# 5X10 Somewhat Portable Table



## ohno50 (Dec 30, 2008)

I am building a 5' X 10' table that can be disassembled and moved fairly easily. I have completed the table platform and the base. I can provide the details if any one is interested.

The platform is light and rigid enough that my wife and I can move it around. The base disassembles and can be stored.


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## mdeland (Apr 22, 2008)

Please post information, I want to build a table of similar size myself.


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## ohno50 (Dec 30, 2008)

*Concept and Design*

The primary focus when designing the table was to build a light top that could be moved to and from my garage if my wife got tired of looking at it or if it wasn't being used very often by the grand kids. I also wanted something I could transport fairly easily.

The top platform has a foam core just like most interior doors. Foam core construction is also being used for structural walls in new homes and is also used to make surfboards. The top platform uses a frame made from 1 X 2 poplar. The top and bottom of the top platform is made from 5' X 5' X .25" thick sheets of Russian Birch. This was the only 5' wide material I could find locally. I had Expanded Polystyrene blocks cut roughly 1.5" thick. 2 pieces were cut 48" wide by roughly 58.5" long and 1 piece was cut 22.5" wide by 58.5" long.

Here is a picture of the base and tp top platform.

I'll provide more details in the near future.

http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv247/ohno50/TopandBase.jpg


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## ohno50 (Dec 30, 2008)

*Pre-Assembly*

The first step was to get the foam cut. The foam comes in 4' X 4' X 8' blocks. A friend has a shop with a piece of equipment that cuts these blocks into various shapes for packaging which uses a hot wire. The wire doesn't actually cut the foam but melts the foam before the wire touches it. You should be able to find someone locally to cut whatever shape and size is needed. The machine can repeat the thickness but can't cut to a very tight dimension. This is the reason I cut the foam first. I could control the dimension of the poplar stock easier by ripping it than I could get an exact thickness dimension for the foam.

They cut three 4' X 8' sheets and the thickness was just a little under 1.5". Once I was able to determine the thickness then I ripped the poplar stock to within +.010-.015 of the foam. I also wanted to mention that poplar is considered a 'hard wood' but is one of the least dense. This was a compromise between weight and using a little better material than pine.

The 4 pieces of 5' X 5' plywood I bought were already square so I didn't have to trim anything. I ripped one of the sheets in half so I could stagger the seams when the components were put together. I have a 10' workbench so I was able to stand the sheets of plywood on edge and clamp the sheet to the workbench. You could also do this on the floor with the poplar stock and plywood spaced off the floor and the plywood laid on top. It is a lot more comfortable for me to stand rather than crawl on the floor. The most important part is to keep the corners of the poplar and the plywood square. I started with the 2.5' X 5' pieces I had ripped just because I thought it would be easier to work with. I cut one of the pieces of the ripped 1 X 2 poplar stock in half. They were just long enough to get 2 pieces that matched the width of the plywood. I clamped the poplar to the edge of the plywood then pre-drilled and countersunk the plywood and the poplar together for #8 x .75" wood screws. The screws attach roughly .5"-.75" from the corners on each piece of plywood and about every 6-7 inches. I worked on the corners first and installed screws. I also installed 2-3 screws in the other holes I drilled to keep some rigidity and stability. Since this was an experiment I had planned to assemble the pieces at my friends shop and was going to transport separate components in my truck. If I were going to build and assemble everything in one location I would still install some of the fasteners until all of the panels were lined up and I was satisfied with the fit. Here is a drawing.

http://s688.photobucket.com/albums/vv247/ohno50/?action=view&current=platform1.jpg

