this is a flip top coffee table and to
make it I cut up a very expensive slab
screwed a motor to it had an existential
crisis and then became a seamstress let
me show you how I got here
I want a new coffee table
I'd like a new ottoman but we have this
Chez correction you have the shares I
have discomfort but coffee tables are
nicer ottomans are comfier coffee table
ottoman coffee table ottoman so I think
I've come up with the solution that uh
might make us both happy but I have no
idea if I can pull it off as it turned
out pulling it off would be far more
challenging than I ever thought and the
payoff was nearly a complete disaster
almost a year ago I picked up the slab
of white oak along with a couple of
smaller pieces from my friend Suman down
South of the Border he has a problem he
has a crazy amount of lumber so I came
here to help him out and to do that I'm
just stealing it I've been saving these
for a special project like this but
there was a problem these slabs I
believe were cut with a chainsaw not an
Alaskan chainsaw Mill just a chainsaw
free hand because they are all sorts of
rustic and the Big Slab that I'm going
to use for the top well whoever sumon
got them from decided to put finish on
not a big deal except for they only put
finish on one side which caused the
entire thing to turn in to a giant
Pringle
just because you have a slab doesn't
mean that you need to keep the Live Edge
I love the look of a tabletop that
doesn't have any seams between boards
glued together and I like that look
enough to justify the added expense that
a huge slab costs you're probably
thinking two things right now one what
the heck Scott you got this slab for
free and two you're removing the
character and to that I say first yes I
know and second of all the adjectives in
woodworking I find the word character is
one of the most misused character and
good design are not the same thing
character is built over a lifetime of
use not something you can force into a
design I'm looking at you overpriced
faux distressed and weather table from
Pottery Barn
now I could grab a router and a router
sled to flatten these but I feel like
they're so far off of being flat that it
might take eons with a router so instead
I have something faster but maybe
slightly more crude in mind
yep that's a power plane I honestly
didn't know if this was going to take
less time and effort than using a router
sled but I also don't have a router sled
anymore since I had thrown away my old
one quite some time ago so I wanted to
see if I could get away without making
another one I don't know about you folks
but I get in my head about a lot of
things when it comes to making decisions
on what's the best way to do a task in
woodworking I can dwell on it for far
too long weighing the pros and cons when
I could have just made a quick decision
and got it started already this is
exacerbated by the fact that I can
potentially have hundreds of thousands
of people questioning my decisions I
think someone more optimistic than I
would call this being a perfectionist
and while I believe I'm generally a very
positive person I don't think that being
a perfectionist is always a good thing I
can spend two months laboring over the
details of this seemingly simple coffee
table While others will be on their
fourth piece of furniture by now that
being said I am proud to say that in
this instance I made a snap decision
grab the power plane and got to work
right away with lots of energy and
enthusiasm and without questioning my
decision well that was exhausting and
I'm questioning whether the power plane
was more or less effort than a router
sled would be in the end
and after all that I think I'm going to
have to make a router sled to take it
down to final thickness now don't get me
wrong the slab is very close to being
flat but overnight it developed a slight
twist to it and I'm worried that if I
attack it with the power plant again I
could make a misstep and put a gouge
into it pretty easily I could also use a
hand plane to take it down to final
thickness but this is White Oak it's
very hard and I am not built for such
strenuous activities
at any rate the slab didn't seem to be
stable so I wanted to leave it as is to
see if it wanted to move anymore before
flattening it to final thickness but for
some reason I'm getting the tracks
wait what are you doing
now is a good time to show you the
design I had been brewing ignore this
relic of the 70s I want a coffee table
that has a top that can flip over to the
underside where there will be an
upholstered cushion and I wanted to do
it automatically with the push of a
button so I said about drawing something
up and I went through many iterations
some were way too complicated and some
were just plain grody at this point I
didn't know if I could make the flip top
mechanism work and I still needed to
figure out how to make it look like a
piece of Fine Furniture since my boss is
pretty stringent but I had to push
forward it's time to begin the Basin I'm
going to start out with the legs of my
coffee table now the design I drew up is
not the most straightforward but
anything with multiple curves usually
starts out as something that is flat and
square to begin with so I'm going to
need some 4 inch square leg blanks to
get what I'm after
[Music]
this project is a great example of why
sometimes a table saw isn't the most
important tool in your shop I think I
used it maybe three times in this whole
build of course this entirely depends on
what you're building but if you get
interested in making things less
straight square and boxy the table saw
can take a back seat to the bandsaw this
isn't me saying that I'll be ditching my
table saw anytime soon although my
second hand industrially abused imported
Taiwanese 25 year old table saw does
deserve to be chucked off a cliff
