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Dining Room table fastener question

2K views 8 replies 3 participants last post by  cabinetman 
#1 ·
Hello all,

I am building a dining room table and need some advice on how to best fasten to wood to the metal frame from below. The wood is old, dry redwood. Two big pieces to be joined together by a metal frame. (See pics)

One pic show a close up of the frame edge where the edge of the wood will sit. And where I will need to drill/weld/whatever the connectors to the underside of each edge. What I am looking for is the best connector to use.

Any help is appreciated.

Thank you. Sean.
 

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#3 ·
I thought about that. But, I want to be able to take the table apart at some point in order to move it. At 96" long it will be close to impossible to get through our narrow hallway and out the front door. So the center bar will be bolted to the end pieces. Which, in turn will be welded to the legs.
 
#4 ·
You will still be able to take the table apart, the weight of the wood slabs will hold themselves down, you only need one screw on either end to keep the wood aligned and in place. Take out the screws, remove the wood, unbolt the center piece and everything can be removed in pieces.

 
#5 ·
I guess that I am worried that given the dryness of the wood, reusing the same whole would be bad. Maybe I am just over thinking it.

Also, I'm not sure I understood what you meant when you said "Make an oversized groove to allow for wood movement in the frame edge where the wood will sit."?
 
#6 ·
In the attached picture, the metal flange has a rectangular hole cut into it. When you place your wood over this flange, you can use a wood screw from underneath to hold the wood tight to the flange, but still allow for expansion across the width of the wood. The horizontal slot allows for horizontal expansion across the grain. Expansion along the grain (lenght) is negligible enough to ignore. If you are concerned with the wood screw, you can always use a t-nut with a machine screw. HTH
 
#9 ·
For what was presented as a frame for the table, I agree with chopnhack's assessment as to fitting wood for the top.

But, the design of the frame looks to me like it lacks structural integrity to prevent racking along it's length. When all is installed, you could get on one end and push towards the other end, and IMO, the movement would be surmountable.

I like the look that the table provides, but, I would come up with a better frame design.






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