Once both of the 2.5' X 5' sections were completed I set them at either end of the workbench with enough space for one of the 5' X 5' plywood sheets to go between them. It helps to have an assistant at this point. I clamped the edges together and made every effort to make the seam as tight as possible. I measured the length along all three pieces of plywood and subtracted the width of the poplar stock on the ends of the 2.5' X 5' sections and cut another piece of the poplar stock to this length. I then lined up the edge of the poplar stock with the 3 sections of plywood. It is very important to get the edges of the plywood sections tight against one another.* I had to remove the poplar stock a couple of times to trim it before I got the fit I wanted. Once I was satisfied with the fit I checked to make sure I had everything clamped tight and began to drill and countersink the holes just like I did for the ends of the 2.5' X 5' sections. I drilled the corners of each section first, secured them with screws and then drilled the remaining holes 6-7 inches apart. I also screwed the section together in several places in addition to the corners just like the end pieces. Here is a drawing.

http://s688.photobucket.com/albums/vv247/ohno50/th_platform2.jpg

Don't try and move these sections by yourself! I got my wife-helper to help me turn the parts over so I could work on the other side of the plywood sections. I kept all of the edges as tight as possible. I cut the last piece of poplar stock to the length I needed and secured the plywood sections to the poplar as I did with the other poplar stock. Here is a drawing.

http://s688.photobucket.com/albums/vv247/ohno50/th_platform3.jpg

I got my trusty helper back out to the shop and she helped me once again to turn the sections so I could pre-drill and pre-assemble the remaining pieces of plywood. Since I had ripped one of the pieces of plywood I new I was going to have a blade width of overhang between the two remaining pieces on one or both ends. I just split the difference. I pre-drilled and countersunk the corners just like the other sections and screwed the plywood in place. I worked half way down each side. Yes, my trusty helper came through again to help turn the platform so I don't have to work down on the floor. I used the same procedures for attaching the remaining sheet.

Once all of the plywood was adequately attached I did a thorough inspection to make sure the seams were tight and everything fit together like I wanted it too. It was now time to disassemble all of the components. I made sure that I took care to avoid damaging the plywood when removing the screws. Working too fast or carelessly can de-laminate the edges of the plywood and potentially causing the attachment point to be worthless. The next step was to load the components into the truck and visit the foam shop where the final assembly of the platform would take place.

Next up is final assembly for the platform.


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## roadrner (Jul 21, 1999)

Thanks for the pix and sharing! :thumbsup::thumbsup: rr


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## ohno50 (Dec 30, 2008)

*Platform Final Assembly*

As I mentioned I was going to transport the components to another facility to do the final assembly. The most important item on my agenda was to triple check the materials and tools that I would need. I also dropped off the materials a day ahead. Good thing, because I forgot one of the components. It is imperative that everything is ready and available for the project to be successful. This not a project that you can run to the store to buy something you forgot. There is a good possibility that the project will fail if you do.

Materials and Tool List

4 cut and pre-drilled pieces of 1 X 2 poplar that form frame
3 pieces of 5' X 5' plywood pre-drilled and countersunk
2 pieces of 2.5' X 5' plywood pre-drilled and countersunk
3 pieces of 4' X 8' X 1.5" Expanded Polystyrene Foam cut 
200 #8 3/4" wood screws. (You don't need this many but they come 100 to
a package)
1 fully charged screw gun or battery powered drill
1 gallon wood glue (Be sure you have a backup in the event you spill
some or use too much on one side)
1 sheet of plastic (Drop cloth)
1 large spreader (I used a 24" masking devise for trim with a metal
blade)
1 small spreader (I used a 4" plastic sqeegee for applying plastic
lettering)
1 level (The bigger the better)
Some wood putty (In case of an problem)
2 rolls of paper towels (Also in case there is a problem)
Lots of weight

