Interactive Arduino Powered Coffee Table

Step 10: Lower Table Surface

The lower table surface sits on top of the main arch assembly and holds the remaining sections of the table, this is made using three layers of birch faced plywood, the top is 6mm thick, the middle is 12mm and the bottom is 6mm, each layer is cut using the CNC router.

All three layers have holes for both the display mounting panel and the main glass surface, 12mm and 6mm respectively, the top layer has a section removed for the button panel to be mounted on, as does the middle layer, although this is larger to allow for the width of the PCB on the button panel, the bottom layer does not have a hole for this.

The rectangle that is removed from each layer of the surface to allow it to sit over the main arch becomes slightly wider on the bottom layers, this is to help distribute the load as evenly over the arch as possibly, it also looks a little better.

Although it's weight is mainly supported by the two sides that are in contact with the arch, it is held in position using four captive nuts that screw into the side off the panel using a hex key and take an M6 screw, this allowed the surface to be fixed in position by inserting the M6 screws from the inside of the arch frame once the surface was in position.