Plans for Draw Leaf Table

draw leaf table

This one minute video will show you how this draw leaf table operates:

Rather than going into a long and detailed explaination of how I congenital this table, instead, I'll focus on helping you empathise how the table operates so you tin design and build your ain version.

	Here is a color coded epitome of the table that I will utilize to explicate the bones operation. Discover first that there are two tops, an upper summit in dark dark-brown that is the actual table top, and a second top under the get-go that consists of three sectons: a middle section in greenish and two draw leaves at either end in light dark-brown.
	The table with both draw leafs in the extended position. Notice the central element of this design is that every bit each leaf is extended, when information technology reaches the end of its travel, it snaps into a position that is exactly level with the actual table top, effectively extending the length of the top. In effect, each describe leaf must rise along a ramp system the thickness of the table top such that when it reaches the cease of its travel along the ramp each leaf is at the same level of the height. This is the central to the tables functioning and I'll explain more than about how this works a bit later.
	One of the fundamental reasons this can piece of work is that the top actually floats on the table and is held in position by two pegs you tin see here. The pegs in the table top are not really drawn to scale. In actual do, I used pegs that were 1.25 inch in diameter. The holes in the middle department are actually slightly larger in diameter. The fit of the pegs into the holes is key because they both must concur the table somewhat firmly in position, yet allow the top at either end to rise equally either leafage is pulled out. When the leaf reaches its fully extended position, it is the top that snaps back down as the foliage is extended past and no longer supports the summit.
	There are several things of note in this flick. First, notice that the slide changes thickness from about 2 inches toward the middle to slightly less than 3/iv inch when it reaches the end of the leaf. This alter in dimension forms the "ramp" that allows the leaf to rise as it is pulled out. Second, notice that there are two points of contact that the ramp makes with the table base. On the fixed eye leaf, the ramp contacts the leaf at the point shown. Note that it does not brand contact in the notch that is cutting thru the eye brace thru which it passes. The notch in the center is more of a side-to-side guide. Note that the other place the ramp contacts the table at the lesser of the notch cutting into the frock. The depth of the notch in the apron must exist extremely precise considering that depth, along with the thickness of the ramp at the indicate of contact, are what establishes the height that the leaf will rise when information technology if fully extende or fully inserted.
	Here is an exerpt from my shop drawings that shows the item dimensions from the table I built.
	I used my tapering jig to cut the angle for the slider ramps. This was an extremely fussy cut that had to be dead-on to besides match the depth of the notch in the apron then the leaf would be positioned at exactly the same meridian as the master table acme when the leaf is fully extended.
	Here are a couple of pictures showing how the slides attach to the leafs and pass thru notches cutting into either apron as well every bit a center divider. At that place is enough room in the center divider to allow the slides to hands laissez passer past each other, merely non then much equally to allow the slides to rack as they are moved in and out. The second film shows how the slides are secured to the leafs using screws and glue. If you look carefully at the bottom epitome, you'll note that the slide extends to the cease of the leaf. Later on, I trimmed the slide then it only sticks past the apron by about an inch, but during fitup, I left it long. One other important affair that is not shown is a stop that I fabricated to not allow the slides to extend too far. I made a couple of stop blocks that were screwed to the slides that prevent them from passing completely thru the middle frock.
	Hither is the table simply prior to staining. These pictures show the two alignment holes in the center section. Likewise note that in the bottom picture, the leaves are fully extended. Had the top been in place, both leafs would accept risen to be in exact vertical alignment with the acme.
	Later finishing and almost ready to go out the door. It'southward difficult to come across, but you'll discover that the top of each slide appears to be unfinished. That's because I've installed a thin, depression friction UHMW tape to these surfaces to allow the mechanism to piece of work with as little friction as possible. I don't have a movie that shows information technology, but I likewise installed several strips of UHMW tape to the bottom of the tiptop itself. Equally the leafs are pulled out, these strips effetively elevator the elevation very slightly in a higher place the foliage so there is no wood to wood contact.