Quick Project Guide
Hard labour 3/10
Skill level 4/10
Time needed about four hours
Finished size  ±2470mm (L) x 1525mm (W) x 760mm (H)

Shopping list
Tabletop
• One sheet 16mm supawood cut to: four 137 x 762.5mm
Hinged bases
• eight 2400 x 70 x 22mm and
• two 3000mm pine lengths cut to: twelve 622mm lengths,  eight 1200mm lengths, four 1306mm lengths
Plus
• wood glue
• four T-hinges
• piano hinge
• 70mm chipboard screws
• 16mm chipboard screws
• masking tape
• 60 grit and 120 grit sandpaper
• primer and paint
• paintbrush or foam roller

Tools
• drill
• 10mm spade bit
• 3mm drill bit
• trisquare
• pencil
• measuring tape
• hacksaw
• G-clamps (optional)

Get started

1 Place all eight 1200mm lengths alongside one another, then measure and mark a line across these 70mm from all the ends, on both ends. Use the trisquare to make sure the ends line up before you mark the lines.

2 Now use the 10mm spade bit to drill two countersunk holes at each end of both 1200mm lengths and 1306m lengths.

Place the 10mm spade bit over the width of the plank and wrap a piece of tape around the bit to mark the depth to which you should drill the hole. We drilled ours about 40mm into the 70mm width so that 40mm of the 70mm chipboard screw would extend into the adjoining timber.

3 Fix the 622mm lengths between the ends of the 1200mm lengths and 1306mm lengths to make up the six frames needed for the two fold-away base units (see diagram). Then glue and screw the ends together using the 70mm chipboard screws.

4 Once you’ve constructed all six frames, measure 580mm from one side of the 1200mm lengths to mark the position of the hinges. Now fix the T-hinges to the frames using the 16mm chipboard screws.

5 Measure the lengths of piano hinge needed and cut to size with the hacksaw. Separate the four 1370 x 762.5mm lengths into pairs and lay them side-by-side along their length. Position the piano hinge – overlapping their lengths – and fix in place.

6 Lightly sand the edges of the supawood and then apply a primer using a foam roller. REMEMBER Coat both sides of the boards as well as the edges, completely.

7 Use masking tape to mark out the lines, using the width of the tape as the width of the line. Now paint the darker colour. Apply two coats for a smooth finish.

8 Remove the masking tape to reveal the white lines underneath.

TIP Drill corresponding pilot holes into the ends of the 622mm lengths using a 3mm drill bit. Turn the screws through the 1200mm and 1306mm lengths until they just protrude. Then line up the 622mm lengths at right angles and press the ends of the screws into the ends to mark the positions for the pilot holes.

DID YOU KNOW? The earliest known form of the sport, initially called indoor tennis and also known as ping-pong, was played in the early 1880s by British army officers in India and South Africa, using lids from cigar boxes as paddles and rounded corks from wine bottles as balls with a row of books set up across the middle of a table to form the net.

Project notes
• We used just one sheet of 16mm supawood for the top.
• We used 70 x 22mm pine lengths for the construction of our two foldaway base frames.
• As an alternative, you could use six regular pine trestles (two positioned at each end of the table and two placed at right angles in the middle to support the ‘join’).