Students do love a beer or two, especially when it's getting warmer outside. But what is more annoying than not having a stable ground to put your beer on? For that, I've made a foldable table that you can put on top of a beer crate.

Moreover, when you have little space at home (like a dorm room), you can use this table to have a coffee table and dinner table at once!

Supplies

Beer crate of your choice
18mm plywood, 80*60cm
Sanding paper
4 hinges of the same size (around 4cm long per side is fine)
2 wider hinges, or 1 piano hinge
Varnish (optional)
Scrap wood

Woodworking tools:

Radial arm saw
Circular saw
Drill
Screws
Wood glue

Step 1: Measure the Crate

First, you need to measure the top of your beer crate. This will be used for the frame of the table.

Your frame is going to be on top of the crate, so the outer lines need to be measured. In my case, it's 29,5 x 39,5 cm.

Step 2: Create a Frame

Cut off 4 pieces of wood, 2 longer ones and 2 shorter ones. They should have the same length and width as the crate. This is going to be your frame. Make sure the pieces are wider than your hinges are long. In my case, the hinges I've used are 4cm long per side, so my frame is 5cm thick.

Use the radial arm saw to cut off the corner pieces, in order to make the pieces fit into each other.

Step 3: Glueing

For this step you'll need a stable ground. First, cut off 4 small pieces from the scrap wood, you'll need them after glueing the frame. If you have corner glue clamps, you don't need the scrap pieces.

Take the 4 frame pieces, put wood glue on the corners and stick them together. Now, use the scrap pieces to hold everything together. Put a piece on top of the frame as shown, and drill two holes. Screw the pieces to the frame. This way, you won't need clamps. Otherwise, use the clamps in the corners to let the glue dry.

The frame should be ready after a few hours.

Step 4: Finishing the Frame

On the two shorter sides of the frame, drill 4 holes, each on one corner. Use a countersink afterwards. Put screws long enough in the holes.

Step 5: Making the Legs for the Table

Take the 4 hinges and screw them to the 4 thin and long pieces of wood.

Important! Put the hinges upside down, so that the round part is put against the wood. Make sure it's put tight to the wood.

The above picture shows how. Only put the screws on one side.

Repeat this for the other pieces.

Step 6: Strengthening the Legs

First, you have to determine the spacing between the legs of the table. Put two legs to the side and put the other two next to those. The wider ones will be connected to each other. The other two will be connected to each other as well.

Measure the distance between these pairs. Cut off 2 pieces of wood that fit in between. Glue them to the end parts of the legs.

Step 7: Making the Tabletop

Make two tabletops the same size as your frame. The frame is as big as the crate, so in this case 29,5 x 39,5 cm. Cut off two equally sized pieces of wood.

Take the wider hinges and put them on the longer side. Make sure the holes are put correctly. Join the tabletops together with the hinges.

Optional: use varnish for the tabletop to make it more durable. Follow the instructions on the product that you have.