Building the table

My overall plan goes something like this:

• Based on space, work out how big the table can be
• Based on the size of the table, on the computer design what an ideal layout would look like on that table
• From the ideal layout, work out what a simple version of the layout would be, and then start to build that

My apartment has a spare room where the trains will go (to start at least; at one point they will need to go through walls into the kitchen to get the proper Wallace and Gromit effect everyone wants). We put a desk in the room, and then worked out the minimum space to squeeze in a queen mattress for guests, and then finally that left me with the size of the table.

Table, note gaps between frame and top where the frame is not square.

I wanted the table to be lightweight and have detachable legs, so it could easily be turned on its side to make more space or to be moved around if need be. The table itself would be a box, a pine frame with a thin top/bottom to hold all the cables and computer bits away from sight. The legs are those $5 ones from Ikea which can screw in and out. I went with PDF over plywood for the top of the table. MDF has the advantage of being perfectly flat, with only the small drawback that it is probably a bit of a carcinogenic.

Two more legs were added later but this is the only photo I took showing what it looks like underneath (ie, not square).

This semi-portable design utterly failed when I didn’t think about heavy wood is (I did realise when I got stuck underneath the table putting the legs on).

Its also not quite square. I made the frame first, using a handsaw, and assembling on the carpet in my living room. The L shape bit puts this tension across the whole shape, so when I finally put the (presumably square) bits of MDF on top of the frame it didn’t quite fit.

In any case; it does function as a table and fits the space nicely.