It is best if you can find a level area to work with. We didn't find one. We used the most level area of the shop we could find. You don't want it off level by very much because the glue will flow downhill. You can't use shims because you need the plywood to sit flat on the surface you are working on. I laid the plastic sheet on the work area. If any glue leaked out I didn't want the wood to stick to the concrete not did I want to have to clean glue from the floor. I attached the 1 x 2 pieces of poplar to the (2) 2.5' pieces and the 5' piece of plywood first. I applied a small amount of glue on the surface of the poplar that I was attaching to the plywood and screwed the pieces together. I now had a pan. There is a picture in the previous post. After taking a measurement on the inside width of the poplar frame we carefully cut all three pieces of the 4' X 8' foam blocks to this dimension. It is better to cut the foam slightly larger than smaller. Our fit was just snug. The two pieces that were roughly 4' X 5' were laid in the frame in the ends of the frame. We then took another dimension between them to get the size of the final piece which set in the middle of the frame and cut the remaining section to go into the frame. This piece was also laid into the frame for fit. Now that the three pieces had a nice snug fit we removed the foam. Notice that we made sure that we cut all of the various components of foam and plywood so that all of the seams overlap on each layer.

Is is very important to have everything ready to begin the next step. Make sure you have all of the glue, screws, spreaders, paper towels, and remaining pieces of plywood ready. I also checked the fit and alignment of the frame as well as making sure I wasn't missing screws. I noticed that when I assembled the panels the second time that two pieces of the plywood needed to be assisted into position after they were screwed together. All of the plywood panels should rest flat on the floor. Having done a similar project we knew that it could get messy so we ripped several wads of the paper towels from the roll. I began pouring the glue inside the frame as evenly as possible. I poured just less than half of the glue onto the plywood. I spread the glue so there was a fairly thick film of glue on all of the plywood and poplar surfaces. I had the benefit of an assistant and we worked as fast as we could. We had to add a little more glue in the areas that were light. As soon as we felt we had the glue well spread we laid the foam into the frame. We poured most of the remaining glue and spread it evenly over the foam trying for the same film thickness as we achieved on the plywood. We poured the remaining glue in the areas that were light also making sure we smeared some on the top surface of the poplar frame. Once we were satisfied with the thickness of the glue we assembled the remaining (2) 5' X 5' sheets of plywood making sure we had tight seams and good alignment. Once we made sure we had everything good and tight it was time to make our 'bubba' press.

We were looking to be able to get 20 lbs/sf of weight onto the platform. We weren't really looking to press the pieces together but we wanted to put enough weight on the platform to take any bow out of the plywood and fill any voids, as well as crush the foam enough to achieve the greatest surface contact between the components that we could. Various things could have been used. Bricks, gallon jugs of water, granite tile or slabs, and sacks of concrete are things we considered. Which brings me to the reason I transported everything to his shop. Lots of choices and I could move all this stuff with a forklift! We settled on 55 lbs bags of garnet powder that my friend used for his water jet cutting machine. 36 bags of this material were used to cover the platform evenly and gave us just under 2000 lbs of weight which was just under 20lbs./sf.

A week later I removed the garnet and was very pleased with the results. The platform came out very rigid, was reasonably light at only 96 lbs. This was within a pound of my calculations: 79 lbs-plywood; 1.5 lbs-screws; 8lbs-foam; 1.5 lbs-glue; 7 lbs-poplar. To get the same rigidity I calculated the weight for 3/4" plywood at 119 lbs and a 2" X 3" frame at 30 lbs. This adds up to a significant savings in weight.

Next up will be the frame components.


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## munsonator008 (Jan 12, 2005)

nice, is that a camaro i see in the background


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## ohno50 (Dec 30, 2008)

munsonator008 said:


> nice, is that a camaro i see in the background


That is a project that has been put on hold for a few months. That is a stripped tub Miata for endurance racing. A friend of mine and I are putting together a 3 car team to rent out seats for long distance endurance races.


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## munsonator008 (Jan 12, 2005)

sweet


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## ohno50 (Dec 30, 2008)

*Leg Assembly*

I wanted to be able to bolt the frame together so it would take up a minimal amount of room when stored and to be able to transport it fairly easily. I ended up with a base that was both easy to move, fairly light weight and very rigid. It is made from 1 X 4 Pine for the trestles and 2 X 4 Pine for the stringers. I wish I hadn't been so cheap when selecting the materials. I would have been happier had I selected the best grade of material that was available. I didn't think at the time that I wanted it to look as good as it was functional. I spent far too many hours sanding and filling to improve the look of assembled components.

