new table in 178 - Event Date: 14 Nov 2015

Commander, I'm much like you but believe it or not I'm planning on making custom kitchen and bathroom cabinets in the nearer future with my father-in-law.  Not the fronts or drawer boxes (for the nice dovetail look), those I will order custom and unfinished.  All of the enclosed surfaces will be furniture grade plywood and then if we don't paint, solid wood for the exposed ends.  I figure even with buying some tools I need like a decent table saw, I'll still save about $20k over the quotes we received last year.  Plus then I can fit everything perfectly around the appliances.

yes, we made all of the table hardware.  the aluminum braces are 1/4" flat stock with small lag bolts attached to the legs.  I used star knobs and steel tee nuts (1/4x20) from Woodworkers Supply (woodworker.com) for the connectors.  Standard piano hinges were cut to length for the leg to table top hinge connection. Hope this helps you-let me know if you need more details.

I started with a mock-up and the table top was larger.  We keep cutting it down in size until we thought it was as large as possible while still being usable and would fit as we wanted it.  then we made the real unit

Vann

We also built a new table for our 173.  We don't use the dinette area for sleeping, so the table didn't have to be the same size in order to fit between the benches and make the bed platform.  It is made from 3/4" cabinet grade(10 ply) birch plywood.  the finish is 10 coats of table varnish.  It folds flat for traveling and is very sturdy.








travel safe
Vann

It is the anti-gravity option!