I don't own a CNC nor do I have the room
for one but I do have a 3D printer so I
asked it to make me templates the
printer bed isn't large enough so I
designed one that can be clicked
together with a bit of CA glue foreign
have you ever pet a cat before sometimes
it's easier said than done moreover have
you ever pet a cat in Reverse by that I
mean starting at the butt and ending at
the neck it's a great way to end up
injured similarly going against the
grain when pattern routing can also land
you in the emergency room
there was no way around it I was gonna
go severely Against the Grain while
trimming half of the legs I've wanted
this router bit for probably years at
this point and I'm happy I bought it
because it had no problems going against
the grain and while you can't buy a
safer cat you can buy a safer router bit
even if it also looks like a little
Menace
oh and 3D printed templates
not such a good idea
because the table saw didn't get used
much in this project I found myself
using my super high end Boutique bandsaw
a lot more it would have been the MVP of
the build if it didn't fight me at every
single possible moment like when the
tire on the upper wheel decided to take
a little vacation and cause me to lose a
day waiting for a replacement to arrive
or like when one of the trunnion locks
snapped off under the lightest
suggestion of pressure or like when I
nearly couldn't cut the curve on the
inside of the legs because it isn't big
enough have I mentioned that I want a
new bandsaw
[Music]
I learned something about myself in this
build like most people my brain consists
of two halves but I have a slight beef
with them on the Martha Stewart side of
my brain I'm the creative starving
artist who's content behind a drum set
or a guitar or cooking or crocheting or
anything that's extremely hard to make a
living out of which is why I spent my
20s as a broke musician trying to be the
next Radiohead
the other half of my brain the Elon Musk
side if you will relishes in data
complex numbers magnetomotive forces or
anything that would have labeled me as
the least eligible bachelor of 2023 if I
didn't trick Rachel into thinking I was
cooler than I actually was this is why I
went back to school for electrical
engineering as a mature student after
failing to make a career out of music
as if this wasn't enough there is little
to no communication between my upstairs
Martha and Elon and this issue is
perfectly epitomized by this coffee
table build I either got completely
immersed in the creative flow as you'll
see as I spend far too long laboring
over the perfect aesthetic or I go full
on Oppenheimer and waste days of my life
soldering and programming Electronics
together to eventually send this coffee
table to the moon no joke
I'm sure I'm not the only person who
wishes to have better balance between
the two halves of their brains I mean we
don't want to actually end up like
Martha or Elon that'd be catastrophic
the only thing that I've built from a
set of plans in my life was this Panter
Rider from Matthias wandel otherwise
I've designed everything I've made I
think the whole reason why I got into
furniture making as a teenager was to
see my drawings and designs come to life
and yes designing Furniture in high
school doesn't exactly make you one of
the cool kids
when it comes to Furniture Design I
always think Aesthetics should come
first and I figure out the build process
after it's like in music all you need is
a good song you can be the most
technically proficient musician in the
world but if you don't have a good song
no one is listening when it comes to
Furniture Design a phenomenal piece that
forces someone to want it worry about
how to put it together later be a Paul
McCartney not a Steely Dan
for example when I came up with the idea
for the legs for this coffee table I
really like the idea of extending the
inside curve up to the top because I
thought it looked great but when it came
time to execute it well for one I cursed
my pastel for making my current life
difficult but when I accepted that past
Scott was right I knew I had to figure
out how to join two curved surfaces
together I could have made life easier
and squared off the portion at the top
of the leg that meets the apron but I
would have sacrificed one of my favorite
parts of the design to make life easier
in the build
[Music]
one of the biggest influences for this
coffee table was
cars I'm sure you're thinking well
that's dumb cars go vroom
well let me explain when I look at a
more modern car I like that there are no
flat surfaces but there are still
visible edges combined with subtle
shaping I guess if I'm drawing parallels
then something like a standard Square
cabinet with flat surfaces would be like
a Ford Model T something like a Bombay
chest with all curves and no edges is
like a Chevy Bel Air
but what I'm after something with clean
lines and subtle curves will be more
akin to the new 2024 Dodge Charger I
mean it looks just like it can't you
tell
this was almost as far as my drawing was
going to take me but there was still
something off I didn't like how it
looked like there should be a table top
that sits on top of the apron and legs
and since I couldn't make a flip top
coffee table like that I think I am
going to make a bold move
while sometimes past Scott is Right
other times he is wrong and either way I
still like to curse him because now I
had to deal with fixing something that
didn't look right in the original design
that would have been far easier to
execute from the beginning like how I
had to come dangerously close to cutting
into the Domino hole in the center
divider sometimes you just have to be
flexible and not be rigidly beholden to
your original plan
wait a minute I forgot to tell you about
this divider well remember when it
looked like I was about to cut the slab
