Looking through the glass on a Sunday afternoon I saw a table at a local BBQ supply store I thought was cool. I had driven past the store every day for over 4 years on my commute to work. The following Monday I stopped in on the way home and inquired as to the price. I was astounded to say the least when I was quoted $995. So... being the gullible guy I am, I decided to build one myself.
I got off on the right foot by finding a local supplier that had the steel at what I considered a very reasonable price. I spent ~$60 and I was on my way home thinking about how easy this was going to be, and how much I was going to save.
I got the chop saw and steel tubing out and proceeded to cut it up. Piece of cake... Man I'm going to save a bunch. I drug all of the cut pieces back to the garage and proceeded to weld them together with my wire welder. Boy do I suck at welding! All that savings went completely out the window due to the time I spent cleaning up the welds with a grinder. Not to mention by this time it's nearly 100° outside. I struggled for a couple of weeks before I got everything cleaned up so it looked acceptable.
I welded the side tables on with some barrel hinges and screwed up again. If you use these, pay close attention how they are attached. Don't ask me how I know this but if you weld them wrong, one of the side tables will fall off.
I had been thinking about folding supports for the side tables since about the time I started the project, about a month by now. My Internet searches turned up nothing suitable for this though. I went to the local big orange store bought a 8' piece of steel 1" x 1/8" for material to build my owm supports. In a previous trip to another unnamed local hardware store I remember seeing some 1/4" shoulder bolts that would suit this perfect. I headed back down to unnamed store only to find they wanted $2.80/ea. I only needed 16 of them. Boy, I'm saving money... I got on the phone and after an hour or so found some for about $.45/ea. Even adding the cost of gas to drive across town it was still significantly cheaper and I bought a half dozen extra to boot.
The more I thought about these supports the more complicated they became. What length? Where/how to mount? How do I make sure they don't interfere with the shelf when it was folded down? How do I prevent them from accidentally folding up with a shelf full of food? I thought about the problem quite a bit before I decided to just build one and clamp it in place to test. Working through the problem in my head payed off as I was pretty close on the first guess. To prevent them from accidentally folding I carefully ground the slot for each stop bolt so they open slightly over center.
All of the grinding done, sanded reasonably smooth, supports attached, I proceeded to paint. I'm sure there is a better way, but lacking the equipment, I resorted to rattle cans for paint. It actually turned out looking pretty good.
Onward to the wood top and shelf. This is where I thought I could at least do a decent job. I figured up how much wood I needed and headed to the lumber store. I chose white oak for lack of any other reasonably priced alternative. I got the wood cut up and started glueing it up and found I was about 5 bd/ft short. This project is apparently killing my brain cells too, I thought I was buying extra. Boy, I'm saving money...
I finally get the top, both side shelves and the bottom shelf done. I turned the table over and drilled a 1/4" hole through the bottom of the tubing. Then through the 1/4" hole I center punched the top side of the tubing so I knew where to drill from the top side. I opened up the holes on the bottom side to 1/2" and then screwed the top shelves on with #8 screws and flat washers through those holes. After tightening I backed off 1/4 turn to allow for expansion/contraction of the wood top. Some 1/2" plastic plugs to close the bottom holes made it look professional.
I proceeded to the bottom shelf. Oh *%@$&!. The bottom shelf has to fit into a diagonal hole that is 29 1/2" and the shelf is 30" wide. So much for planning. Boy, I'm saving money... I got my thinnest blade out and ripped it down a glue joint, drilled holes for dowels, and glued it back together inside the frame 3/32" narrower than designed.
Finally done! So that I didn't damage all of my finish work on the top, I got my neighbor to help me set the Egg into the opening. Looks great! Now it needs a cover but there are none to be had that are even remotely close to the size I need. I stop by another BBQ supplier and ask about custom covers and was referred to a local upholstery shop. I called them up, gave them dimensions and sent them a picture. The quote came out to $300 + travel expenses to come measure it. Boy, I'm saving money...
Adding stupidity onto stupidity I decided what the heck and ordered some waterproof marine cover material at a significant cost. No turning back now. Better brush up on my sewing skills because my wife wants nothing to do with this. I'm not sure she knows how to thread the sewing machine. I headed to the local sewing shop and purchased several remnants to practice with. After several practice models and 2 design changes to make it easier to sew, it's finally done!
If I had it to again, I think I could do a better job and do it a lot quicker. My welding skills increased dramatically during the project and that was where a good majority of the wasted time went. But that's the story of my life...
