.
Lessons Learned:
Don't Force a Forstner: A forstner bit is a spade shape drill bit that cuts round holes into wood. It is a beast of a material remover, but if you're not careful, it can take away more material than you intend it to. Nearing the end of the leg construction, I decided to attempt the dowel pinned reinforcement. I set the legs on the ground and went to town with the drill. Little did I realize, that I was blowing out the back of the work piece on every hole I drilled. A "blow out" is when the grain splinters away from the drilled hole, leaving a finish that is messy and unprofessional. After I realized my mistake, I backed the work piece with some scrap and took my time clearing the full thickness. This resulted in much cleaner through holes. Problem solved!
Plane Smart, Not Hard: I spent 3 hours on my own planing the boards for this piece. If I was smart, I would have recruited a buddy to catch the pieces as they passed through the planer. This would have avoided sniping (where the planer takes a deeper than intended cut out the wood). I didn't have a friend with me, so the planer did regularly snipe the wood, causing hours of rework.