Microwave Table
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At my previous dwelling I had my microwave propped up on a folding TV dinner table that was starting to
list over to one
side. I was afraid the thing was going to give out so I decided to create the table presented here as
a sturdier mount. This was also to be the first furniture project on my lathe to justify the purchase.
Eleven months later (and a new house to boot) my microwave is standing tall and proud on its new stand.
The table is constructed entirely of poplar, and was constructed using mainly a lathe, router, jig saw, and a drill
press. I did some rough cutting with a hand-held circular saw, but did all the accurate trimming with a straight bit
in the router. I now have
a table saw so I can speed up that process on future projects.
The plans are here:
Here is a view of the entire thing.
Close up shot of the leg. This was the first time I had turned items with square parts. By the time I had completed
the fourth one, I was a pro! I also discovered the value of a spindle steady. The first leg had lots of spiral
grooves due to harmonic chatter that required quite a bit of sanding to remove. Then I bought a spindle steady which
solved the problem and made turning the remaining three legs much easier. The skirts are attached to the legs via
mortise and tennon joints I cut on the router.
This picture shows the grain figure in the top. Many people claim poplar is boring wood. I tend to disagree.
The finish is a dark stain and three coats of semi-gloss polyurethane.
The corners have an interesting story. When I designed the table, I debated whether I wanted square or chamfered
corners. I decided on square ones. One day my landlord came over to do some work in the basement while I was at work.
The table was sitting on my workbench and he had to move it out of the way. Unfortunately the top was not attached
at the time and fell to the floor, knocking off two of the nice square corners. A few minutes on the disk sander
rectified the problem. Now that the corners are chamferred, I kind of like it better this way.
Closeup of the leg detail around the lower shelf. The shelf is kind of a wrap around butt joint,
screwed into place through
the legs and plugged. The plug is not visible in this photo as it is on the other side.
View from the bottom showing the connection of the top. I used 6 table top brackets which seat into slots in the
skirts. This allows the top to expand and contract with humidity changes. I figured that the lower shelf would be
able to change dimensions through flex in the legs.
Microwave and cook books installed.
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