Street Busking Suitcase Table

Working on the streets is hard. Sometimes you need a place to put things or display your wares but who has the space or the permits these days. Well my friends look not further for you have landed on the right Instructble. Here we have a suitcase table that is completely self contained. No telescopic legs or screw on feet, just one sexy piece of luggage.

Step 1: Materials and Such

The materials list here is pretty straight forward and you should be able to do it all with a trip to Walmart and Home Depot plus a little shopping around on ebay.

1. The Suitcase: If you are like me you want your table to look a little vintage. I picked up this olive green Starway suitcase off ebay for about $10. As much as looks matter (they do) there is also another bit of criteria that must be met. Size is everything and if your table is not the right dimensions you will be done for.

Consider how tall you want your table to be. Whatever number you have reached now cut it in half and add an inch. This is the number that you are looking for from handle to hinges. The extra inch accounts for any space taken up by the walls of the case itself.
When it comes to length it is hard to go wrong with the how most cases are proportioned. The rule of thumb is that the greater the length the sturdier your table will stand.
Depth is rarely an issue unless you want to use a super thin attaché case which I would not advise.

2. The Wood: remember when you bought that suitcase? Do you remember the dimensions you ended up with? Take the length and width ( not depth) and multiply them to find the area of your case. Suppose you ended up with 21 inches by 13 inches. That would give you 273 square inches (just under 2 square feet). Double that and go buy it in half inch sande plywood. Should run you under $20.
To put it in simple terms get a piece of wood that you would have to fold in half to fit in the case as that is what you will be doing. On and a little extra.

3. The Hinges: This whole thing runs on hinges you will only need 9 of them but they come in 2 packs at Walmart so you might as well get 5 packs. It is very important that you get them with removable pins as they make things a million times easier.

4. Springs: For this you are going to the opposite side of Walmart. Hair care! Find those ladies hair clips that have the little springs keeping them clippy. Look for a pack that has a spring that the pin of your hinges will fit through. You will need 4 of these springs. If you are crafty you can make your own springs but not me.

5. Gravy: If you have a garage you probably have everything else you need. Lets see... Various screws, Srewdriver, Dremel cutting tool, a jigsaw, sanding block (or those fancy motor ones), and some wood stain of your preference.


Not to bad I hope.

Comments

[cincymikeb]

The introduction is as clever as your instructable ,Good job .

[Dr.Bill]

Can I use it for Three Card Monti in some city ?

[abnor]

Fascinating leg design.

[EGiR]

a smart design - one of these will be very helpful indeed, thanks for sharing.

[thelastonekills]

kinda differnt way to describe as "just one sexy piece of luggage"
but the folding up is slick
5/5

[andygreene]

Cool ible. What is that sweet blue car in the background of your video?

[signeddiamond]

Volkswagen Squareback. The color if you care to know is Safety Blue the same color they use for handicap signs.

[diajoh]

It looks like you have a couple of inches of space inside the suitcase, under the legs/support. Is that so, or is it an illusion? Seems like someone could fit flyers or something inside the suitcase as well.
Nice idea, btw.

[signeddiamond]

You are correct. There is some space available but can be awkward space depending on where you placed the support pieces. I am planning on installing a cloth bag that will be attached to the section you are talking about with the other end hooked to the stand itself. This way it falls open nicely when you have it open for tips and such and then just packs away unseen.

If you made this table exactly as I have you may ant to consider half page flyers.

[MrGreggan]

Do you use another suitcase to carry your props?

[signeddiamond]

I keep my "props" (I use balloons) in an open faced craft tote of sorts. It slings over my shoulder as I walk to where ever i'm going.

[Corrugator Supercilii]

Really Super Awesome! The collapsing stand is very neat, like the extra ornamental touches!

But no ninjas would be caught dead with a green suitcase! (^_^)

[swell]

Very nice wella thought out thanx