Barbican Balcony Table Update
Category: Make it yourself
These tables started as something I made for myself. Some neighbours (if that’s you, Hi, thanks for stopping by :-) then expressed an interest, which I had encouraged, thinking, How difficult could it be to produce a short run?
(UPDATE: if you don’t care about the background and just want to buy a table, you can find them here. If you want some context, read on.)
Long story short: it was more difficult than I anticipated. For such a small number, the options were either to find a business that would be prepared to take on the job or to do the work myself, as I had for my own. After some back and forth, I concluded the latter would be optimal. (I had hoped that this notional business could cut pieces from the remnants of their own jobs, but this turned out to be a great-in-theory-less-in-practice idea.)
Then I discovered that not all the glass on Barbican balconies is the same thickness. My initial tables were designed to fit my glass with very little tolerance. As a result, the slots on my initial version are too narrow to hang on the glass on some other blocks. I suspect the dimensions on some balustrades, including mine, are metric (12mm) and some are Imperial (half an inch, approximately 12.5mm).
I adjusted the plans and decided to do a test run. This involved getting one sheet of plywood cut with as many tables as I could fit on it, to not waste material. If these new dimensions worked for all blocks and towers, then I would open up pre-sales for more orders. I brushed up on my Sketchup and got Tetrissing.
I managed to squeeze on five two person tables and one drink shelf. The Sketchup file was sent to the CNC shop and a few days later the pieces were delivered.
Then all I needed was to sand them, as the CNC process leaves harsh edges, and apply a few coats of something to seal the surface. I say all I needed but this was much more work than I had anticipated. So much so that I’m questioning whether I’ll do more after these five.
For the time being, I’m going to see how these are received. Two are already spoken for and I’m going to offer a third to a neighbour who has helped me to get this far. If the remaining two or three sell and there’s still interest for more, I’ll make a decision on whether - and how - to proceed.
Stay tuned.