Science Table

For my project, I made a table with lists of particles in physics on it. I got inspiration when I saw images online of people making "periodic table tables" , like in image 1, and thought that I would like to have one of those just with a lot more stuff on it. I began to think that I should make a table that has things like the standard model on it, and so that is what I have made here today.

-1 Box of 100 SD Connector Screws

-1 Box of 20 Metal Corner Braces

-177 Inches of 2x4 plywood

-4 self tapping screws

-20"x30" 1 inch think sheet of plywood

-A CNC laser

-Wood Stainer

-A Clamp

The first thing that I decided to do was figure out what the top of the table would look like. I decided that in the end that what I would add the following: A periodic table of elements, the elementary particles in the standard model, a table of mesons, and a table of J=1/2 and J=3/2 baryons, as well as feynman diagrams of N→P+e+v̅ₑ, K̅⁰→K⁰, and e⁻+e⁺→γ→μ⁻+μ⁺.

The first thing you are going to need to do is find a piece of plywood that is similar to the wood that you are going to eventually use for the top of the table. Then, find some design online and engrave it on the piece of plywood. Preferably, the image should have text or letters so that you can test text on the CNC laser. It's also important to keep in mind that if you do this, the image may be smaller than what you put on you final design. This piece of wood can then be used to assess whether or not you want the engraving to be more deep. For the one I made in image 1, I decided that in the final design, I would either have the CNC laser engrave deeper or I would get a different type of wood. You can also test the CNC laser on the back of the final top of the table to so it will work with the final piece of wood.

First, cut 177" in total of 2x4 pieces of wood to these lengths:

-1 23" 2x4

-2 17" 2x4's

-4 30" 2x4's

Firstly, mark out on each 2x4 piece of wood where all the other pieces of wood will be contacting it. Then, on each piece of wood use the braces like a stencil for marking out where you will be screwing in each screw. This should leave you with three dots under a line where the 2x4's will be connected, as shown in image 2. Then, predrill and then screw in the braces at each of the areas with the three dots. For some areas that will connect to other 2x4's that you have already added the braces to, after adding the brace you will then have to remove it so that you don't have two braces both trying to connect the same pieces of wood (the purpose for adding on the brace in these areas in the first place is just so that you have the holes for the screws to go in later). The bottom of the 23" 2x4 should be 15 inches of the ground and the bottom of the two 17" 2x4's should be 10 inches from the ground.

Next, you will have to connect all of the 2x4's together. For this, you will just have to line up the screw hole of one of the 2x4's with the corresponding braces of another until all of the 2x4's are connected and you have the frame of the table complete. At this point the frame may seem to be not stable or solid and is "wobbly", but this will be corrected in the next step. It is important in this step to not accidentally bend the braces of the table, because while the braces may be able to easily be bent back, this could also damage the 2x4's.

The first thing to do to stabilize the lower table is to find where the 17" 2x4's connect to the 30" 2x4's, which should be at 4 areas in total. Then, from the outer side of the table, screw in one self-tapping screw per connection area so that the screw goes through the 30" 2x4 and into the front of the 17" 2x4. This should end up looking like image 2. After this, the sides of the lower table should be more solid, but the middle connection will still be unstable. To fix this, first flatten two of the braces in a clamp. Then position them on the front of the table where the 23" 2x4 connects to the 30" 2x4's, which should be in two spots, and then after pushing the 23" 2x4 against the 30" 2x4"s, use the flattened brace as a stencil for where you want the drill holes to go. Then predrill the points and then screw on the flattened brace. In the end, this should look like image 3. Hopefully now the lower table should be solid.

Now, The top of the table will be made. First, find a sheet of wood that is a least 20"x30" that is 3/4" thick. Then, cut it so it's 20"x30". Then, find or create a design for the table, which for me was the periodic table and a bunch of other tables from particle physics, including an image of the standard model, and then engrave the design onto the top of the table using a CNC laser. Your going to need to make sure that the top of the table can fit into the CNC laser before doing this and that the design that you cut will onto the top of the table won't too big or too small for the top of the table. For my table, I made the CNC laser run at 100% speed and ~70% power and it turned out well so those settings are what I would recommend using. You can then use wood stain to make it so the engraving shows up more clearly. Then, after making the top of the table, when first placing the top of the table of the bottom of the table, the tabletop might not look like it aligns, but there will be a way to resolve this. First, get 1/2" screws and screw the top of the table to one of the four legs. Then, for each other leg, when getting ready to screw them in, you can just pull out or push in the legs so that they are correctly aligned before then screwing that section in. When this is fully done the project should be complete.

Overall, I think that this project worked really well and the final project ended up looking like how I wanted it too. I think that the design on the top of the table turned out very well and the structure of the table is very solid. I think that If I were to continue further with this project, I would add a layer of something like epoxy to the top of the table so that it doesn't get damaged and I think that if I were to have done this differently, I would have added the top of the table a lot earlier in the manufacturing process. One problem that I had to solve at one point through this was making it so that the table was more solid and less bendable. I fixed this by adding screws to the sides of some of the legs that would then go through the fronts of the supports and by adding flattened braces that would hold the supports to the legs on the sides of the table. I tested the table by pushing on the top of the table and seeing if it would bend in any way, which it did not, and by using it as a normal table and seeing if I could use a chair with it, which I could.