Latest build - hall table, but used as an office table!

[Anonymous]

Built this over the weekend. Still to fit the glass panels -- they'll be 6mm glass, etched with a pattern on the reverse. When fitted you won't see the leg attachments! Legs are black walnut, tabletop is clear maple and the supports for the glass are padauk. Finshed with one coat of sanding sealer, 3 coats of acrylic varnish, rubbed down between each one. Burnished with a final rubdown of 0000 wool and a nice thick coat of clear wax. Big enough to hold a laptop and papers in the wife's therapy office comfortably, but also perfect as a hall table.

 

[tim]

Looks good.

Looking forward to seeing it with the glass on (and maybe a little less exposure/ glare :wink: )

Cheers

Tim

 

[Waka]

Looks very professional, well done

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the feedback. I updated the picture. Can't get much better quality I'm afraid, even playing around with the photo editor!

Here's a close-up of one corner...

Now I have to etch the glass... I was thinking HF acid, until I read a bit more about its use :shock: I remember using it in A-level chemistry class, but that was over 40 years ago and it seems you can't buy it now unless you're approved, etc. So, it'll be either sandblasted with a resist pattern, or painted with a special paint that creats the effect of etched glass. Will let you know how I get on...

 

[Waka]

Brian

How is the top outside bits that the glass recesses into fitted?

 

[Anonymous]

Waka:

Not sure exactly what you're asking. First answer is how the glass is fitted, second is how the top is constructed,

The top is 3/4 maple and I fitted a strip of padauk around the inside of the openings flush with the bottom edge of the maple and 6mm down from the top surface - so that 6mm glass would give me a flush finish. The padauk is glued in place and additional security is provided by two brass pins and one small brass screw in each strip. You can just see a screw head in the corner photo. By the time the top is patterned the screws and corner leg brackets will be concealed. The glass is a 'comfortable' fit - when cut they were about 1/32 too large so I had the edges repolished and now they drop in nicely.

The top is made with half-lap joints that go one thrid way across the long edges (so they don't show). They are glued and screwed underneath. The side rails are biscuited into place every 10" and the corners are reinforced with the leg mounts - steel brackets. It's pretty strong, given there's only about a 1" joint at each corner once the cut-outs for the legs are made. The legs sit up about 1/8" above the surface, sit out 1/4" on the front and back edges, and are almost flush at the sides - maybe 1/64 protrusion for a nice 'shadow line'. I designed it that way for the space where it will be used. The joints at the legs are feathered to disguise any minor imperfections in the (hand) cutting.

Hope this helps.

My only concern is that the legs are secured with a single bolt (screw one end into the leg, machine thread the other to take a nut) and for the size of table it seems to be a bit on the minimal side. However, it is reasonably solid and won't have to take any rough treatment so it should be fine. If I was to make another, I'd use two bolts per leg just to be on the safe side, especially if there are children around..

 

[Jaco]

Brian, looks very good.
Nice to see a combination of the different timber being used. Very effective.

Phil

 

[PowerTool]

Now I have to etch the glass... I was thinking HF acid, until I read a bit more about its use :shock: I remember using it in A-level chemistry class, but that was over 40 years ago and it seems you can't buy it now unless you're approved, etc.

At work,we used to carry hydrofluoric acid by the tankerload (used to self-drives to Waterford Crystal,amongst other places) - it's not nice!
It attacks calcium,so if you get it on your skin,it will soak in and attack the calcium in your bones,literally eating you away from the inside :shock:
All drivers moving it had to have an antidote kit with them - containing cream with a higher calcium concentration than your bones,so it would go for that instead..

 

[Waka]

Thanks brian

Good explanation, I am now understanding.

 

[Anonymous]

I knew there was a reason to not use HF :shock: I'm experimenting on spare pieces of glass with different resists and paints to see what I can get before I work on the table panels. Oil leaves really neat patterns after spraying...very organic

 

[Adam]

I knew there was a reason to not use HF :shock: I'm experimenting on spare pieces of glass with different resists and paints to see what I can get before I work on the table panels. Oil leaves really neat patterns after spraying...very organic

Why not nip down to your local glaziers? They have etchant for adding the kite mark to any piece of safety glass. They have to do it "on-site", as A) they never know how big any piece is going to be and B) each kite mark is "individual" to a company so it can be traced.

When they did a couple of pieces of glass for a cabinet, they insisted on adding them despite the fact it didn't needed to be marked as safety glass. I watched them - and they appeared to wipe a white "jelly" substance across - perhaps in some form of safer base compound?



Adam

 

[Anonymous]

Good thought Adam, but I'm looking to etch a vast area - about 4 square feet. I did think of buying a multitude of registration number etching kits from Halfords, but the cost was just a bit high... Special paint that looks like etch when it is on the glass looks like the way to go. Now I just have to agree the design with SWMBO -- it's MY table, but she's going to use it in her office...

 

[Jake]

Special paint that looks like etch when it is on the glass looks like the way to go.

I've only tried to use one tin of one particular brand (plastikote?) of that stuff, but it was absolutely rubbish and looked completely cheap nasty and rubbish (was trying to get rid of a net on a glass front door). Its best virtue was that it washed off pretty easily in warm water.

I'd go and get the glass professionally etched, the rest of the table deserves it.

 

[Anonymous]

I have found a local artist who sandblasts pictures onto glass using a rubber resist. Have to see what she costs now!

(Edited on Monday 12th) - At about £200 per glass panel it was just too expensive for me to use her. I'm going with some clever spraying techniques. With an artist in the family (SWMBO) and me pretty good at spraying cars we should be able to come jup with something that works...