Introduction: SIMPLE LARGE TABLE TOP EASEL
This easel has all the movement to raise and lower the vertical frame 90 degrees. Upright to flat – for storage.
It can support large canvases up to 1m+ in height, depending on how long you decide to make the vertical slide.
All the components for this easel should be easily sourced from a local hardware store. I have used standard sizes of DAR (dressed all round) pine timber and a minimum amount of cutting, to keep it very simple.
All our supplies are in millimetres but you can use any imperial equivalents, or even adjust the sizes.
If you have just basic woodworking skills you should be able to make this.
If you feel you don’t have the skills to rebate (inset) the joints in the corners of the frames, you can just but-glue them together with standard cold wood glue, and when dry strengthen the joins with 2 panel pins.
I haven’t added any feet but rubber feet or carpet strips etc, could be used.
Make sure you do all the glue joins on a flat surface, using a good square to get the corners at 90 degrees, and clamp or weight the assembly till dry. When dry, if you are but-jointing, drill 2 pilot holes, slightly smaller in diameter to the panel pin size, into each joint, and hammer them in.
Supplies
Components
Due to different timbers or supplies you may have in your hardware store it is difficult to lay out every component size, but here’s the gist of it.
Timbers
64mmx19mm boards of 1.8m or 2.4m lengths. Make sure they are straight. You can sight down the lengths and see small bows in the wood.
42mmx19mm boards of 1.8m or 2.4m lengths
2x L brackets and screws (come in packs) 65mm x 65mm
Nuts and bolts (I have had to use over length bolts in most cases and will have to cut them back to size.)
3x 8mm bolts – for the vertical side clamping board and upper canvas clamp
3x 8mm thumb wheels/nuts or wing nuts
4x 6mm bolts and lock nuts - for the hinge and the lower angle adjusting pieces
2x 6mm bolts and thumb wheels/nuts or wing nuts – for the frame’s sliding clamps
Washers for bolts - 6mm and 8mm
2x 1m 19mmx19mm (3/4”x 3/4”) aluminium square tubing
Wood glue
I used some dark hardwood in the spacers on on some of the clamps as it gives a nice finish
Tools you will need
I have a circular table saw but you can use a tenon saw for all cross cuts.
A hand held circular saw will also work.
Chisel – 25mm or 12mm (1” or 1/2”)
Screw driver and spanners (or pliers)
Measuring tape
A good square
Wood clamps
Step 1: Make the Base
The base is very easy to make and assemble. Use 4x 600mm lengths, 64mmx19mm, and glue the with the front and back flat and the sides vertical.
Cut the rebates as shown in the sides. If you are but-jointing then you can either still use 600mm for the front and back or cut them down by 2x19mm (38mm) to 562mm. If you are happy to have a wider base use the 600mm lengths.
Drill 2x 6mm holes in the sides at the distances shown. The position of these holes with the lengths of the angle supports determines the swing of the frame.
Step 2: Make the Tilting Frame
The tilting frame is made with slotted sides. To avoid having to use a router to cut slots into the slides I have simplified the structure by splitting the sides and gluing 6mm spaces at the top and bottom ends – see drawing details
Instead of just sawing down the middle I chose to cut 19mm from one edge (I use this 19mm length on the lower side of the assembled slide, after the spacers are glued in). You can see from the image that the rebate I make after assembly doesn’t cut into the spacer. I don’t think it will matter if you just make the saw cut through the centre and if the rebate cuts into the spacer, the glue will hold it all together.
How to cut the rebates
I f you are skilled with a tenon saw and chisel, do the cuts like a pro.
I used my circlular saw table with the blade raised to 19mm and cross-cut the rebate width with multiple cuts.
How you choose to round of the one end is up to you.
I used a compass to get a good half circle and sanded it round with a sanding machine.
Glue in the rails (spreaders, or whatever you call them) and as you did with the base. Make sure you glue it on a flat surface and use a square to get the corners to 90 degrees.
This frame should now be exactly the same width as the base. When the adjustable angle clamping pieces are in this frame will fold flat and square on top of the base.
Once again, if you are but-jointing, follow the same procedure as above.
It’s a good idea to drill the 6mm holes in the rounded ends BEFORE assembling the frame.
Step 3: Fit the Tilting Frame to the Base
Lay the tilting frame flat on top of the base with the rails/spreaders down on the base. The two rounded ends square with the front edges of the base. If you can, clamp them in position. Now take the L brackets with a 6mm bolt through the top hole. Put the bolts through the holes in the tilting frame, and put the lock nuts on. Make them nice and square with the frame edge. Fasten them to the base with short countersunk screws (16mm).