right in half for the top well that's
because I did cut the slab in half for
the top you see my thinking was what's
better than a coffee table with a flip
top a coffee table with two flip tops so
I can have my feet up on one side while
the other side can be normal I'm
realizing right now that the fact that I
cut my coffee table in half is quite
possibly the Martha and Elon hemispheres
of my Noggin trying to Incarnate
themselves into physical existence
foreign
I feel like I'm still harboring more
resentment towards the word character so
clearly I'm not done that rant this is a
knot I don't like it some people say
that knots give a piece of furniture
character I disagree knots are ugly and
are not to be confused with curl Burl
crotch quilting Feathering or any other
type of figuring in wood and if I've
learned anything from this it's to
choose your slab more carefully or in my
case find Friends With Better slabs to
steal
[Music]
do you ever put off making something
until you can no longer put it off well
that's me in a nutshell and that's what
I did with this router sled it's kind of
like a good sneeze you know you need to
and it can be a little bit violent in
the process but the result is a feeling
of relief Until you realize that there's
something else you've been putting off
making just like realizing you have
another sneeze in you
[Music]
nervous about trying new techniques on
projects don't worry I would imagine the
majority of people are like that when
you've spent many hours on a project the
Instinct should be to preserve your hard
work from risks however I am not like
that for some unfortunate reason I like
to take risks and while sometimes they
work out other times they do not as
you'll see later on in this video
although I am really liking how
everything is turning out so far I'm a
little worried that it's a bit too
formal for my tastes so there is a
technique that I've always wanted to try
and I think I'm going to uh risk it and
do it on this for the very first time
and it might make it a little more
harmed crafted maybe or I could
completely ruin it
I said that a healthy dose of
inspiration for this table came from
outside the woodworking world but there
was equally just as much inspiration
from within our community namely this
desk designed by Nick Padula and what I
really liked about it was the texture he
added to the aprons this sent me down a
rabbit hole of different techniques and
I found a channel called on wood that
gave me the idea to sweep the texture in
the direction of the apron curve
after 15 minutes of practice I dove
straight into carving the aprons while
there is room for improvement I
definitely was satisfied with my first
attempt at this on a project and I
highly recommend adding a technique like
this to Your Arsenal I picked up these
narrix firmer gouges from Taylor
toolworks and if you'd like to try this
out for yourself I'll leave a link for
them below if I can figure this out
anyone can
now is the point where I need to figure
out how I was going to make the tops
actually flip and this isn't your
grandma's janky ass flip top tool cart
this is one of those classy flip top
coffee tables that are all the rage with
the youngins right now so I said no to
the typical iron pipe method and
recessed in these Ultra bougie pillow
block bearings instead
ooh spinny
if I were sensible I would have stopped
right here well if I were actually
sensible I probably wouldn't have made a
flip top coffee table to begin with so I
guess that ship sailed but here's the
Junction in the road that I went down
and I went down a world of pain
this is a motor because as I mentioned
briefly in the beginning I want this
coffee table to flip on its own and to
control this motor and to make it flip
successfully My World of Pain included
but was not limited to actuators
microcontrollers h-bridge controllers
hall effect sensors capacitive sensors
and accelerometers and connecting all
these things together where I wanted
them to discreetly be forced me to route
a bunch of strange and complicated
channels under the divider and behind an
apron
[Music]
people are very encouraging to me which
is great at face value but I think what
I need is for someone to tell me no just
stop our current Millennials the product
of a lack of discipline I don't know you
tell me
as much as I've been putting it off it's
time to glue up the base and there is a
big challenge with this but I think I've
come up with a solution when I go to put
a big clamp from one leg all the way to
the other to squeeze the joints together
the apron wants to creep up like this
because of the curved joint face to
combat this I have milled down this thin
strip of MDF and its thickness is the
same as the offset between the top of
the apron and the top of the leg and I'm
going to take an F clamp and clamp the
whole apron down to my workbench and
hopefully when I go to put on the big
clamp across the whole thing it will
prevent the apron from creeping up
I might be 32 years old but being a
woodworker has made me into a bit of an
old man
pumping Tunes man
jeez and yet other times
[Music]
that's the stuff
I'm still a 12 year old boy
[Music]
it's pretty tight
and let's put my hair in the glue
[Music]
so the glue up I think went okay it
seems relatively Square now is the last
point in the base where I could possibly
completely screw it up and that is going
to be shaping the outside corner of the
leg now I want to Lop off this whole
corner and you can see my layout line
here and my layout line right here that
follows the inside curve of the leg now
the issue as you can see my Tenon which
is laid out right here looks like it's
going to intersect the curve that I'm
about to shape but I'm like 70 sure I'm
not gonna hit it
the power plane again
foreign
I couldn't really think of anything
better to use in this scenario honestly
