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Amazing expanding circular table

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damian penney

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Dec 9, 2006, 11:39:24 PM12/9/06
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Check out these tables, amazing.

"It is a circular table which, when rotated at its outer perimeter,
doubles its seating capacity, yet astonishingly remains truly
circular."

http://www.dbfletcher.com/capstan/

Toller

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Dec 9, 2006, 11:55:31 PM12/9/06
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"damian penney" <dpe...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1165725563.9...@j44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
Its hard to think of where it might be used, but still amazing.


RicodJour

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Dec 10, 2006, 12:33:04 AM12/10/06
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I remember seeing a similar antique table in Fine Woodworking or some
such magazine a bunch of years ago. The leaves weren't automatically
inserted - they were separate pieces that had to be manually inserted
IIRC - but it was the same general rotate to expand idea.

R

John L. Poole

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Dec 10, 2006, 12:24:08 PM12/10/06
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This is amazing, the smaller circle perimeter is a shell containing the
leaves which have the arcs of the larger circle. The design of the
hardware so that one person can maneuver the transformation is brilliant.

Swingman

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Dec 10, 2006, 12:32:24 PM12/10/06
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"John L. Poole" wrote in message

It is amazing, although the girl in one of the videos is an athlete ... look
closely and you can see that it took her body weight to get the thing
moving.

Still ... a very nice engineering feat, and impressive bit of woodworking!

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 10/29/06


Chris Wolf

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Dec 11, 2006, 1:21:10 PM12/11/06
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A similar design that operates a little differently is made by Skovby. I've
seen it at a local furniture store, and opened and closed it. Go to:
http://www.designquest.biz/pc/SKODTDC06XX/BA/
and click on "See how this table expands demonstrated on the Skovby SM 32. "

Of course, in spite of the hype from dbfletcher, neither of these is truly
circular at both diameters.

John L. Poole

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Dec 11, 2006, 8:24:44 PM12/11/06
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Chris Wolf wrote:
[snip]

> Of course, in spite of the hype from dbfletcher, neither of these is truly
> circular at both diameters.
>
>
[snip]
How are the tables not truly circular? Both tops looked circular in the
video.

Chris Wolf

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Dec 11, 2006, 11:10:15 PM12/11/06
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On Tue, 12 Dec 2006 01:24:44 GMT, "John L. Poole"
<jlp...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

>How are the tables not truly circular? Both tops looked circular in the
>video.

I guess it depends on what part of the table you're looking at. At the
smaller diameter, the outer "shell" is circular, so I guess that
technically their claim is correct. However, at this diameter the
inner section that makes up the most visible "body" of the top is
certainly not circular. The shell has a peculiar shape (six
intersecting arcs) on its inner edge to compensate for this, making
the overall appearance misshapen. At the larger diamter, all the arcs
are correct and you no longer see the top of the shell, so it looks
fine. This may be easier to see in the stills than in the video.

(remove "x" from address for email)

todd

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Dec 12, 2006, 1:20:25 AM12/12/06
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"John L. Poole" <jlp...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:wxnfh.4923$Gr2...@newssvr21.news.prodigy.net...

Put simply, the pieces in the small table have a particular radius on the
curved outer part. Assumedly, this radius is the same as either the radius
of the large table or the small one, but it can't be the same as both.
Personally, if I was doing it, I'd make it such that it is truly circular
when in the larger format.

todd


Flex Flint

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Dec 12, 2006, 5:58:39 AM12/12/06
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damian penney wrote:
> Check out these tables, amazing.

Note: there's two treads reporting these tables, see subject
"Interesting way to build an expanding table."

Link:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.woodworking/browse_frm/thread/c6bf590d5bf8ab6f/4d40cdc1ed16b923?lnk=gst&q=expanding+table&rnum=1&hl=en#4d40cdc1ed16b923
--
Best regards,
Flint

Prometheus

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Dec 12, 2006, 6:36:05 AM12/12/06
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Well, it's in case you have fourteen over for dinner on your yacht-
didn't you read the text? :)

J T

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Dec 12, 2006, 7:04:39 AM12/12/06
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Sat, Dec 9, 2006, 8:39pm (EST-3) dpe...@gmail.com (damian penney)
does sayeth:
Check out these tables, amazing. <snip>

Amacing, clever, yes; and yeah, you'd have extra room if you took
it down to it's smallest size, but then you'd still have the chairs to
worry about. They'd eat up the space "saved", meaning, no space saved.
So you'are talking about an expensive gimmick, invented to solve only
the problem of separating money from people with more money than sense.

If I had enough money to afford a gimmick like that, I'm sure I'd be
able to afford a room large enough to keep it in full size. So, instead
of buying an expensive toy like that, I'd have a really nice one-piece
table instead, with matching chairs.

Now if I just knew where I could find a woodworker I could trust,
to make me a table and chairs, once I get my money.

JOAT
I am, therefore I think.

Roy Smith

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Dec 12, 2006, 9:19:25 AM12/12/06
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In article <AdudnTsi5v0u1OPY...@comcast.com>,
"todd" <tod...@gmail.com> wrote:

I think it would do it the other way -- make it circular in the small
configuration. That way, the perimeter of the large table would be
circular arcs joined by straight lines tangent to the arcs. No sharp
breaks.

If you made it circular in the large configuration, you would get sharp
breaks where the two arcs join.

Of course, the third possibility would be to split the difference and make
the arc radius halfway between the two configurations. Then it would be a
little off when the table was small and a little off in the other direction
when the table was large.

J. Clarke

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Dec 12, 2006, 9:00:11 AM12/12/06
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On Tue, 12 Dec 2006 07:04:39 -0500, J T wrote:

> Sat, Dec 9, 2006, 8:39pm (EST-3) dpe...@gmail.com (damian penney)
> does sayeth:
> Check out these tables, amazing. <snip>
>
> Amacing, clever, yes; and yeah, you'd have extra room if you took
> it down to it's smallest size, but then you'd still have the chairs to
> worry about. They'd eat up the space "saved", meaning, no space saved.
> So you'are talking about an expensive gimmick, invented to solve only
> the problem of separating money from people with more money than sense.

The guy who built the yacht the table goes in already figured that one
out. The table just adds a little profit margin.



> If I had enough money to afford a gimmick like that, I'm sure I'd be
> able to afford a room large enough to keep it in full size. So, instead
> of buying an expensive toy like that, I'd have a really nice one-piece
> table instead, with matching chairs.
>
> Now if I just knew where I could find a woodworker I could trust,
> to make me a table and chairs, once I get my money.
>
>
>
> JOAT
> I am, therefore I think.

--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

Roy Smith

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Dec 12, 2006, 9:24:32 AM12/12/06
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In article <17097-457...@storefull-3337.bay.webtv.net>,
Jakofal...@webtv.net (J T) wrote:

The target market for these is mega-yachts. By definition, the people who
own maga-yachts have more money than they know what to do with, and don't
mind being separated from what you or I would call a good chunk of change
to get what they want. I don't imagine Larry Ellison or Bill Gates would
blink an eye if you told him you were going to charge him $10,000 to build
him an expanding table for his mega-yacht.

Those mega-yachts come with full-time crews to worry about where to put the
extra chairs when you're not using them. For most of us, "Have the
helicopter take them back ashore" isn't a storage option that springs to
mind most of the time.

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