When building the trestles keep in mind that the platform is roughly 2" tall. There is also a board that mounts to the top of the trestle that is .75" thick. I kept the table height lower than most of the tables others have built because the track will be used primarily by small children, so I tried to accommodate their stature. If in the future the table needs to be raised then I will build feet for the trestles. Their construction is fairly simple. The four outside legs are the same so I built them first. However, all of the legs are the same height and the same material but a different configuration, so all twelve pieces for the legs were cut at the same time. I purposely cut all the legs .25" longer than I needed. I laid the pieces on the workbench and clamped them in place. I was more concerned about making a square joint that I was getting the pieces lined up in height. It is easier to align the pieces if you are only concerned about aligning them in 1 plane (perpendicular). They should be 'eyeball' close. I then pre-drilled, and countersunk 5 holes for 1-1/4" deck screws and installed the screws. The legs for the center trestles were constructed in the same way but in a different configuration ('T' vs. 'L'). Here is a picture showing an exaggerated example of the misalignment.

http://s688.photobucket.com/albums/vv247/ohno50/?action=view&current=trestle_leg.jpg

http://s688.photobucket.com/albums/vv247/ohno50/?action=view&current=trestle_leg_t.jpg

Now that the leg was assembled I needed to address the issue of assembling and disassembling the table without damaging the wood. To accommodate this I made bushings and inserted them in the legs of the trestles and the stringers. There are 2 ways of dealing with the bushings. I found fabricated .500" OD X .375" ID bushings but the cost didn't agree with me. The store didn’t have the quantities of the sizes I needed either and I didn’t want to have to make a trip to another big box. I found .500" X .06" wall tubing and since I had the tools I decided to make my own bushings. I used (2) 3' sticks of the .500" tubing to make all of the bushings. I cut the tubing .125" short of the thickness of the wood. There are two sizes, .625" for the legs and 1.375" for the stringers. I ground and chamfered the ends with a 1" belt sander. The tubing material from the big box was very soft. It could have been cut with a hacksaw fairly easily. The grinding and chamfering could also be done with a dremel tool. It took about 3 minutes to make each bushing.

http://s688.photobucket.com/albums/vv247/ohno50/?action=view&current=625bushing.jpg

There are two ways of making the holes for the bushings. I chose what I thought was the easier way but as it turned out I should have done it the right way, which I will now explain. Access to a drill press is mandatory for this operation. Set up a fixture on the drill plate of the drill press so you can repeat the drilling operation on each of the legs. Any kind of wood or metal block will work. I have included a quicky example of what I am talking about. The setup changes for the different hole locations. There are two holes drilled at both the top and bottom of the leg. The location of the holes for the top and bottom can be the same. The centerline for the holes closest to the edge of the top and bottom need to be 2.5-3.0" from the edge. The dimension from the side of the legs on the four outside legs were drilled in the center of the boards that makes up the longest side which is 1.75”, and the two middle legs were drilled .75” from the edge. The holes are 2" apart center to center. The legs for the center trestle get eight bushings installed in each leg, four top and bottom. If the alignment of the assembled legs is off significantly as in the picture shown in the paragraph discussing the leg assembly they should be trimmed before the holes are drilled. If you need to trim the legs make sure than you trim all of the legs to the same length. This will also significantly affect the table height.

http://s688.photobucket.com/albums/vv247/ohno50/?action=view&current=Fixture.jpg

http://s688.photobucket.com/albums/vv247/ohno50/?action=view&current=HoleCL.jpg

Once all of the holes are drilled in the legs the next step is to install the bushings. I applied a small amount of wood glue around the perimeter of the bushing. I laid the leg on my workbench and pressed the end of the bushing into the hole. The chamfered end will allow the bushing to get started into the wood. I then put a .375” bolt into the bushing and tapped the bushing through the hole. I had to shorten the length of the bolt so it wouldn't bottom out on the workbench before the bushing was installed. I then used a punch to push the bushing a little further into the hole and to center it in the hole.

