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Diy dining table: personal experience

This WordPress post shares an individual's personal experience of making a dining table on their own. Using readily available materials and tools, the author was able to construct a stylish and modern table that incorporated minimalistic features. This DIY project provided the author with a sense of satisfaction, saving them money while allowing for personalization of the piece. Having completed the project, the author is now able to enjoy the fruits of their labour. This post serves as an inspirational guide to others interested in taking on similar projects.

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We offer you step-by-step instructions on how to make a sliding table yourself without special fittings. Its device is very technologically advanced, you can assemble it within a couple of hours, as a result, you get a stable and solid dining table with a modern aesthetic design.

Diy dining table: personal experience

Description of the table structure

For the manufacture of the table will go laminated chipboard factory cut 16 mm thick. You can choose the color and texture as you wish; in the presented version, the dark areas are made of textured wenge, the light ones are made of smooth vanilla. All parts have paper end pasting with the exception of the table top โ€“ its outer edge is made with 2 mm PVC tape.

The legs of the table are quite voluminous and are assembled from four slats that form a hollow pencil case. The four legs are joined together through a frame that hides the details of the interior. Inside, the frame has two transverse and longitudinal struts, which give additional rigidity and perform a number of additional functions.

The table top is collapsible and sliding. When folded, the worktop is almost flush with the box. If you extend the table and add a middle insert, the table top protrudes 225 mm above the box along the short edges. The design did not use special lift-and-slide fittings, the tabletop parts are installed on full extension drawer guides, the parts are joined using pins and spring latches.

Detailed analysis of detailing and fittings

You can learn more about the design of the table according to the PRO100 project. In the meantime, we will describe the list of parts and accessories that must be purchased. If the table is made in one color, then a little less than one sheet of laminated chipboard of the format 2750x1830x16 will be cut for it. For now, letโ€™s take a quick look at the parts list:

  • 100ร—730 mm โ€“ 16 pieces of planks for making legs. Edging on one long and both short sides.
  • 984ร—150 and 784ร—150 mm โ€“ two of each part to form a box. Only one short side without edge.
  • 968ร—70 and 768ร—70 mm โ€“ also two pieces for the box jumpers. Edges without edging.
  • 120ร—70 mm โ€“ four small inserts for attaching the tabletop to the rails. Edges may not have.

You will also need three pairs of parts 50ร—50 mm to install the clamps that hold the parts of the tabletop together, we will talk about them during the description of the assembly process.

The list of fittings is also quite modest:

  1. Confirmatum 45mm โ€“ 54 pcs;
  2. Plastic connecting corner with plug โ€“ 32 pcs;
  3. Full extension telescopic rails 40 cm โ€“ 4 pcs;
  4. Roller door clamps โ€“ 6 pcs;
  5. Wooden dowel โ€“ 6 pcs;
  6. Shelf holder pin โ€“ 6 pcs;
  7. Self-tapping screw 3ร—13 mm โ€“ 100 pcs.

Rallying sliding table top

Letโ€™s start assembling the table from the table top. Its edges should converge flush without the slightest hint of displacement. In order to exclude shifts, the positioning of the panels is carried out using the pins of the shelf supports. Select one of the wide (outer) halves of the tabletop and on its inner end, which has a paper edge, mark the center of the three holes with an awl and a caliper โ€“ 150 mm from each edge and exactly in the center, setting aside 8 mm from the corner edge.

Diy dining table: personal experience

Drill holes 0.5 mm smaller than the diameter of the pins.

Diy dining table: personal experience

Drive in the pins by fully sunk the center collar. To ensure that the pins do not fall out, coat each of them with rubber glue.

Diy dining table: personal experience

Now you need to mark and drill the counter holes. First, we pull together the wide parts of the tabletop. To do this, lay them on a flat surface and support them on the sides with two slats.

Diy dining table: personal experience

Pressing the side rails tightly, knock the two halves against each other with a small swing, while dents from the pins will remain on the counter end. Press them in the center with an awl and drill holes, the diameter of which is exactly equal to the thickness of the pins.

The center piece is adjusted in the same way. On one side, the marks from the pins are also transferred to it. On the other hand, the work becomes more complicated: you need to temporarily insert the pins into the holes of the second wide half, transfer the marks and drill a hole 0.5 mm less than the diameter of the pins, and then put them on glue.

To keep the countertops tightly together, the door holders must be installed. The difficulty here is that the latch with spring-loaded rollers is attached to the plane of one of the parts to be joined, while an additional element is needed for the tongue. Therefore, at the abutting edges of one half of the tabletop and the central insert, it is necessary to fasten on the dowels with a distance of 5 mm from the edge along a small block, at the end of which the tongue is screwed:

Diy dining table: personal experience

We install three tongues on each side.

Diy dining table: personal experience

Next, we join the outer halves of the tabletop as tightly as possible and fasten the latches. In this case, you need to slightly pull back the retainer body (by 1.5-2 mm) so that in the closed position the tabletop experiences a slight tension, after which the places for screwing the screws are marked with an awl.

