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Old 2008-07-15, 5:21am
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RaymondMillbrae RaymondMillbrae is offline
RaymondMillbrae
 
Join Date: Dec 29, 2007
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Posts: 207
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Hey Folks,

sorry for the delay in the bead table tutorial, but I've been SUPER BUSY these last few weeks.

I check my email every once in a while, and I'll even give a quick response to some of the posts...but I have almost no life sometimes.

My DWP is sometimes the only breath of fresh air I get. But I've started the bead table tutorial, and it'll be completed (and posted) in the near future.

Tiggy-Bubba...for the table top I used a 3/4" inch thick, 4' foot x 8' foot piece of plywood. But listen to my madness...

I already knew what I was going to build...but it also had to meet certain requirements.

a) It had to fit in the location we planned for it.

b) I knew it was gonna have a tile top. But I also knew that I didn't want to be cutting tile all day.

So here's what I did. I went with my Darling Wifey-Poo, and she picked out the tile she wanted. (Since there are different styles of tile, and tile come in different sizes, this was the very first step). Once she had picked it out, I took the measurements of the tile pieces, measured everything out (taking into consideration the 1/4" inch spaces between the tiles for the grout), and cut the plywood to a size that would enable me to lay out the pieces WITHOUT having to cut any pieces of tile.

Did yall follow that?

So if you look at the table top, every single piece of tile is complete...and the table looks "balanced" and neat.

As for the table dimensions: it is approximately 3' foot deep x 7' foot long x 29.5" inches tall. (Not including the 3/4" inch trim I placed along it's borders). The original 4' foot depth was just waaaaay too much. (It made me feel like I was back at the welding shop, or back in chem lab, or in some type of classroom setting where someone would be sitting across from me). The table was also lowered to about desk height, which is awesomely comfortable. We can use any type of chair...and not have to resort to a "totem pole height" stool. (In the end I chose to build her a custom, matching, bench).

When the table was 3" inches higher, I swear, it had a totally different look. (See the first pictures at the beginning of this thread). It looked like a work table that belonged in a garage. But once I lowered it, it took on a totally different look. It looked very...umm..."warm," and right in place in our dining room. And since DWP sits kinda low, the range hood is away from her head.

If you look at the pictures, the torch tip is approximately 1.5" inches away from the edge of the hood. Which is OK, as the flame itself is entirely under the hood. And like I mentioned earlier, we have massive air velocity. (Sucking power). I spoke with Mike, crunched some numbers, and I ended-up reducing my duct tubes from 8" inches to 7" inches. This increased the air velocity, so our system is now a sucking monster...and it is still pushing 132 CFM of air per square foot.

Hmmm. If you're like me, you're probably wondering, "So what in tar-nations is 132 CFM's of air per square foot"?

Well, using my anemometer (Yea...I'm a long distance shooter) it is sucking air at 30 MPH!! Actually, ths picture was taken BEFORE I sealed all the duct tube connections with tape and paint. It is NOW sucking at 31 MPH, exactly. (Sealing everything made a noticable difference).





That is "A LOT" of air movement...and I am still pushing 132 CFM of air per square foot. My DWP is totally safe against fumes, and totally safe if she should choose to use enamels, frit, or like-sized particulates. (Having the original 8" inch duct tubing reduced the air velocity by approximately 3 MPH - which some might say is "not much". But when you feel the difference, it is a whole lot)!!!

Sorry for rambling. But I thought you'd like to see what CFM looks like when translated to wind speed. It kinda puts things in perspective.

Amethyst-Briolette...the reason I placed the runner in front of the table was to protect the carpet. I built everything to sit "flat-slab-dead-center" in the middle of our dining room. So, of course, everything also had to look nice and presentable. Plywood, or some other surface, would not meet our criteria. (But "Hey"...it's OK if yall want to use it. Go for it). But in the end, it's better to speckle the runner with "shocky's," rather than the carpet.

As for why the open space under the rear and side baffles?

"I-ohn-know"?

No reason.

Maybe it's cuz I'm kinda claustrophobic, and I subconsiously did that. It actually "felt better" designing it with a little open space. And after crunching some ventilation numbers, I was assured that DWP's safety was not at risk (IN ANY MANNER)...so I went ahead with it.

And very, very, lastly...the table in the above photo's is not finished. The white was because it looks clean and professional. (Can't have "ghetto steel tubing" in the dining room)! And as for not being able to see the flame...well...we purchased an EXTRA piece of tile. Hmmmmm...wonder where we decided to place that when we purchased it?

OK, that's it. I had an 22 hour day, it's 0545 in derr morning, and I'm just getting home.

All I'm thinking about is laying next to derr DWP's warm bod, and hugging my pillow.

Sorry for rambling, but there's always a reason behind my madness. (Well...most of the time there is).

G'Nite, yall.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzz.

In Christ: Raymond

Last edited by RaymondMillbrae; 2008-07-15 at 2:57pm.
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