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They say that idle hands are the devil’s workshop.
Between winter sailplane projects I needed something completely different to do. I’ve always needed a little bit more space for transmitter cases, tool boxes and chargers at events. Plus a stable surface to work on things. I stopped by a local metal fabrication shop and asked for an estimate on a basic 8 foot long 18 inch wide stainless steel surface with hinge for the side of my trailer. The thousand dollar plus tax estimate got my attention. The second estimate was no better. It was time to improvise. Mr. Google and I set about searching out parts.
So here we have it. I quickly discovered that shipping extremely heavy 8 foot long metal items get spendy. But if you knock that length down to 6 feet, it’s like 20 bucks. The delivery guy wants me dead. While less length then I would’ve preferred, that extra 2 feet would have cost a combined $250 in cost and freight which was a huge amount compared to the rest of the project. So 6 foot it was – – or is?
Here we have the resulting project. I purchased a 304 stainless steel 6‘ x 18“ table from a commercial restaurant supply house. I also sourced a 6 foot long by 4 inch wide 0.090 stainless steel piano hinge (free shipping!) from New Hampshire Hinge. Lots of stainless bolts, nuts, washers and screws from Lowe’s — the 25 quarter inch holes I had to drill into the combined hinge and table were quite a process. Slow and steady wins that race so as to not work harden the steel.
The leg mounts for the table were cut off with a sawsall and heavy rubber bumpers (EBay) were added to cushion the table against the trailer when folded down. Aluminum electrical conduit legs were fabricated and attach with camelback hinges that have added Hysol EP90FL at their base and fix in place with lock pins. Yamaha snowmobile shroud straps secure the table when folded.
Now I need another project!
Between winter sailplane projects I needed something completely different to do. I’ve always needed a little bit more space for transmitter cases, tool boxes and chargers at events. Plus a stable surface to work on things. I stopped by a local metal fabrication shop and asked for an estimate on a basic 8 foot long 18 inch wide stainless steel surface with hinge for the side of my trailer. The thousand dollar plus tax estimate got my attention. The second estimate was no better. It was time to improvise. Mr. Google and I set about searching out parts.
So here we have it. I quickly discovered that shipping extremely heavy 8 foot long metal items get spendy. But if you knock that length down to 6 feet, it’s like 20 bucks. The delivery guy wants me dead. While less length then I would’ve preferred, that extra 2 feet would have cost a combined $250 in cost and freight which was a huge amount compared to the rest of the project. So 6 foot it was – – or is?
Here we have the resulting project. I purchased a 304 stainless steel 6‘ x 18“ table from a commercial restaurant supply house. I also sourced a 6 foot long by 4 inch wide 0.090 stainless steel piano hinge (free shipping!) from New Hampshire Hinge. Lots of stainless bolts, nuts, washers and screws from Lowe’s — the 25 quarter inch holes I had to drill into the combined hinge and table were quite a process. Slow and steady wins that race so as to not work harden the steel.
The leg mounts for the table were cut off with a sawsall and heavy rubber bumpers (EBay) were added to cushion the table against the trailer when folded down. Aluminum electrical conduit legs were fabricated and attach with camelback hinges that have added Hysol EP90FL at their base and fix in place with lock pins. Yamaha snowmobile shroud straps secure the table when folded.
Now I need another project!
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