Furniture that can transform is becoming increasingly popular precisely because of its functionality and practicality compared to standard furniture. This also applies to sliding tables. Such designs are indispensable in apartments that cannot boast of a spacious kitchen.
The furniture market is able to offer you a large assortment of tables of a similar design, but the cost may not always be suitable. That's why it's much more profitable to make your own dining table using just the extendable table mechanism.
Stages for making a sliding table with your own hands
All the work associated with the manufacture of the necessary piece of furniture, provided that you use the mechanism for the sliding table, is carried out in five stages. Let's look at them one by one.
Preparatory work
Before you start direct production, you must definitely decide on the shape and type of mechanism. After that, you need to prepare materials and tools that youneeded to make the table.
You need:
- material: wood, MDF or chipboard;
- forms;
- hacksaw or jigsaw;
- screwdrivers;
- self-tapping screws;
- glue.
Production of countertops
The material you choose, be it wood, MDF or chipboard, needs to be cut to the shape you need. To do this, it is recommended to mark the material on the material, and then, using a jigsaw or a hacksaw, cut off the excess. In this process, it is very important to clearly carry out all the markings so that the do-it-yourself sliding table serves you for a long time and does not “go”.
The tabletop for such a table, as a rule, consists of three parts: two main sheets and a central insert.
Production of legs
You can make your own legs for your table or buy ready-made ones. When choosing the second option, you need to take into account their color and texture, which should be identical to the manufactured countertop. You also need to carefully select the size of the legs in accordance with the size of the table. Do not use legs that are too thin or too short.
It is extremely accurate to mark the centers of the bars, otherwise, by installing the mechanism for the sliding table on such legs, you will get a "walking" table.
After choosing the bars and marking the center, the legs need to be given a certain shape, and then make sockets for the spikes.
Production of elements of the tsargi
For marking you need to lay the countertop frontside down on the floor or other flat hard surface. The blanks for the elements of the tsarga should be slightly larger than the required size, since the excess can always be cut off, but it is no longer possible to glue the missing one. For work at this stage, you will need a lathe or milling machine.
Assembling the structure
In order to make your own mechanism for a sliding table, you need to install skids, along which parts of the tabletop will move. Before that, you need to connect the side drawers with the legs of the table, fitting the spikes to the grooves made.
After assembling the table, it is imperative to check its performance, especially the synchronous sliding table mechanism, which is the most popular and easy to use, needs to be checked.
Sliding tables have a number of advantages. For example, they are quite durable and easy to use, and also take up little space during storage. However, if necessary, they can easily be transformed into a large dining table, which is very convenient when receiving guests.
