I’ve really enjoyed reading all the other project pages people have posted & wanted to add this pine coffee table/removable control panel unit I’ve just finished.
Requirements:
1. Child-safe coffee table for living room (%98 of the time will be used as table)
2. Underside must be empty space to allow sitting with legs underneath, Japanese style
3. Controls not visible when not in use
(not sure how the photo linking procedure works...)
I really liked the idea of a coffee table arcade unit which can spend most of its time pretending to be furniture in the living room. The 2 sites below have some fabulous work which inspired me to build ‘something’ myself.
http://ian-projects.blogspot.com.au/http://www.surface-tension.net/All the mechanisms for hiding the control panel, that I could think of, or had the skill to implement, either had exposed hardware or took up too much room underneath the frame. So I went with a removable panel which is kept in a wardrobe when not in use. I’m interested in making some other versions of the panel in the future, but the current layout covers most of my favourites.
I used 3DS to create a basic model (it’s 8 pieces of timber, the definition of basic probably). Also an internal view of one of the 4 top joints, trying to see how large the dowels could practically be made inside the 9cm cube of each corner.
The first of many trips to the hardware store. I used these 90x90mm solid pine posts as the frame for the table. The store cut it to 8 lengths which formed the frame. They used some kind of ridiculous saw which ascends brutally to section the wood.
I already had the corded drill and tenon saw, but needed to buy a few clamps and other woody tools.
I wanted the screen to fill the internal top of the frame so chose a 32” TV & built the frame around its dimensions. I went for a TV over a monitor because it has built in speakers & remote control for power and volume.
The primary joints are glued in 25mm diameter merbau open/through-dowels. Merbau is an oily, dark hardwood which would be good to contrast against the pine. Boring the holes through 9+3cm using an auger bit really tested the fortitude of my $49 corded drill. There are some more reasonably sized oak dowels to secure down through the top into the legs, which aren’t shown here.
I fastened everything with PVA glue before the dowels went in and was surprised how strongly the glue held with a cross grain joint. I guess the surface area is pretty large.
Next was the table top. I ordered a rectangle of 12mm toughened glass, which has a real monolithic heft, & placed it on top then glued 12x20mm oak beading to keep it in place. The glass weighs approx 15kg, same as the base. Once the TV is in place, it’s difficult to remove the glass, so there’s a hole drilled through one of the wooden crosspieces, though which a long dowel can poke upwards to lift one side of the pane.
I toyed with the idea of a tint on the glass, but as the screen going underneath is basically a black rectangle anyways, didn’t bother. I might try some film on it down the track if I get bored.
The glass didn’t sit quite right, so I hacked at the wood mercilessly with a chisel until it seated correctly. When sanding, I didn’t brush off the sawdust completely between fittings & some stray grit scratched the glass in one corner.
My work area is an apartment balcony so I had to work around the rain and avoid annoying the neighbours.
Next was fitting the screen into the base. By this time we were using the coffee table during the day & I’ve stuck foam on the corners and edges to make them more child-friendly.
Some scrap wood holds up the screen. I originally had the screen horizontal but the viewing angle, even with an IPS panel has some limitations so altered that to produce some decline toward the viewer.
There’s aluminium flyscreen pinned to the frame underneath the screen, to prevent small fingers from interfering with anything breakable or electrical. It also allows heat to dissipate, but that’s not really a factor as the panasonic screen and PC attached to the back of it are both pretty cool customers.
The PC is a dual core celeron Intel NUC micro form factor unit. It’s low noise & power and attaches to the back of most monitors/TVs using a VESA mount included. Though I used Velcro.
I saved some $$ by installing the OS from an old Win7 disc which wasn’t being used. Transferring Win7 to a USB the installing on the NUC was a bit of a hassle and required reading the freaking instructions on the Intel site regarding particular BIOS settings required.
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Topic: Pine coffee table with removable control panel (Read 3543 times)
