Table top leg placement

Wannabe

New User
Vic
Good morning all. I have a 22 inch round piece of scrap plywood. I also have some 23 inch long pieces of soft maple. I want to make a bed side table from these pieces. Would it be suitable to use the soft maple with plywood.....thoughts. If so, what would be the dimensions from center for the legs to be placed. As my name implies, I am just that and my mental abilities are limited. Hope y'all can comprehend my questions, Stay safe, healthy and God bless. Thanks sooo much folks.
 

Henry W

Henry
Corporate Member
Hey Vic, welcome to NCWW.

I would question how 'practical' a round bedside table might work out, especially because by it's very nature it's usage tneds to be in the dark, at least sometimes. I am all for non-boxy furniture, but in this case I might consider a rounded front table with at least two or three straight sides (i.e cutting parts of the circle off).
Aside from my design perspective, just know that any amount of table top projecting beyond the base of the lags is far less stable - inch or two is perfectly fine, but 6'+ gets less stable. Helpful that this is a relatively low table. Answers also depend on the mass of the table. So I would at least minimize that overhang, especially if this is not a massive table. Anything can work... but it all depends on how much you might expect to lean on or press down on the edge of that table.... Can't give you a numerical answer, but a model made with 2x4s or 2x2s and your table top will give you a pretty good sense of what will work.
Keep us up to date with your design, fabrication, and final result.
 

Jeff

New User
Jeff
A hand drawn sketch is a place to start. Your description doesn't tell us much.

Is your "22" circle the diameter of the circle or the circumference? There's a big difference in the size of the table!
 
Last edited:

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
Welcome Vic.
A kinda easy way to think about this is to look at other small tables on the net. You will see some common ways they are built. Then to mount to a piece of plywood, the easiest way I think is to attach the legs to a flat piece of wood, so you have 2 legs mounted to each piece. Then, just attach the legs with glue and screws. Make sure the screws are shorter than the thickness of both the mounting board and the thickness of the table. Another way is to buy leg brackets, IKEA sells those, or other places. What is important is to start learning how to think about things like this. The more you do, the better the thought process and in turn, the better you designing becomes.
 

mpeele

michael
User
If you ask the question because you are concerned with stability.
Stability with any table is not determined by where legs attach to the top but where feet strike the floor relative to the edge of the table.
Closer to the center feet strike the floor the less stable the table will be.
Closer to the edge or past the edge the more stable the table will be.

Round only require 3 feet, rectangle can be built with 3 but 4 work better.

Where and how leggs attach to the top is determined by how the table is used. For a bedside table I think it's just what you think looks right.
 

Jeff

New User
Jeff
Is your "22" circle the diameter of the circle or the circumference? There's a big difference in the size of the table!

I'm asking the question again. A 22" circumference is a 7" diameter and a 22" diameter is a 69" circumference. I can do a SketchUp drawing for you but I need to know the numbers.
 

Wannabe

New User
Vic
Jeff, I sincerely apologize for taking so long to answer. I have a learning disability and therefore, not very bright in many things, let alone in math. Probably equal to a 40 watt light bulb. Anyway, when I measure the outside radius of the circle it measures 22 5/8 inches. Does this help you?
 

Henry W

Henry
Corporate Member
Vic
I assume you mean that the circle is 22 5/8 inches across the circle - which is what most people would measure on a circle. That's the diameter.
Am I correct that this is what you measured?
 

Wannabe

New User
Vic
Jeff the 22 and 5/8 ths inch figure that I gave you, is the length of of the line through center that touches the outside edges of my circle. Soo very sorry about all the confusion. What seems easy to most, is very confusing to me.
 

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