# Lego table plans



## beelzerob (May 2, 2010)

One of my first real, full projects. I decided to make a lego table for my 3 girls, and the table drs3007 showed a while back seems like a perfect setup.









Instead of painted, I'm going to use some of the abundance of red oak I have on hand.

So, as far as oak boards (all horizontal surfaces will be plywood), it looks like I'll need 8 of them about 4" wide, not counting the legs.


I took 4 pieces and cut/planed/jointed them to make the outside of the table. The pieces I have are around 7/8 wide. I was going to resaw or plane them down to 1/2", but then I realized that if I just resawed each piece in half and planed them to end up with 3/8" thick, I could be done with that already.

So my question at this point is....is 3/8" thick of red oak thick enough for the walls on that table? Obviously the legos themselves are negligible weight, but I'd assume kids will be leaning on the table at times.

Along with that, I'll be cutting grooves in the oak for the plywood....so if I made the groove 3/16" deep. So each of those oak pieces will have a 3/16" groove (half its width) running down it. 

Here's a horrible drawing of the cross section of the table, to show what I mean.









Or should I use 1/2"+ thick oak boards?


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## beelzerob (May 2, 2010)

Well, with no other input, I think I'm going to go for 1/2" pieces of oak. It'll mean more jointing and planing to get more oak ready, but I'll just feel better about that than 3/8" thick.

Another question for the audience....where boards dead-end into the face of another board, what would you suggest for joinery? With the boards being 1/2" thick, I'd have room for some mortise/tenon, if they were 1/4" deep. But that is also a completely new type of joinery that I understand to be pretty hard to get right. I think that's too much to learn at this point to get this done by christmas.

I have a biscuit joiner. It's not elegant or pretty, and there are many people here who hate those things for various reasons....but it's something I'm more familar doing at least.


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## Texas Sawduster (Apr 27, 2009)

*dead end boards*

Will any of the sides of the dead ending boards be hidden?
If so you could pocket hole join from the hidden side.
Or you could home make wooden corner braces and use wood screews to attache the brace to both pieces.
Or buy the steel 90 degree braces and screw them to the hidden sides. (less attractive but works).


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## beelzerob (May 2, 2010)

Ooo, pocket holes...that's a good idea. I got a free Kreg pocket hole jig from woodcraft a while back, and I've used it for a few fun things, but this would be the first legit use.

I can use it on the very in-most corners...those surrounding the actual lego area. That leaves the boards that make the trays...those are completely exposed on all sides.


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## Texas Sawduster (Apr 27, 2009)

*trays*

If you have room, you can make a wooden corner piece that run the depth of the tray. I triangle if you will, and glue/finish nail them to the inside corners of the trays. This will help stabilize the trays from any torsion action that may occure. You could in addition use solid oak dowel rod and make your own dowels to join the butt joints together. With the dowels exposed it would not be an issue if your going to paint the trays. As long as they are sanded smooth to the exposed surface, they should not show up once painted.

If the finish is a wood finish/stained, the dowels may add a nice contrasting touch.


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## beelzerob (May 2, 2010)

Ya, no paint for me. I think it's a crime to paint hardwoods. :no:


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## jschaben (Apr 1, 2010)

TightBondII should be plenty, it's not holding up a '57 Buick or anything:blink:


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## beelzerob (May 2, 2010)

Interesting...and annoying. I decided to go 1/2" thick, which means resawing the boards to just over that from their current 7/8".

The first board resawed pretty well. The second board, though, as I got to the last 2" (the board is 40" long), I could feel the 2 boards spreading apart. Sure enough, the 2 resawn pieces now bow apart at the middle. So, I have a 1/2" thick piece with a nice bow in it, where the original piece was nice and straight....

I'm hoping with time and maybe some planing it'll come back close to straight.


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