With the legs assembled and the bushings installed I checked the locations of the bushings in all of the legs. I then trimmed the bottom and tops of the legs to achieve two things. I was able to make sure all of the bushings were at the same dimension in relation to the edge and the bottoms and the tops of the legs were flat and would rest square to the floor depending on the orientation when the remaining components were assembled to complete the trestle.

The other way of way of installing the bushings is to drill and install one bushing at the top and bottom and match drill for the other corresponding bushing. The reason I did it this way was to try and eliminate a setup for the other holes. The biggest problem that I ran into was with using a cordless drill. I had installed both bushing in the stringers. Once I had the trestles completely assembled I attached the trestles and stringers using one bolt. The base is remarkably stable with just one bolt through the leg and the stringer. Although I would recommend two because the joints will become loose over time. I tried to use the bushings I installed in the stringers as a guide bushing to drill the holes in the legs. The hole was a little bigger that the result I got with the drill press and wasn’t as clean of a hole. Trying to keep the hole perpendicular was practically impossible. It also was a little harder to get the bushing installed perpendicular to the leg. It works but the result isn’t as satisfactory as drilling all of the holes using a drill press. Avoid this method.


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## tomhocars (Oct 19, 2005)

Great engineering on the table.Tom Stumpf


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## ohno50 (Dec 30, 2008)

*Trestles*

The next step is to assemble all of the components to make the trestles. When I was cutting the materials and assembling the components I tried to arrange them to hide the imperfections in the wood. There were some imperfections that were just too much trouble to sand and fill. The four outside legs should be identical. The dimension from the edge of either the top or the bottom to the center line of the bushing should be the same on all six legs.

The width of the trestle is going to be dictated by the depth of the platform. My trestles are .25” shorter than the depth of the platform. Other considerations are how the wiring will be run and the locations of the power supply. Everything on my table will be removable except for the wiring and the track. There will be a master plug for the track wiring to plug into the power supply. The tolerance is tight between the table and the trestles because they won’t be attached to one another and I didn’t want a lot of movement when the kids are playing with it.

I used a spare table to assemble the trestles. I loosely clamped both ends of two of the legs for the outside trestles to the table with the inside of the legs facing up, the holes with bushings facing out, and separated them at the approximate dimension I wanted for the width of the trestle. I worked on the lower brace first. The length of the brace is dictated by the overall width of the trestle and the thickness of the material for the legs. In this case the total thickness for the leg material was 1.5”. I checked my dimensions twice and cut all three of the lower braces at the same time since all three of the braces would be identical. I knew I needed to make sure that I wouldn’t have any interference between the stringers and the lower brace so I located the position of the stringer based on the center lines of the bushings and marked the leg for the location of the stringer. I squared the brace into position with the inside of the leg, clamped the brace to the leg and tightened the clamp attaching the leg to the table. The setup for the other leg and the brace was identical. Once everything was clamped firmly in place I verified all the joints were square, drilled and countersunk for (3) 1-1/14” deck screws at each joint, and installed the screws. The assembly of the other outside trestle was exactly the same. The only difference between the center trestle and the outside trestles is choosing the side to attach the brace. It doesn’t matter.

http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv247/ohno50/trestle1.jpg?t=1235703565

http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv247/ohno50/trestle_t1.jpg?t=1235703622

The next brace I added was the top brace which attaches the top of the legs. I created a fixture using 2 X 4 boards outside of the legs so I could hold the assembled components square and clamped it to the table. I clamped the trestle to the table at the four corners and left enough room on the edge of the table for the top brace and clamped it to the table. I wish I had clamps long enough to be able to clamp the top brace to the trestle, which would have made drilling a much easier job. I had to be careful drilling the holes because there was nothing holding the two surfaces together. I checked the location of the hole twice as there isn’t much room for error with only .75” of material at the edge of the leg. Once I was satisfied that everything was located correctly, I drilled and countersunk one hole and installed a 1-1/4” deck screw. I went to the other end of the top brace checked the location of the components, and drilled, countersunk and installed one screw to hold those components together. I then checked to make sure that all the pieces were still square to one another and installed 2 additional screws at each end. Adding the top brace for the other two trestle assemblies was the same. I also paid close attention to make sure that I drilled all the holes perpendicular to the top brace.

