corner units living room furniture contemporary

today’s show is sponsored by microjig makerof the gripper. work safer. work smarter. and bora. tools that perform. hi, i’m david picciuto and today i’m goingto show you how i made this coffee table out of walnut plywood, aluminum legs and thiscool lift top mechanism. check it! we’ll start off by making the legs out of3/4” aluminum tubing. we’ll first make the two side assembliesand attach them with 4 long supports what i like about using aluminum is it’ssoft enough to cut with ordinary woodworking saw blades.

i’ll cut all my pieces to length using mymiter saw. then i’ll chamfer the edges to allow a channelfor the brazing material. before brazing it’s very important thatthe aluminum is clean. clamp up the tubing and start heating thealuminum with a propane torch. aluminum will start to melt at 1200 degrees fahrenheit butthe brazing rod will melt at around 700 degrees. so we want to get the aluminum hot enoughto melt the rod without melting the tubing. getting the tubing hot enough may take 4 to5 minutes. you’ll know when it’s hot enough when the rod starts to melt on contact. rub the brazing rod along the channel untilit’s filled in and finish it off with some

more heat. if you don’t get the aluminum hot enoughthe brazing rod will just clump up and not stick to the tubing. this takes some patienceand practice as my first few tries resulted in failures and ugly joints. you’ll want to repeat the process on all4 sides of the tubing for a strong joint. then i’ll sand, primer and paint my legsflat black. the top assembly is a simple base, sides,front and back, accent pieces and a top. i’m making the top assembly out of 3/4”walnut plywood and since a full 4’ x 8’ sheet would never fit in my basement i needto cut it up outside.

here i’m using the bora clamp edge and borasaw plate which turns any circular saw into a track saw. this makes breaking down the large sheet ofplywood easy and gives me a perfect straight edge to work from. once i get the pieces rough cut down to amanageable size i can then finish everything up in my basement. i can use the clean edgecut with the circular saw up against the fence and rip my panels to width. crosscutting plywood with a combination bladealmost always results in tear out and i find the easiest way to prevent that is just coverthe plywood with painters tape.

the tear out tends to happen more so on thebottom side but i like to play it safe and cover both sides before running it throughthe saw. i’ll then finish cutting up the fronts,backs and sides. to cover up the exposed edges of the plywoodi have some 1/16th inch thick walnut that i’ll rip into 3/4 inch strips. you couldalso use a 3/4 inch thick walnut board and rip thin strips off of that or even purchasesome pre-made walnut edge banding. now i’ll just glue it down to the exposededges of the plywood and clamp it down with some painter tape. once dry i’ll clean up the edges with aflush trim saw, block plane and some sanding.

on the bottom i’ll mark where to pieceswill be so i know where to dill the screw holes. on the top side i’ll use painters tape tomark the inset. this will also protect the wood from glue squeeze out. i’ll then add some glue to the bottom ofthe pieces and set them in place using the blue tape as reference. let that sit and dry for a bit, flip it overand add some screws for reinforcement. glueing it before adding the screws allows for perfectplacement. i’ll then add some corner accents buy justgluing and taping them in place.

for the legs i’ll just drill holes and screwit in place. i’m using 1 1/4 inch pocket hole screws because of their large head. for the rockler lift mechanism i’ll justset it inside and use the same screws to secure it in place. the easiest way i found to attach the topis to set it in place and slowly lift it up and allow the mechanism to raise with it. make sure the wood doesn’t slip, clamp itdown and screw it in place. as you can see here it has a very easy openand close action. i’ll then take it all apart and and finishthe wood with boiled linseed oil and a few

coats of polyurethane. put it all back together, add some rubberfeet and some rubber bumpers and that’s it! i really liked how this turned out and willbe a great addition to our living room. the lift top can be used for dining in front ofthe television as well as bringing my laptop to perfect height while sitting on the couch. if you have any questions please ask themin the comments below. and be sure to visit my website for the companion article thatgoes with this video. you’ll find more detailed instructions, links to all the supplies aswell as plans for this project.

if this is your first time here please subscribeas i put out all kinds of tutorial videos on woodworking, crafts and art. and if youwant to help support the show you can do so by becoming a patreon member at the link below.$1 a month is all i ask and that gets you advanced viewings as well as patreon memberonly videos. thanks for watching! stay passionate and makesomething!

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