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When is a table top too heavy for just four legs?

3K views 13 replies 9 participants last post by  MNclone 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I'm making a coffee table out of an old bowling alley lane and it's 4'x18". I wish I knew exactly what it weighed but it is heavy. It's too heavy for me to move without dragging it - although I'm not very strong. My partner can move it down the stairs with a lot of effort.

So my question is that I wanted to use tube legs http://www.hairpinlegs.com/collections/table-legs/products/tube-leg-no-one or hairpin legs but it would leave the entire centre of the table open - and it is heavy. Should I have additional legs in the middle? Or should I trust the wood?

I do of course have horizontal bars to keep the wood from sagging towards the middle horizontally (?) but I'm worried it will sag towards the middle length-wise.
 
#3 ·
How thick is the table top? My guess would be that it's at least 3" thick. If that's the case, I don't think sag is likely to be an issue. A bigger issue, I would think, is insuring that the legs (and their mounting) are strong enough to endure the side loads while the table is being dragged.

-Paul
 
#5 ·
So I'm not doing an apron because that seems way too complicated for me! Unless it isn't and I'm just worried about nothing?

The "horizontal" bars I mean are the ones going across the bottom of the table like this which are exclusive to bowling alley lanes since the pieces aren't stuck together.


But thank you for the advice on the legs! That's reassuring to hear.
 
#6 ·
And yes the top is about 2.5" thick so that seems good. That's a really good point about the legs being strong enough when being dragged. I hadn't thought of that. So far I plan to put some soft pads under the legs so there isn't too much friction when it drags (mostly for my floor's sake). And a woodworking hobbyist-friend said to put an extra piece of wood between the table and the leg so that I can use really long nails. Would that help with that issue?
 
#10 ·
With what you have proposed, you can likely land an aircraft on it. 1×2 tube even thin gauge which your photo does not look like can support thousands of pounds, they will slip out and pull out any connectors before they fail. It is good that the top plate has holes staggered on either side. I would also suggest lags, but be sure to follow appropriate hole sizes for lags, most people do not know that they have very specific requirements for hole sizes.

Likewise, the 2 1/2" top can be danced on.

Good Luck
 
#11 ·
You're all so great and helpful! I don't know what I would do without this forum… I did mean screws and not nails but hadn't heard of lag bolts or structural screws. Based on that link, I'll go with structural screws since they seem easier to use. Thank you!
 
#12 ·
Also I realize that photo makes it look like that's a photo of MY table top which it isn't. That's a photo of someone who knew how to use a router. Mine is not like that and my horizontal bars are flat (not square) but to compensate for the fact that my bars are less thick I am attaching them to the table at a slight angle. I have no idea if that helps but my theory is it is harder for the metal to bend that way. In any case, the wood I am using and the concept of the horizontal bars is the same as the photo I attached. Sometime soon I'll make a blogpost about it!
 
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