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Jim,
Have you considered 1-1/8" MDF. The laminate on the top will add 1/16 and a balence sheet on the bottom will get you real close to 1-1/4" Where do you plan seaming the p-lam?
Chuck S
Your math comes up 1 1/8", not 1 1/4". Laminate will not make up the other 1/8", it is a little less than 1/16" thick. Make your slab full thickness at the edge only.
Route out your main top slab first. Use biscutes or splines and temporary scabs screwed across the joint for the large circle. Lay out enough 2-3" wide edge pieces mitered to fit around the circle. Glue and staple them in place on the top and use the top as template to route a flush edge. Laminate the top and trim, then route the groove for the rubber T molding. Glue and insert the T molding and strap it tight with a web belt clamp.
Repeat for the smaller lazy susan .
BTW I hope that is a 7" diameter, not radius circle.
Sounds like a fun job.
Dave
Edited 7/6/2007 2:48 pm ET by DaveRicheson
thanks for the input Dave. i was thinking of using the 1 1/8 - 1 1/4 throughout to have better bite for the screws holding the pedastal leg set on, as well as this is the spec i gave the designer of the leg set. see attached pix. BTW, what type of glue to use on the bumper molding?
The Bumper molding I use is a T and has ribs that grab in the slot. The backer sheet is to balence the top so it will not warp.Chuck Slive, work, build, ...better with wood
http://www.dap.com/product_details.aspx?product_id=42
I have also used a product called Goop Plumbers Glue, if memory serves me correctly.
The T molding i have used is also barbed, so when it is pushed in the slot, it pretty much stays there. I use the glue as insurance agianst prying little fingers ( and some not so little one many times).
I've done a couple of conference room tables, and repaired a bunch of smaller tables we use in our training rooms. Bored people can pluck that T molding right out of the slot. Kids are even worse than adults. Given enough time and boredom, they could wreck main line rr track.
I like those pedestal for a large round table. We use something similar in pairs on large oval tables.
Just a word of caution. Assemble it on site. The combination of top size, lazy susan, and pedestal is going to be mega heavey,and awkward to handle. They are a bear to get through many doors, so you end up dissassembling them anyway. Better to go in with it broken down, than needing to take it apart outside a room or building while the owner and/or public is watching. Saves the "ah sh**, this is embarrassing" moment <G>
Dave
I was thinking that...7' table, 6'-8" doors...
thanks guys, i already learned the hard way one time about the product not fitting through a door (actually up a spiral stairway) so yes i planned to put it together on site...thanks again for the info, keep the feedback coming...
LOL! I was asked to make a 5' lazy susan one time, but i had to tell the people my Toyota truck was only rated for 4', so they took that instead. Good thing...man, that was heavy... Are you making the lazy susan separate from the table or incorporating it?
There was the time I built an L shaped top for an auto parts counter. My shop was in my basement back then. Had to take out part of a wall to get that sucker up to the truck!
Or the huge top I hualed down Dixie Highway one Satuday morning. Looked like some kind of "red neck pick up truck with wings" as my brother described it.
I got almost 40 years of "oops" behind me, and I still learn some new one every now an then <G>
Dave
Your 'wings' story reminds me of a friend who built a large doghouse for some people. He stuck it in his uncovered pickup bed and when he hit 70 it got airborne. He said it landed well, too, didn't hurt a bit and he just put it back in the truck and carried on...more slowly...
We used to do a bunch of resin topped tables with inlays. Much more durable than plam. I am concerned about the plam seam on Jim's table. We did some hinged 95-1/2" table tops for an Asian restaurant that were covered with table cloths and only used for special events. At any rate you have given Jim som good advice IMHO.
Chuck Slive, work, build, ...better with wood
I did that with a Pine Bathroom vanity, it had a large backsplash also pine.
Got it and BIL in the truck and headed down the road..lookig in the rearview, I see the backsplash caught wind, and it S-l-o-w-ly toppled out the back of the truck.
I looked at Pete,and he at me, and in unison, we said..." I thought YOU tied it down"...whoops.
Little side detour back to the shop, to re-radius a corner that got a ding...and also get a rope.
You boys...I'd bungee a sack of cement to take it half a block. I saw a lady lose a load of ply in the intersection when she'd been acting like an impatient #### and gunned her brandy-new yellow truck across. I'd normally be the first person out to pick up sticks, but i just drove around 'em with a smile and a thumbs up to her.
How bout a whole deck package. Lashed together so tight that when it departed the bed of the truch it only ended up with about a 10 degree list starboard and aft. Busiest part of the day, up hill grade at an intersection, and 30' past a railroad track.
I learned some new invectives from the people trying to get around me. I even used some of them myself when I notice the new U shaped tailgate. The only one to stop was a truck driver. He left his rig straddled the tracks while we untied, reloaded and retied the whole mess. We both said that if a train came along before we finished, it was going to be real ugly. His 40' box was loaded with large spools of paper for a dog food bag manufacturing plant.
Ford tailgates suck, My old Chevy could have easily handled that weigth sliding across it. <G>
Dave
Ouch! I guess Bondo wasn't going to fix that one, eh? Time for Rhinolining...
so, what do you think then about the field substrate of the table, do you recommend the 1 1/8 through out or build it up with 2 different thicknesses offsetting the joints perpindicular to ea other? i was going to seam the laminate in the center of the table so that the lazy susan covers up most of the seam.
I have never done a top with just one ply of substrate unless it was less than 1". If you can get the thicker MDF, I dont see any problem. Using two layers would still be my preferance because I could alternate the direction of the splice in both peices, thus one would reinforce the other.
Considering the environment the table is going into, I would also be thinking about material that is more water tolerant than MDF or particle board. A spilled drink or two and a small opening in that T mold edge is a reciept for eventual edge swelling. If you don't use a balance piece of laminate on the bottom, be sure to seal it with something.
Someone here sugested using MDO for a laminate substrate in a discusssion some year or so ago. I've never used it that way, but for a wet location, it sure got moved to the front of my idea file.
Dave
Well even a 7 inch radius circle isn't all that big...Seriously though, it seems to me that the thickness at the outer edge is determined by the T molding, though personally I prefer a laminate edge over T molding. Not sure how well it holds up on a circle though.
The T molding is more of a wear and safety feature than a design element. We had a bunch of el cheapo tables with laminated edges. Within two years we were repair chipped edges from chairs being banged into them almost daily. And, man, don't ever let a group of bored adults set at a table with a chipped edge. They'll pick it clean in a four hour meeting, then complain that they snagged their $$$ sweater, pants, or skirt on it.
I consider any public environment to be hostile for laminated surfaces. If you can't go stone or synthetic, then you better buget for replacement p-lam in a few year.
T molding also adds a little safety factor to the edge of laminated tops, particularly where the very young or very old can come in contact with it.
Design wise, you are right. Even some of the high end T moldings suck.
Dave
The glue joint should be symmetrical about the center. If it is not, then the top will pull to one side when the glue shrinks.