Saw this originally on pradopoint.com and thought it would be an interesting little project - I'm usually a bunch of thumbs when it comes to this. Anyway, decided to have a go. Some of you might have heard me mumbling about not having a tail-gate while in Wales, and how I missed it's varied functionality, not having an 80-series anymore So I decided to have a play
Raw Materials:
12mm plywood, 1100mm x 500mm
self-tapping screws, nylon hooks, stainless marine hinges, 20mm webbing strap, 3mm shock cord; 500ml spray-on upholstery glue. Most of the stuff came from B&Q except the carpet, marine stainless steel hinges and hooks, which cam from various flea-bay suppliers, mostly Chandlery World (excellent stuff ...)
Decided to varnish the ply and trim the front corners. I didn't like the wood effect, so then decided to cover the ply with car carpet (the stuff used to cover speaker boxes, etc.:
Got SWMBO to help with the fabric cutting (well, what do I know about mitred corners: ). Fully covered table. NB: Ensure the glue you use dries to be transparent - the stuff I got doesn't, so had to be careful with gluing
Figuring out the hinge layout:
Oooh - drilling holes in the rear door moulding - ouch!! Trap the folded over 20mm webbing under the nylon hooks and screw it all down with 30mm self-tappers...
Marking up and drilling for the centre hinge - drill right through the steel - ensure no clips etc. are in the way:
Table fitted!!
Table folded away for travel:
Anyone for tea??
Worthwhile exercise - SWMBO thinks it's great! Total cost, about £30 - I paid more in total, because I had to buy a roll of carpeting, a whole tin of varnish, whole tin of glue etc... some of which will be reused on other exciting projects (next up is a packing system...). I had fun, though!
Raw Materials:
12mm plywood, 1100mm x 500mm
self-tapping screws, nylon hooks, stainless marine hinges, 20mm webbing strap, 3mm shock cord; 500ml spray-on upholstery glue. Most of the stuff came from B&Q except the carpet, marine stainless steel hinges and hooks, which cam from various flea-bay suppliers, mostly Chandlery World (excellent stuff ...)
Decided to varnish the ply and trim the front corners. I didn't like the wood effect, so then decided to cover the ply with car carpet (the stuff used to cover speaker boxes, etc.:
Got SWMBO to help with the fabric cutting (well, what do I know about mitred corners: ). Fully covered table. NB: Ensure the glue you use dries to be transparent - the stuff I got doesn't, so had to be careful with gluing
Figuring out the hinge layout:
Oooh - drilling holes in the rear door moulding - ouch!! Trap the folded over 20mm webbing under the nylon hooks and screw it all down with 30mm self-tappers...
Marking up and drilling for the centre hinge - drill right through the steel - ensure no clips etc. are in the way:
Table fitted!!
Table folded away for travel:
Anyone for tea??
Worthwhile exercise - SWMBO thinks it's great! Total cost, about £30 - I paid more in total, because I had to buy a roll of carpeting, a whole tin of varnish, whole tin of glue etc... some of which will be reused on other exciting projects (next up is a packing system...). I had fun, though!