The frame, which snugs into the recessed tabletop, is complete. The corners are glued and screwed, although my cuts were sloppy so one edge is bowed out. But now it's time to attach legs.
I also had some trouble with this:
I made two big mistakes, repeatedly: A) not pre-drilling holes for the screws, and B) holding my electric drill/screwdriver at an awkward position. This caused the screwdriver to slip, which gouged the head of the screw. Several screws were so badly damaged I couldn't screw them in further or even remove them:
The last two corners are pretty clean because I pre-drilled carefully and repositioned the piece so I could align the drill vertically. I also did any more "hard" screws by hand, which is not fun but is much less likely to slip and damage the screw.
Fortunately, those screws are three inches long, so most of the ones that are sticking out still have at least 1/2 an inch in the opposite board. The screw that's way, way out is supplemented by an extra screw. So it's still reasonably strong.
With the legs screwed up, the work was basically done. Here is the "topless coffeetable" I made:
I decided to simply set the tabletop on the frame, using the recess at the bottom of the tabletop, instead of permanently connecting them. Bizarrely, it's a perfectly snug fit! Apparently the mistakes I made in my fabrication canceled out the odd measurements of the commercial product. So here is my coffee table, returned to its natural habitat with new prosthetic legs:
It works pretty well this way, but the new base is somewhat narrow and not really attached to the top, so there's a stability problem. This was easy to solve with some books I don't expect to read:
I also had some trouble with this:
I made two big mistakes, repeatedly: A) not pre-drilling holes for the screws, and B) holding my electric drill/screwdriver at an awkward position. This caused the screwdriver to slip, which gouged the head of the screw. Several screws were so badly damaged I couldn't screw them in further or even remove them:
The last two corners are pretty clean because I pre-drilled carefully and repositioned the piece so I could align the drill vertically. I also did any more "hard" screws by hand, which is not fun but is much less likely to slip and damage the screw.
Fortunately, those screws are three inches long, so most of the ones that are sticking out still have at least 1/2 an inch in the opposite board. The screw that's way, way out is supplemented by an extra screw. So it's still reasonably strong.
With the legs screwed up, the work was basically done. Here is the "topless coffeetable" I made:
I decided to simply set the tabletop on the frame, using the recess at the bottom of the tabletop, instead of permanently connecting them. Bizarrely, it's a perfectly snug fit! Apparently the mistakes I made in my fabrication canceled out the odd measurements of the commercial product. So here is my coffee table, returned to its natural habitat with new prosthetic legs:
It works pretty well this way, but the new base is somewhat narrow and not really attached to the top, so there's a stability problem. This was easy to solve with some books I don't expect to read:
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