Two years ago I built a coffee table for our living room. The end result turned out pretty well and it looks good in the space. The base was made of pine, painted with milk paint, and a walnut top. Early on, I ran into the table and broke a leg. The repair has held up well, but I’ve begun to want a stronger base.
I’ve been playing around with several designs to replace the base with steel. Using Fusion 360, I’ve been designing a base that will hopefully end up very sturdy and improve upon the look of the original table.
The parts for the base are designed using ¼ “ mild steel. These will be cut from flat stock and either riveted or bolted together. Most of my projects are forge, but this project will be mostly fabrication. To make a lightweight yet sturdy table that still retains many of the design elements of the original, flat stock will be a better fit.
Using Fusion 360 to design the table will allow me to tweak the design until I am happy with what I see. I can swap parts in and out before committing to building anything. Once I am satisfied with the design that I have, I can convert it to drawings and begin the building process.
I will play around with a few more iterations to see how I can improve the design that I currently have
Sutton Industrial Arts 