http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv247/ohno50/trestle2.jpg?t=1235703663

http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv247/ohno50/trestle_t2.jpg?t=1235703709

The location, angle and length of the support braces were based on the materials I had left over. I simply wanted to tie the top brace to the lower brace. After determining what was left over I chose the angle and the length. I positioned the support braces where I thought they would provide the most support. I probably could have added a single brace in the center. However, using two braces didn’t add much weight and the rigidity is a little better. I then cut the supports to the dimension I wanted. The angle for the top brace to vertical is 60 degrees. I located the leading edge of the support brace 24” from the edge of the top brace. I also cut a spacer board and tapped it into place in the middle of the braces to keep the top brace from sagging when I installed the screws. I soon realized that I was going to have to put blocks between the table and the trestle to clear the clamps I was going to use. I made blocks to locate the support brace on either side of the top brace and clamped them into position to the top brace and the support brace. Now that all of the components were in position I clamped the bottom of the support brace to the lower brace and drilled, countersunk and installed (3) 1-1/4 deck screws. I moved the trestle to the floor to make it easier to install the screws through the top brace into the support brace. I still had the blocks, support brace and top brace clamped together. I referenced the location of the support brace to the upper side of the top brace. I also made sure that I didn’t start the screws too close to the edge of the support so I wouldn’t penetrate through the support brace with any exposed threads. I drilled, countersunk and installed (3) 1-1/4” deck screws. The procedure was the same for the other three supports on the outer trestles. The only difference between the center trestle and the outer trestles is the supports are mounted on the same surface of the lower brace that attaches to the legs. This places the support braces in the center of the top brace.

http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv247/ohno50/trestle3.jpg?t=1235703774

http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv247/ohno50/trestle_t3.jpg?t=1235703819


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## Goggles_Paisano (Jun 7, 2013)

*Photos gone!*

This is a great post! I know it was posted all the way back in 2008, but if the OP still have the original photos, or can take new ones, I would love to see them. I am positive that there are lots of others who would find this information useful, as well.

This build uses a very different method of construction than I have seen described anywhere else. 

I also really like the extremely thorough, easy-to-read-and-understand, instructions, something that can be real scarce (given that so many good ideas have instructions in Italian or German!).

Almost forgot: My name iss Steve, and I'm a slot car-aholic. This is my first post.

I'm Italian, so my buddies call me Goggles Paisano (as in Fred Flintstone), occasionally.


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## slotcarman12078 (Oct 3, 2008)

It doesn't look very promising there Goggles.. The original poster hasn't been on HT since 2/11. He also doesn't have the "send this member an email" option. If one of you Tx folk know him off HT, can you get a hold of him??


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## Goggles_Paisano (Jun 7, 2013)

slotcarman12078 said:


> It doesn't look very promising there Goggles.. The original poster hasn't been on HT since 2/11. He also doesn't have the "send this member an email" option. If one of you Tx folk know him off HT, can you get a hold of him??



Yeah....I guess I could have checked out his last post date, huh...

Oh, well...it's still got some great information...


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## ohno50 (Dec 30, 2008)

*Response*

Sorry for the late response but I have been very busy lately.

If you have questions I will do my best to answer them.


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## wheelszk (Jul 8, 2006)

Can you repost pics of your build?


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## ohno50 (Dec 30, 2008)

*Link to pictures*

http://s688.photobucket.com/user/ohno50/library/Track?sort=3&page=1

http://s688.photobucket.com/user/ohno50/library/Track_04-23-2009?sort=3&page=1

If there is something else you need let me know.

Kevin


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