Would it be possible to make the leg longer so to speak with a tenon of sorts with tenon to attach a clamp board. The tenon could then be cut off after machining? 

8 minutes ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Would it be possible to make the leg longer so to speak with a tenon of sorts with tenon to attach a clamp board. The tenon could then be cut off after machining? 

I've done that in the past when the whole surface was being cut but not a flat end or two. Easy to cut off a tenon to leave a flat end.  What I prefer to do for accuracy and repeatability (3 legs) is let the CNC round over the edges that the design wants rounded over. This bullnose arc edge isn't something you can find a router bit to do on a curving edge after the CNC is done. The CNC cuts it as a moulding (3D) toolpath using a small ball end bit. 

4D

Thinking out loud here- instead of a screw how about hot glue? I've used it to hold parts to a waste block on the lathe. 

Building on Lew's idea, maybe 2-sided tape?

Double side tape, Painter's tape and instant glue, and hot glue I've used in the past.  If I was just cutting one leg I'd use a drop of hot glue under the part to keep it in place.  As I would either be cutting all three from one board or each one at a time the hassle of breaking the part free I'd prefer avoiding.  I also don't use a conventional bed.  I have 3 frame bridges I can move up or down the CNC frame and parts span from bridge to bridge and are normally clamped to each bridge.   Meaning there is only something under the board being cut where it crosses a bridge.  So far I've avoided cutting into or sticking anything to a bridge. 

https://4dfurniture.blogspot.com/2021/05/cnc-frame-bridges-as-alternative-to-t.html

Edited May 19, 20233 yr by 4DThinker

From the first picture on your link, it looks like you had made a temporary bed. Could that be a starting place for holding the work? Are you thinking of cutting all 3 legs from the same board from one setup?

I haven't found wood for new legs yet, so that is still up in the air. The jig you saw in my blog was one I made to cut parts for a student project from glued up laminated hardwood curves.  Those parts were also a challenge to cut out as if I remember right I only had one reference edge to work against and had to cut around the other 3 sides. The curves she had provided were a mess and needed considerable work before I could even clamp them in the jig.  No CNC work was cut on the top surface though. 

I would make a fixture if I was cutting the legs one at a time.  I'd still have to deal with holding the work in place while it was being cut in the fixture.  Can't clamp against any edge except the dovetail end. 

4D

If you made a clamping device that had a dovetail to match that of the leg, with a snug fit, Then mounted it on bed like shown in your blog. Using a small riser to support the free end. Riser could be blue tape/ca glue held to the bed. 

 

 

 

 

 

You're getting pretty good with Sketchup Lew!   With only the dovetail end trapped (and you would need a way to clamp/lock it in the slot) there is still potential for vibration/movement of the part while being cut. CNC movement is sneaky strong and if it can find a weakness in how a part is clamped down it will.  The dovetail end would also be the last part I cut. Jigging up to cut it is easy with an otherwise finished part.  Same as I did with the initial legs. 

I've been sketching variations of how the legs look as part of the overall composition.  Something about the elliptical arc looks odd to me when viewed in context.  A fat skirt sense.  Flipping the arc over actually looks better, or at least refreshingly different in context. It also presents options for making the roundover edge use the same center point as the post it attaches to. An arc that drops down then sweeps out rather than sweeps out then drops down. 

As I'm not in any rush and don't yet have wood to make new legs from my time is better spent playing with other options than worrying about how I'll actually cut out the legs.   

4D

3/16" roundover bit came today.,  Ran it around the round table top, and also the edges of the original legs. Now that those legs have been softened aesthetically I think they'll do just fine. Not too fancy to compete with the post, yet more interesting than straight legs or even straight tapered legs. With the round top also paying respect to the post a nice balance seems to have been found.

 

I like cherry stain on red oak, and may have some if it hasn't gone bad. 

 

The nonagon (9 corners) top deserves a post with related detail.  Did a google image search for pedestal tables and found one with a 9-sided top even fancier than mine, and the post beneath had a tapered section with 9 fluted grooves around it that made perfect sense in that composition.  The legs were also a fancier shape with more detail that also related well to the post and top. 

4D

I keep having a wild idea about the taller pedestal table I'll be making:  The segments, each 3" tall or so, could all interchangeable. With a peg on top and a hole on their bottom they could stack up. Re-arrange them if you want, or you could leave one or more out to change the height of the table. 24", or 21", or 18" perhaps.  I could taper the pegs and the holes slightly so they would slip together easily but wedge tight with the weight of the parts and table top above.   The section where the legs attach would always be the base.  It would have  a peg on top to receive the next section. 

 

I also thought about having them screw into each other,  Aspire has a threading toolpath option I could use.  This option would let you pick up the table without worrying it would come apart.  There are also wood thread cutting tools out there I could use.  I could also embed threaded inserts and threaded studs for metal threads rather than rely on wood threads.   

 

Such is my curse. I've survived regular brain drain by college students with their own creative ideas but needing help to realize them. With no vent for my own creativity such project ideas bubble up to the top until I find myself expressing them.  With no real room or need in my house for more furniture it appears I'm sharing these ideas hoping someone else will use them.   

