Introduction: World's Ugliest Coffee Table

About: I play and build guitars.

VEX is one of the biggest challenges in high school engineering courses. Schools around the USA compete in their class, region, state, and country. With these robotics competitions, the courses have multiple obstacles that the robots need to throw, place, or rearrange. Despite the excitement of these challenges and the work that goes into the design of the challenge and components, these obstacles are replaced with something entirely new each year.
At our school we host these competitions. This meaning we get all the course components and obstacles every year. For multiple years we have kept the obstacles in the back closet. Finally with some input from our instructor, Mr. "GiGi" Garerra we came up with an idea to turn these old pieces of plastic into some creative and very tasteless furniture.

Step 1: Materials We Used

-VEX 2014 SkyRise Cubes

-VEX 2015 Nothing But Net Balls

-Xacto Knife

-Plywood Sheets of Choice

-Hot Glue

-Spray Paint (Color of Choice)

-Zip Ties (Large)

Step 2: Create a Design

Our design was based off a table we found on the internet when the keywords "foot rest coffee table" were searched.

The table we based out design off of is a basic rectangular coffee table but the outer edges are lined with a pillow to allow for support and comfort on the ankles.

With the parts we have, the base of the table will be constructed with the SkyRise Cubes, the table top will be constructed with our sheets of plywood, the footrest will be the balls attached to the end of the wood.

Step 3: Sizing the Cubes & Wood

Each of the cubes are about 10 inches long.

Line them up in two rows. For us two rows of four was the best size.

After you find out how many rows of cubes you want, its time to pick the wood and size it.

With the limited supply of wood available (to us) in the wood shop, we picked a veneered particle board. We cut the board in half to make the table wider, and not as long. We used wood glue to get the pieces together. After the glue dried we sanded the excess off.

Up next is to create the foot rests.

Step 4: Turning the Balls Into a Foot Rest

The key part to this coffee table is the footrests surrounding the edge.

This is by far the most tedious part of this project.

The balls need to be cut at the width of the edges of your chosen wood, for us it was 1/2 inch thick.

Measure this out onto your first ball and draw a line around half the ball.

Take your Xacto knife and cut the ball about halfway into the actual ball. The deeper the cut is the better it will sit on the edge of the table.

Once they're wedged in glue them onto the wood!

To get an even amount on each side, place them about a half inch apart and draw a line from the center of the ball to the other side to match up the balls to the other side.

Step 5: Make Your Base

Our base design was quite simple. We took the cubes and put them in pairs.

Together we placed them as four feet on the edge of our tables.

Our bottom feet were zip tied together into the pairs.

The top were drilled into a piece of thin wood that was drilled into the actual table top

For the bottom to top connection we zip tied them together as well.

Zip ties are surprisingly sturdy.

Step 6: Attach the Table Top to the Table Base

The table top needed a way to attach to the cubes. Our method was to take a piece of wood that lays over the cubes and attaches into the top of the cubes.

After that attaches then we can drill the piece of wood into the table top.

Simple as that.

Step 7: Zip Tie Madness

It's time to get the bottom feet on the table.
Take one more pair of cubes and zip tie them together securely
After you get four more pairs, zip tie them to the drilled in feet, and you're good to go.

Step 8: Relax and Admire the Tasteless Furniture You've Just Created