Step 4: Fit the 2 Adjustable Angle Clamp Pieces
These 2 pieces will have a 6mm bolt and lock nut in the base and the other end with a 6mm bolt and thumb wheel through the slots – with the thumb wheel on the outside. This is your clamp nut to set the angle of the tilting frame.
The important dimension of these pieces is the distance between the holes. After experimenting with lengths raising and lowering the frame I found that the best distance was 350mm. This is with the holes in the base drilled at 310mm from the back edge – as shown in the base drawing above.
You should now have the basics of the easel and can test the raising and lowering of the frame.
Step 5: Making the Vertical Slide
This is a little trickier to make but still simple if you understand how it works.
I thought up and designed this idea as a very simple way to
- slide the vertical board smoothly,
- keep the vertical board from sideways movement,
- keep the vertical board from falling forwards, and
- clamp the slide in the position you want.
Let’s start with the vertical board itself.
It can be any length to suit your needs. This length will accommodate a 1 metre plus canvas size.
This is made of two standard timbers (I used 42mmx19mm)
They have two 8mm spacers glued top and bottom. The length of the bottom spacer is longer to straddle the clamping board at the back.
Again, glue and clamp these parts on a flat surface.
Step 6: Fitting the Aluminium Rails
The two rails are 1 metre aluminium square tubing 19mmx19mm. Cut the two to the length between the frame rails/spreaders.
A t each end drill right through the rail with a 2mm drill at a distance of 21mm (half the width of the frame rail/spreader). Then enlarge the holes on the one side ONLY to allow the head of screws through. I used button head screws for this.
Step 7: Making the Two Spacers Behind the Aluminium Rails
These two spacers are there to lift the aluminium rails fractionally above the frame sides. Lay one of the aluminium rails down along one of the sides and see how much lower it is than the side. Mine are around 9mm lower. You will need to cut some timber to the size shown in this diagram and about 2mm thicker than the difference you just measured.
I did not glue these parts to my frame so I could make final adjustments. I screwed them fast. I also found I needed to cut shallow rebates into them to allow the vertical slide to go past at the bottom and for the head of the top clamp to pass through.
Step 8: Making the Lower Cross Support
You can make this up to suit your own needs. I would just suggest you cut the length to 600mm (or to the width of your frame)
It is fastened to the bottom of the vertical slide, or close to the bottom, with screws. Screw in from the back through the slide and into the lower part of this crossbar. Make sure it is square with the vertical slide.
Step 9: Putting the Vertical Slide Together on the Frame
Mark the middle of the frame, and the middle of the lower canvas supporting bar.
Mark the middle of the two spacers that go behind the aluminium rails.
Place the spacers in the middle of the top and bottom frame rails/spreaders.
Place the vertical slide, with it’s added bottom canvas support bar, down the middle.
Now place the two aluminium rails alongside the vertical slide.
Check that it’s all in the middle and clamp the aluminium slides in place. The aluminium is quite slippery and so the wooden vertical slide should move fairly freely up and down the rails.
If you are happy that everything looks good, screw in the button head screws. To make this easy I used a magnetic star screwdriver to hold the screw on the tip of the screwdriver as it was put through the larger hole you drilled earlier. (Magnetise your screwdriver if you don’t have one – hold a strong magnet against the tip and you’ll find it will hold the screw thereafter)
Screw in the screws.
The clamping board at the back is also the restraining board to stop the vertical slide falling forward.
The detail is in the image.
Remember that this clamp board is pulling against a slippery aluminium surface, and the vertical slide may tend to slip down under the weight of an added canvas.
If this happens (why not do this anyway?) add 2 break shoes to the back of the board to cause friction and clamp properly. This could be two strips of electrical tape, felt strips, rubber strips, or even thin wooden strips to give more clamping pressure.
Step 10: The Clamp on the Top of the Vertical Slide
I am not going into much detail here as this can also be made in different ways to suit your needs
Remember that the head of the bolt behind this clamp needs to slide up and down the slot in the vertical slide. It therefore needs to passs through the spacer that you added behind the two aluminium rails. Now you can see why the spacer needed to have a rebate cut through it.
Similarly, you may find, like I did, that the vertical slide may get restricted at the bottom end, and will need the rebate cut out of the spacer.
Step 11: Closing Comments
I have used DAR pine timber to keep the cost down but this timber is prone to warping – so make sure you look for very straight lengths. There are many better timbers of choice but it will up the cost.
I think I have covered everything.
Total cost is around $70 Australian. Less for me as I did have bits and pieces of my own timber and some of the nuts and bolts.
Enjoy your easel and may we see many good works painted on it.
