I spent the day working on feed tables.
Since I’m not really working from a plan, there are a few things that I’m having to figure out as I go along. I imagine that someday I’ll be an experienced enough woodworker to figure out some of this stuff ahead of time, but for now, it’s all about cut twice.
I had a helper today; my niece pitched in, which was fun for both of us. With her help, I got the “T” ends of two tables screwed, glued, and clamped. After dinner, I got started adding legs to the first table. It came together pretty easily. Even the cross dowels went in without a hitch.
With the legs on, I was able to see whether I’d cut the legs to the right height, and I had! The feed table and table saw are within 1/16″ of each other, with the feed table a little shorter, just what I wanted.
Next up, I needed to figure out both how to stiffen the table a bit, and also how to make it foldable. To do the folding part, I chopped the tops of the legs at 45deg from the halfway point on the leg. I then pinned the top of the leg by adding another 1/4″ bolt, with a fender washer added to make it easier to grip. That worked pretty well.
The table was still pretty wobbly, so I got to work on the cross-braces between the legs. This is the part that I’d cut wrong the night before. I realized that I needed the cross-braces to be 24″ (to overlap the legs), instead of 21″ (to fit between the legs). I got the fence set up, and used one of my spare 8′ boards to make enough cross braces for both 24″ tables.
When I put the brace on, the table was suddenly very stable left-to-right. It still wobbles a little fore and aft; I’ll see if that’s sufficient, or whether I need to add some more bracing in that direction.
With the cross braces installed, the table folds perfectly. It all works very, very well.
It’s late, and I’m tired, but I have a good working feed table, and I have another 2 getting closer. I love it when a plan (such as it is) comes together.