4D 

As I glued up 3" wide strips of red oak to make 3" thick block for the tall table I remembered I have four 3" diameter dark walnut cylinders salvaged from an old coffee table I made in college. Solid walnut 13+ inches long. Thought it might be nice to make a walnut version of the pedestal table.  Went web hunting for a 16" x 36" x .75" panel of walnut (to cut tops from) and apparently Menards doesn't carry it nor does any place local. Shrink wrapped walnut boards 6" wide or 4" wide are available but scary expensive.  Grrr. 

4D

Bit the bullet and ordered $342 worth of walnut from Northwest  Timber.  Claro walnut, select pieces. each at least 16" wide.  Enough to make beautiful tops for 4 walnut pedestal tables.  I've got a few scraps of walnut from my old coffee table that may be enough for the legs of one or two.  I'm thinking about trying Facebook Marketplace to sell them.   Hoping someone might like a matched set so I'll make two sets. Each set may be a detailed uniquely. I don't really need to make money, but as the CNC does most of the work for these pedestal tables it would be nice to sell them for enough to offset the cost of the wood in them. 

4D

4D

 

You DO need to make money on them.  Doesn't have to be much, but you got to get something out of it.  You'll learn from the first time or two, and then tweak thinigs to either make it worthwhile or move on.  Gotta keep trying new things til you find your "niche".  Just remember, Polish Eagles are taken.

 

Sounds like you're getting bored in retirement.  Lol

My nature is that making more of one thing too many times is what gets boring.  Teaching I loved because every student was unique, and by extension every project they designed and made was unique.  I've made production runs a few times and the tedium of repetition was a soul killer.   I'll make 4 walnut table because I have 4 table legs from an old coffee table that can become the center posts for them.  I'm making a second oak pedestal table because the process of making the first ended up with material and a second top for a second one.  I'm only thinking of selling them all because I don't need any more tables. Retrieving just the money I made from them keeps me from accidently discovering there is a big market and demand and profit that might trick me into making another soul killing production run.  I don't have a sense of being bored.  I have enough distraction. I do have room in my days for a little woodworking though, and I prefer it over lawn work.  So until the grass needs mowing again I'll work some wood. 

4D  

I felt the same way at first but have adapted.  Although I make many (over 750 Polish Eagles in various forms so far) of the same items, 90% of them are personalized some way.  There are things I don't like to make and wait til the last minute to do start them.  But there is some satisfaction when people recognize your work and shop from wherever or whomever they saw your work at.  In between, I try to come up with "other" items.  The least expected usualyy sell out and the "can't miss" sit on the shelf.  But there also is the fact that at some point financial considerations come into play.  Face it -  this is not a cheap hobby and being able to recoup some of the costs become a necessity, and not just an option.  And then, of course, the mind starts the what if....................... and sometimes it works.

Thanks for your story and advice HJ.   Appreciated and might become my story too.   With a design education that included art classes, architecture, product design, and furniture design and fabrication I can't convince myself to buy files to cut.  My brain is tuned to designing furniture which I did little of while teaching it.   Spent all that creativity helping students.  Now that I'm retired it is only furniture that my mind thinks about making. My artistic side I'm nursing back to life and this little pedestal table is helping.  I've started writing in my blog about my goals for the 9-sided top version.  I may keep it simple, but I've described my hope to add stories to the design that can be discovered when closely examined.  With 3 legs 120 degrees apart there are three 120 degree coves/views that could each have unique detail/tales on the leg sides and across the center post between the legs. Possibly even the 120 degree section above on the underside of the table top.  VCarved or 3D carved within a "frame" the shape of the legs.  Challenge now is to come up with 3 related tales to tell, and then generate the art for them.  A table for kids (of all ages) to discover and be entertained by perhaps.

 

Many year back I designed 4 versions of a coffee table and had them on display in a gallery along with other furniture I'd designed.  One of the tables was done with zebra wood, and the legs had been shaped to look like zebra (the animal) legs.  A comment book left for visitors to sign in and leave comments on had more comments and requests for the zebra table than any other piece in the gallery.  It was the piece that most remembered and talked about.  Not that it was the most functional or would fit with other furniture in most homes, but the unexpected nature of it was clearly appreciated.  When my ex moved out it was this zebra table she wanted the most.  Nope.     

4D

Do the designing.  Make a few to perfect things, and try to sell the designs.  Is there a market?  I don't know, but there are quite a few pretty neat things being made on the CNC Forums -  but more people like me who are better at making things once I have the "plans".  Or in these terms - files.  I just do it to keep the mind and body busy doing things that I didn't have time for when working.  But the business side keeps popping up.  Curses!!

5 hours ago, honesttjohn said:

But the business side keeps popping up.  Curses!!

Exactly.  Went that route when living in Iowa City while my new wife was going through her Ophthalmology training,  She had a business degree before going to medical school and helped me set up and manage my woodworking hobby so I could sell things, collect tax and do the reports to the state and such.  Not fun.  

Playing around with my CNC software this is what I'm considering to do with the taller red oak pedestal table. The upper slim section though I'm trying to figure out how to facet it in 9 faces.  More of a French style.  May have to do some indexed X/Y/Z moulding cuts rather than try and do that with the wrapping A/Y/Z cuts. 

 

 

4D