I suppose a jigsaw would have worked but
I'm a little wary of Blade deflection I
bet you're thinking to yourself hey
Scott you could have just cut that
before on the bandsaw nah uh I wouldn't
have been able to put a clamp in the
right spot on the legs during glue up
sometimes my incessant overthinking does
save my ass
[Music]
when the top is not flipping I need a
way to lock it in place otherwise it
wouldn't make for a very good coffee
table I'm going to be using a bolt much
like a door lock bolt to hold it in
place which will be driven by a linear
actuator that you'll see later so I made
something similar to escutcheon plates
one that gets screwed to the top and one
that gets screwed to the base for the
bolt to pass through both at the same
time the sheer strength of the bolt is
what keeps the top from spinning and I
looked it up an eight millimeter bolt
has a Shear strength of 3300 pounds
escutcheon is kind of a funny word if
you've never heard of it before that's
what you call a plate that surrounds a
traditional Keyhole apparently it comes
from the old French es Guston from the
Latin root meaning Shield
[Music]
this is a Scott Walsh signature move
right here epoxying rubberized cork on
the bottom of table legs I haven't seen
anyone do it before so I'm pretty sure I
invented it even if I didn't just let me
believe that I did I need that
thank you
I broke one of my main rules always test
a new combination of finish and wood I'm
very familiar with regular osmo Pollux
and this is not the first time I've used
White Oak but it is the first time I've
used them together however my thought
was that osmo tends to not darken or
yellow as much as other hard wax oils do
I was pretty surprised how much the oak
turned dark on me and I was regretting
not testing the Finish immediately if I
had I probably would have gotten
something like osmo raw as I was very
used to the look of natural White Oak at
this point but I had to push on
time to finally assemble this bad boy
those shafts get locked into a flange
that's screwed to the base and those
bearings make the Top Spin like a top
that was a weird simile c channel gets
screwed into the base in a seemingly
wrong way but all of these things that
get mounted under here will be covered
with an upholstered cushion my
it'scusant plates get installed and are
looking spiffy in black and the actuator
sends the bolt straight through locking
the top into place the motor that does
the flippy motion gets mounted back into
place and this black box containing most
of the brains of the operations gets
temporarily situated this red thing says
touch and it gets hidden in the apron so
you can't actually touch it and there
are a couple of magnets for each side
that tells the brains of the operation
when the top is approaching its desired
position stuffing the wires in The
Recess was not the most elegant thing
I've ever done this switch which turns
the whole coffee table on and off that's
kind of a weird thing to say and this
Jack is how I charge the coffee table
also a weird thing to say this is not
the most graceful installation and
wouldn't you know it would end up
becoming an issue so I'm not sure what
happened it was working before but when
I went to hide the wires in the divider
now this thing kind of has a mind of its
own and it just wants to keep turning
whenever I turn it on so it's acting
like someone's constantly pressing the
button for it to turn what I think
happened is that when I was trying to
hide the wires in here one of the wires
got pinched and now it's all screwed up
so I'm gonna have to do that all over
again he says as if he didn't just beat
on it with a hammer a broken connection
caused two of the touch sensors to burn
out so after fixing it I try it again
you can do it
where you going no no no no no no no
hmm
is this the look of regret or what all
right I think I have got this all
figured out now let me show you how it
works so I just pushed there
and that's how it goes
push there
and that side goes
that was pretty cool
after days of suppression the Martha
half of my brain was ready to rear its
ugly head not with convictions of
insider trading but with something far
worse
fabric
[Music]
to fulfill my ottoman dreams I was going
to have to you know make it soft and
Squishy and that meant going down the
road of a whole different craft sewing
and upholstery and things look I'm using
a sewing machine
[Music]
now I know what you're gonna say those
Electronics probably produce 25
000 BTUs of heat and you're gonna cover
it up with an inch of foam you're gonna
burn your house down
relax Elon Scott already figured out
that the components produced no
perceivable heat when idle plus there is
an off switch for the whole thing and
I'll just keep the coffee table turned
off when I'm not flipping it that's also
a weird thing to say
[Music]
gonna work all right coffee table
flip
[Music]
that wasn't good
uh okay
[Music]
yes yes yes yeah
[Music]
I am so over this
[Laughter]
so it seems that the cushions are
rubbing against the apron slightly and
that's enough to cause it to mess up so
maybe I need to fiddle around with some
things I think I have an idea
I think when the side of the cushion
rubs in the table base the motor
actually starts to slip on the coupler
I'm going to replace this coupler with
one that has a set screw
let's see if this will work
time to reprogram the coffee table
because that's a normal thing to do
trying to plug this USB cable into the
Arduino is not easy I did not give
myself good access
at all let's see if I figured it out
[Music]
both sides still don't work after all
that well I continue to mess with the
electronics let me show you some Glamor
Shots
[Music]
thank you
[Music]
well it's not perfect but I'm pretty
sick of the electronics right now so I'm
gonna go move on with my life bye