Coffee Table Machined on CNC Router

[TomWS]

I don't know if this qualifies for the Gallery or even this forum for that matter, but I just finished a Coffee Table for our Living Room where most of the pieces were machined on my CNC Router using VCarve Pro mostly as a CAM tool.

End view showing floating top.

The table was adapted from a design originally published in FWW in 2012 (Asian Inspired Hall Table by Tim Rousseau). It is notable in that, with the exception of the lower shelves, every piece has at least one curved face. The legs were curved on three faces and I managed to mount them and machine two complementary legs at a time. Great fun!

Here is another view:

Here it is 'deployed' in our Living Room.

Creating the design files was interesting in it's own right. I used SketchUp and Affinity Designer to create the overall look and to detail the pieces respectively. One of the challenging aspects was that the two aprons were longer than either axis on my router. I ended up rotating the piece 57 degrees to get it to fit within the workspace.

[SteveNelson46]

Very nice work, Tom. This is exactly the place to post your work so we can all marvel at it.

[mtylerfl]

Yes! Beautiful work, Tom!

[Fabnet2000]

Beautiful

[scottp55]

NICE piece of work Tom!!
Love the slab!!
(width/thickness/species??)

Also love MT work and through tenons, but as hard as I looked, didn't see mechanical holding?
Glued/epoxied?

Looks Elegant Tom!

[TomWS]

NICE piece of work Tom!!
Love the slab!!
(width/thickness/species??)

The top is 42" long, 18" wide. Curly Cherry. I found a BEAUTIFUL plank a couple of years ago, 10' long, about 9 1/2" wide. When I started on this coffee table I wasn't sure I could use it since it was already milled to 7/8" thick. I didn't think I'd be able to keep it flat over 42" so bought an 8/4 piece of figured cherry just in case. I'm glad this plank worked out because the seller of the thicker piece failed to point out how much sapwood there was on the backside of the second plank - won't buy there again!

I looked long and hard at the 10 footer to see where to pick out the two 42" sections. Miraculously I was able to cut at one point, swing the cutoff 180 degrees, match it to the first piece so it came out looking very book matched. Amazing...

Also love MT work and through tenons, but as hard as I looked, didn't see mechanical holding?
Glued/epoxied?

Old Brown Glue. First time I used it and was very nervous about this...
This was recommended by Tim Rousseau and I tend to trust him...
Excess cleaned up very easily with water. Cool stuff!

CNC routing gave me accurate mortise & tenons that fit well. Plus, the legs are splayed 2 degrees off vertical which really adds a lot of strength without extra material.

Looks Elegant Tom!

Thanks! I appreciate the feedback!

BTW, Tim Rousseau lives up your way. Appleton, ME. He teaches at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport.

[scottp55]

"Amazing" is right Tom!
I looked darn close yesterday and then again a few times in last 2 hrs...DARN good matching!!
It was the sapwood on edges that made me think it was 1 piece slab on top and side view:)
It's Your job(going back to Roman times) to inspect what you buy Tom.
I always inspect rough closely and bring denatured with me to scope out figure,
but Basically for faults to knock a few bf off the price:)

Thanks for "old brown glue"....I'll have to remember next time a relative brings me a falling apart antique.

Yep, angle pressure on through tenons helps a lot.
Built a I. Rosewood and bark on Curly Maple wall table, and the leg angle makes that one of the few
through tenon pieces with ebony wedges,
that the wedges almost always don't need adjusting for winter/summer adjustment.

Very familiar with that area from Waldoboro to Searsmont,as grandparents and ancestors going back to before cemeteries are there. Also sitting on one of NZ fleeces right now bought in Hope years back,
and had a guy from Hope visit the shop for a day to get Shopbot Desktop basics down;
https://www.pinchbeckpipes.com/
And he gifted me with some wonderful exotics(Tas Blackwood/African Blackwood/etc.),
I've yet found a model for.
I never could avoid stopping at Lie-Neilsen shop:)
Too bad I still don't travel!

Thanks for all the "Rabbet Hole" info Tom!
Great Piece!!

[TomWS]

I looked darn close yesterday and then again a few times in last 2 hrs...DARN good matching!!
It was the sapwood on edges that made me think it was 1 piece slab on top and side view:)

It was the sapwood that almost made me cut it totally differently! I looked at it several ways trying to reduce the amount of sapwood that would show (or even eliminate it), but the sapwood edge was too close to the middle to cut out and was too big to give me the width I wanted.
Then, suddenly, it came to me. Cut it exactly in the middle of the sapwood, rotate the piece around and voila! It does, indeed, look like a slab! I thought I had a photo of the piece before cutting but couldn't find it. Here is a photo of the glue up, looking at the end that was cut.

Note the sapwood edge on both sides...

It's Your job(going back to Roman times) to inspect what you buy Tom.
I always inspect rough closely and bring denatured with me to scope out figure,
but Basically for faults to knock a few bf off the price:)

Unfortunately this was purchased online with the only photos showing the good side and the claim of 'very little sapwood'

[scottp55]

Thanks for the flat end grain shot Tom!
NOW I would swear it was thin kerf bookmatched:)

Yep...Years ago when looking for thin stock supplier with our 4 species, and settled on Ocooch...
Dad still searched online for less expensive. STILL have most of his "Tries" in shop!
(and that doesn't count delivery time All over the place, but almost always Late)

Never Did manage a crosscut combo as good as Yours!:)
(close doesn't quite look the same at All...more like a chainsaw resaw:)

Eventually I'll run out of wood picked for the house because I figured I'd use it "Someplace".
One good thing about the wheelchair...I get "Other" people to pull stuff from the higher stacks.

Thanks again Tom!