Having installed the latches on two wide halves, we install the latches on the middle segment. The result is the following connection scheme:

Diy dining table: personal experience

Diy dining table: personal experience

Assembling the legs

It is very easy to assemble the table legs. The four planks are simply rolled into a square box. To facilitate the task, you can make the following device:

Diy dining table: personal experience

The essence here is extremely simple: a longitudinal stop is screwed to the end face of a chipboard sheet, a cross-stop bar is pressed down in the center. One of the planks is laid flat with the uncropped end towards itself, the other is placed on the edge with the uncropped end up.

With a caliper, mark 8 mm from the edge of the workpiece, 100 mm from the edges and exactly in the center of the vertically placed plank. After that, with a drill under the confirmation, we drill the resulting assembly in three places and tighten the plates with confirmation. It is important to ensure that each of the planks overlaps the uncropped end of the adjacent.

First, we recommend making eight L-shaped blanks, and then connecting them into four legs. Please note that when using chipboard of different colors, legs assembled according to the โ€œzebraโ€ pattern look very impressive.

Base frame

The visible part of the frame is very simple. We place the side plates on a flat plane and twist them with confirmations at a right angle.

Diy dining table: personal experience

As a result, he gets the following box:

Diy dining table: personal experience

Now you can install the frame on the tabletop and place the legs in the corners:

Diy dining table: personal experience

We install the long spacers of the box, pressing them tightly against the legs. In order not to spoil the outer side of the box, the fastening is carried out hidden on the plastic corners.

Diy dining table: personal experience

A minimum gap must be ensured between the spacer and the tabletop, for which 2-3 strips cut from a plastic bottle are placed under the rail.

Diy dining table: personal experience

We temporarily complete the assembly of the frame by installing both longitudinal struts:

Diy dining table: personal experience

Sliding mechanism device

The longitudinal beams of the box are designed for fixing the tabletop guides. We put one of them flat, set the other on top of the edge and fasten it with screws to the longitudinal bar from the inside. In this case, you need to stretch the guide completely and place it so that the outer edge does not reach a little to the corner that holds the box and the crossbar:

Diy dining table: personal experience

With this arrangement, the built-in rail stop will prevent the parts of the mechanism from hitting each other. When the lower guide is fixed, we take out the one that was placed under it and fasten it on top in the same way, but in the opposite direction of opening:

Diy dining table: personal experience

Now you need to fix the sliding rails to the table top. We will do this with 120ร—70 mm boards. We put them close to the extended guide bar and mark a horizontal line.

Diy dining table: personal experience

To screw the bar to the sliding part of the guide, the latter will have to be removed. The rail is first attached to the vertical adjustment holes and is set exactly according to the applied markings, then fastening is performed at all remaining points.

Diy dining table: personal experience

When the planks are screwed on, we return the guides to their place without confusing them with each other. The mechanism is attached to the tabletop with plastic corners, two for each plate.

Diy dining table: personal experience

Completion of assembly

We return the legs to their place and knock them tightly into the very corner of the box. We fasten the transverse struts with plastic corners, after which the table frame takes on a complete look:

Diy dining table: personal experience

One problem remains. The table top is very tightly cohesive and when you try to pull on one of its halves, the whole assembly will simply slide along the guides. To improve the mechanism of work, we need stops, we will make them all from the same plastic corners. But first you have to temporarily disassemble the frame: we unscrew the corners fixing the longitudinal struts to the box and easily lift it. Exactly in the center of the long sides, we fasten two corners inside:

Diy dining table: personal experience

After that, we return the box to its place and fasten it with the longitudinal strips. We attach two more to the corners in the center of the box on both sides and also attach them, but already to the tabletop itself:

Diy dining table: personal experience

Now you need to make sure that the tabletop does not move spontaneously in the unfolded position. To do this, we put the middle insert in place, then we fasten two corners to it, pressing them to the central corners of the stops fixed on the walls of the box. Note that the corners on the center segment are set on opposite sides:

Diy dining table: personal experience

Finishing little things remained. We generously shoe the legs with plastic heels:

Diy dining table: personal experience

Then we return them to their place and attach them to the frame. One corner is enough, because the legs are already tightly clamped in the square grooves between the frame struts.

Diy dining table: personal experience

To prevent the upper ends of the legs from rubbing against the tabletop, you need to provide a small gap. In this case, we used plugs from the corners:

Diy dining table: personal experience

Congratulations, the table is completely ready to use. For ease of transportation, the legs can be temporarily removed by unscrewing the screws from the corners. So that the insert of the table top is not lost when the table is folded, it can be put inside on the cross braces, it fits there in a wonderful way and easily gets out when the halves are stretched all the way.

Diy dining table: personal experience

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Comments: 2
  1. Luna Mitchell

    Can you share your personal experience with building a DIY dining table? What materials did you use and how long did it take you? Any challenges or tips you can provide? Iโ€™m considering tackling this project myself and would appreciate any insights you can offer. Thanks!

    Reply
    1. Brooklyn Griffin

      I recently built a DIY dining table using reclaimed wood and hairpin legs. It took me about a weekend to complete, but the most time-consuming part was sanding and staining the wood to achieve the desired finish. I faced challenges with making sure the table was level and sturdy, so I recommend using a level and extra support brackets to reinforce the legs. Additionally, measuring and cutting accurately is crucial to ensure everything fits together properly. My tip would be to take your time, plan out each step, and double-check your measurements. Overall, building my own dining table was a rewarding experience and I love the custom piece I created. Good luck with your project!

      Reply
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