peterd51
happy to be here!
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Hi,
the grandkids needed a computer desk and it needed to be a specific size to fit into a gap, so I decided on a drop-leaf type. Rather than the standard 'swing-out leg' I thought I'd try a neater arrangement where the top front rail would have a pin and a 1" box would pivot outwards on it. The idea is that the back-end of the rail goes under the fixed part of the table and levers against it to provide support for the main table.
The first photo is the top front rail.
Then I added the front legs and the lower rail. The pin goes up into the wood of the fixed table top.
The rear legs were going to be 3" higher to have a shelf for the monitor and speakers, and to provide somewhere underneath to put the keyboard and mouse when the main table was lowered. Originally I used 1" box supports welded onto the front of the rear legs with a triangle support under. Then I found an extra bit of 20mm box and added that under where the shelf would go 'just to be sure'. (the rails aren't bent, it's the camera angle!)
but I then realised that there wouldn't be much room underneath the shelf once the wood was on, so I went back to the original plan to not have a cross piece. While I was getting ready to cut it out I remembered that I'd planned to use 20mm box for the horizontal supports so they're not so obtrusive so I cut the old 1" box supports off. I cut four pieces of 20mm box and welded them together as two right angles, then one piece of each went down inside the rear legs to make sure they was strong enough.
the cross pieces to tie the front and back together are 6" long, three at the top and one in the middle of the bottom rails.
The wood is all 20mm thick, ex-kitchen cabinet doors. A bit of cutting and shaping got them sorted. I bought a router some time back and not really had chance to use it, so I thought I'd have a go at rounding the tops off. The shelf and the main table have rounded fronts top and bottom. Then it was all stained with a bit of teak that I had in. The metal was painted with some gold Hammerite that I bought for painting the balls on some railings I made last year. Everything was second-hand or using left-overs...the only cost was £1.40 for two hinges!
All of the open ends have platic plugs hammered in to keep them neat. The legs already had bottom caps as they originally came off an old office table that I'd bought years ago at an auction for £1.
Looking at the finished desk after I'd got it in place, I realised I could have just whacked the hinges on undeneath without cutting them in and it would probably have looked neater, but then I'm not a wood-worker!
Regards
Peter
the grandkids needed a computer desk and it needed to be a specific size to fit into a gap, so I decided on a drop-leaf type. Rather than the standard 'swing-out leg' I thought I'd try a neater arrangement where the top front rail would have a pin and a 1" box would pivot outwards on it. The idea is that the back-end of the rail goes under the fixed part of the table and levers against it to provide support for the main table.
The first photo is the top front rail.
Then I added the front legs and the lower rail. The pin goes up into the wood of the fixed table top.
The rear legs were going to be 3" higher to have a shelf for the monitor and speakers, and to provide somewhere underneath to put the keyboard and mouse when the main table was lowered. Originally I used 1" box supports welded onto the front of the rear legs with a triangle support under. Then I found an extra bit of 20mm box and added that under where the shelf would go 'just to be sure'. (the rails aren't bent, it's the camera angle!)
but I then realised that there wouldn't be much room underneath the shelf once the wood was on, so I went back to the original plan to not have a cross piece. While I was getting ready to cut it out I remembered that I'd planned to use 20mm box for the horizontal supports so they're not so obtrusive so I cut the old 1" box supports off. I cut four pieces of 20mm box and welded them together as two right angles, then one piece of each went down inside the rear legs to make sure they was strong enough.
the cross pieces to tie the front and back together are 6" long, three at the top and one in the middle of the bottom rails.
The wood is all 20mm thick, ex-kitchen cabinet doors. A bit of cutting and shaping got them sorted. I bought a router some time back and not really had chance to use it, so I thought I'd have a go at rounding the tops off. The shelf and the main table have rounded fronts top and bottom. Then it was all stained with a bit of teak that I had in. The metal was painted with some gold Hammerite that I bought for painting the balls on some railings I made last year. Everything was second-hand or using left-overs...the only cost was £1.40 for two hinges!
All of the open ends have platic plugs hammered in to keep them neat. The legs already had bottom caps as they originally came off an old office table that I'd bought years ago at an auction for £1.
Looking at the finished desk after I'd got it in place, I realised I could have just whacked the hinges on undeneath without cutting them in and it would probably have looked neater, but then I'm not a wood-worker!
Regards
Peter