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Thread: Conference Table Support

  1. #1

    Conference Table Support

    I am in the process of building a conference table. It is 46" wide and 64" long. I used 3/4 MDF with 1/4" Oak Plywood Laminated on the top and bottom.

    I made the stand out of the same material. Both are 28" tall with one being 39" long the other is 21" long. They will mount to the table like the following picture click here.

    My question is how should I joint the two pieces?

    My original plan: A half lap with each having piece having a 14" channel cut into it then they sit over top of each other. Their weight and the table weight will help then in place. But what should I use to cut the channel? Dado Blade, Jig Saw, Router? I am looking for something easy these pieces weight allot.

    I was kind of thinking about using a Jig Saw to rough out the openings then use my router to finish the job, but I need a really clean joint and when I did the pattern routing on the outside of the table, I found it a little tough to keep the router vertical which would be very important so the two half's fit together well.

    Other ideas:
    Cutting the short side in half and using a biscuit joint with 3 double biscuts, or connect with Pocket Screws, but due to the weight of the item, they might not hold up very well to being moved around?

    Other options?
    Last edited by Samuel Brooks; 06-18-2008 at 6:53 AM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    San Francisco, CA
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    10,304
    For simple construction, cut the short piece in half, and biscuit or dowel it to the long piece. At the top, put something like a subtop. It would be a piece of plywood or whatever that is 20-24 inches in diameter. It screws down into the tops of the pieces you now have. The tops are relieved so that including the subtop doesn't change the height of the table. The subtop is really a great big gusset to reinforce the biscuits or dowels, and is invisible up underneath the table. You can also use it to fasten the top to the base with screws up through the subtop.

  3. #3
    Thanks for the suggestion. I went with a half lap type joint. The bases were 28" tall so I used my Dado Blade and cut a channel 15-1/2" because the blade leaves a cured area of 1-1/2". This gave me a 14" channel. I did this to both cross sections. The extra 1-1/2" is hidden inside the joint. I then slipped them over each other. It was really nice to have the Incra fence on my table saw because I dialed the grove in by 15/64th to get a very close fit.

    See here
    Table.jpg

    I still need to fix it to the top, I am going to use some small L brackets, but I am happy with the results. Plus I need to put the edge banding on.

    The core is 3/4" MDF with 1/4" Oak Plywood wrapping it.

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