Recommendation points
- Let’s make legs
- Prepare jumpers and crossbars
- We cut out the tabletop
- “Bail”, or we make grooves
- Cooking corner mounts
- We fix the tabletop
This folding table, in the spirit of minimalism, is simple in appearance. Its functionality and mobility speaks in its favor: it is both a picnic table and a work surface. And if you suddenly need to save space, then disassembling it will be easier than ever.
We offer you step-by-step instructions for making a folding table. The dimensions of the product can be calculated in advance so that when folded it can be easily removed, for example, under a bed.
Table dimensions in our case: width 60 cm, length 90 cm, height 82 cm.
We need:
- MDF plate 60×90 cm, 19 mm thick.
- Wooden beam 50×100 mm, 4.5 m long – 2 pcs.
- Self-tapping screws for wood 3.5×45 mm.
- Wood glue, e.g. PVA.
- Wood for crossbars under the countertop 25×100 mm.
Let’s make legs
Each of the legs consists of two pieces of timber glued together and connected with self-tapping screws.
Accordingly, we need to cut off 8 segments of the timber 80 cm each.
The rest of the timber will be used for jumpers between the table legs and for corner structures.
Prepare jumpers and crossbars
For the jumpers between the table legs, cut off 2 pieces 60 cm long and 1 piece 90 cm long.
For worktop crossbars, cut the board according to the size of the worktop. Cut the ends of the board at an angle of 45 degrees.
Let’s try the crossbars with clamps.
If everything coincides, glue and fix it with self-tapping screws, let it dry.
We cut out the tabletop
We cut out a tabletop of a given size from an MDF board with an electric jigsaw or a circular saw.
“Bail”, or we make grooves
On the finished leg from the bottom edge we measure 20 cm, make a mark, put a jumper with the wide side to the mark, make a second mark.
Cut a groove between the 4 cm deep marks using a circular saw.
You can also use a hand saw and a chisel for this. In the same way, we make grooves on each of the legs..
Let’s make grooves on the jumpers. To do this, measure 2.5 cm from the edge on the wide side of one of the short jumpers. We attach a leg and make another mark.
Using the same tools, cut a 1 cm deep groove at each end of both bars.
On the narrow side of the long lintel, mark 2.5 cm from each edge. To this mark we put a short jumper with the narrow side and make another mark.
Cut out the marked grooves 3 cm deep.
Then find the center on the short bridges and cut out the grooves 3 cm deep.Their location should match the grooves on the long bar..
For flush docking, we recommend making grooves on the lintels 5 cm deep.
Cooking corner mounts
We place the fasteners into which the legs will be inserted in the corners of the tabletop crossbars. It must be taken into account that the legs must be tightly held in the mountings, but at the same time they must be removed without undue effort.
To create a corner attachment, we use the remains of a bar. To do this, mark the width of the leg on a piece and cut out 2 such parts, with ends at 45 degrees.
Make sure that the leg is held tight in the resulting construction. We glue the ends and connect with self-tapping screws. Then we fix the structure with clamps until it dries completely.
We repeat the procedure for the remaining 3 corners..
We fix the tabletop
Let’s make a “fitting” of the countertop to the finished subframe.
If there are protruding parts of the tabletop, cut them flush with the crossbars. After that, we attach the tabletop to the crossbars using self-tapping screws..
It is not necessary to glue the countertop, as it can be easily replaced during use.
That’s all, the table is ready! And if you suddenly want to make it stationary, just additionally fix the legs in the corners with several self-tapping screws.
