Another base design question--check my process?

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

I need to design and build this base.  I know that the faces each need two 60* faces cut into them so that they can be glued together.

My plan, for now, is to glue up the three leg assemblies, two pieces each, joined with floating tenons.

Then with a sled, cut all the feet to the same angle and the tops to the same angle.

To get those 60* cuts on the joining faces, I'm thinking of a sled to hold the leg assemblies in place to run them over the table saw blade set at 60*.

By sled I mean a piece of plywood that runs against the fence with stops screwed to it to hold the pieces in place, just like what you'll see in just about any Foureyes video on YouTube.

Any thoughts or suggestions?  See any flaws with my thinking?

[Scoony]

Took a minute to visualize, but I think I see your process. I would probably screw 4 strips of wood so that each section had a strip on either side. I would think that one sled could work for both cuts. Make the top and bottom cuts on all three legs, then set the blade to the angle and make those cuts. I would use a separate narrow strip of ply against the fence that the ends of the legs would ride over to eliminate the need to attach runner strips.

[MstrCarpenter]

I need to design and build this base.  I know that the faces each need two 60* faces cut into them so that they can be glued together.

My plan, for now, is to glue up the three leg assemblies, two pieces each, joined with floating tenons.

Then with a sled, cut all the feet to the same angle and the tops to the same angle.

To get those 60* cuts on the joining faces, I'm thinking of a sled to hold the leg assemblies in place to run them over the table saw blade set at 60*.

By sled I mean a piece of plywood that runs against the fence with stops screwed to it to hold the pieces in place, just like what you'll see in just about any Foureyes video on YouTube.

Any thoughts or suggestions?  See any flaws with my thinking?

It looks like the two pieces that make up the legs are joined at something less than 90°, (although it doesn't really matter) and will be taking the most stress from loads on the tabletop forcing the leg bottoms apart. I would just glue the miter together then drill for, and install longer dowels. (The exposed ends will be buried later.)

The sled can just be a piece of flat plywood that rides against the fence, with an isosceles triangle (two equal sides) on top that matches the leg assemblies. When the blade is set to 30° the fence can be moved left or right to adjust the length of the bevel cut. Because we made sure the base of the triangle is parallel to the sled and thus the fence, we can just flip the leg assembly over, cut the other side, and end up with a perfectly centered 120° wedge. Three of these will join perfectly together on the first try. 


I think the dowels will overcome the stress on the individual legs, but the same stress will be present where the legs join. I was thinking of good way to reinforce this joint and the best I came up with was cutting a couple dados across the three 120° "wedges" and assembling with triangle shaped (for lack of a better description) floating tenons.

How and when to cut the legs to final length is up to you; but I'm thinking that isosceles triangle you cut earlier might come in handy about now.

This is actually a challenging piece to construct. You'll do all the precise milling, tweak the angles for a perfect fit and appearance, then choose and apply a finish that won't distract from the clean lines. All to produce a eloquently simple table; perfectly suited to display the finest of artwork.

Good luck, and remember this is supposed to be fun.