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Hi Wargamers,

I am currently planing to build a portable Warhammer table. I want to get 6 pieces of 24"X24". 3 Pieces of 24"X48" would be a little to big to transport them in my little car

But I am not sure if what I am about to build would be strong enough.

The picture wich shows the bottom is what i am thinking about. Those little pins there will be screws with butterfly nuts. So each Side will be forced together by 3 butterfly nuts with washers (?) wich are about 1.5 inch.

Do you think this will work out well? Or do you have similar experiences?

P.S. Sorry for my bad english... -.-

It sounds like it will still be at risk of bowing in the centre and where the individual pieces meet, since there's no support for the edges. Bolts and washers and nuts are all well and good, but they'll probably not be enough on their own.

One way to do it would simply be to get another 6 legs, and instead of having the 2 legs in the centre of the table like you have, build a plate that will screw into the batons at the edges, and attach the extra legs to every corner where two pieces meet. You'd basically end up with 3 rows of 4 legs. One row on each of the long table edges, and one row in the middle. This way, every corner of the structure is supported, so it doesn't matter where weight is placed.

The much easier alternative would be to build a dismantle-able frame for the underside that would support all of the joints once assembled. As long as you worked with unbroken lengths where possible (i.e - 3 6*4 pieces, and 4 4*4 pieces approximately - you'd have some cutting down of the pieces that went on the inside edges of the frame) you'd be fine, and can than screw the frame into the tabletop once you've assembled it.

Hope that makes sense. It works in my head, but explaining it clearly is a different matter entirely :p

Okay, Thanks for your advise!

Having more legs would be more weight to carry around.. but that might be okay.
Maybe i should build two of these elements and just test it. It is difficult to say how strong it will be at the end. Adding Legs would be possible later too.

I have a similiar table top constructed for months now.

Mine is 3 pieces of plywood 24" x 48" with a 2x2 frame under neath. where they marry together I have lag bolts (5/8 dia i think) x 4" long with a washer and nut on backside.

My table top sits on top of a drafting table that was only say 36" x 60".. so I had to add supports in my outside leafs as the weight of the board will cause a gap where the boards marry together.

You won't have near this issue by having legs but I think there will be an amount of wonkyness in this design to do so many connections.

For instance, I'm sure you have a buddy whom you play with who may be on the larger side of life, and after he has had ample beer and pretzels he may lean on the middle of this table and cause problems on any connection that has pressure applied to it between the legs. (that sounds dirtay!)

Get a compact folding table. You should be able to find a plastic one that is around 1.5m x .75m for 20 euros I would guess. Paid $25 US for one here and I have a couple that I keep around for various purposes. The table hinges in the middle and folds into a .75m square. Use that to support the whole thing and use your design for the top with the 6 sections and bracing. Then just assemble your top and set it on the folding table. Much less hassle than dealing with attaching a bunch of legs and it will be fully supported and won't sag.

Get some coffin locks to join the panels together. Despite the name, they're typically used in community theatre for joining stage panels and can easily handle multiple people standing on them. While I'm not sure where you can get them in Germany, you can order them here for about $5 each. For normal gaming purposes, I think it would be safe to mount them under 1/2" ply without additional support. If you plan on using anything thinner, you should reinforce the area with some scrap 2x2.

I drew the locations for the locks on the image below.

 Nodri wrote:
Get some coffin locks to join the panels together. Despite the name, they're typically used in community theatre for joining stage panels and can easily handle multiple people standing on them. While I'm not sure where you can get them in Germany, you can order them here for about $5 each. For normal gaming purposes, I think it would be safe to mount them under 1/2" ply without additional support. If you plan on using anything thinner, you should reinforce the area with some scrap 2x2.

That is an awesome idea! Thank you!

I'm currently using 2 water paper paste tables from B&Q - £15 each.
Seem to be stable enough but I'm not going to try sitting on them!

I have been searching these "Coffin Locks" here in Germany. I google for hours and went to several stores... and nobody had a clue what I am looking for. :/

So we started building the table with bolts & butterfly nuts ( wing nuts? ). If it turns out strong enough we will use legs. If it turns out too weak, we will use 3 Saw Horses. Unfortunately I forgot to bring the digi cam - I'll provide pics the next time.