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Table-tables

We heard you like tables so we put tables on your tables so you can sit on a table while you sit on a table.

Problem

Chaos events is what we love. You get some tables, you get some power, and than you hack on. But there is never enough space. And way to much of that scarce space is taken by ugly power cables. Can we overcome this with engineering? And let it look nice, please.

Solution

History

This project was inspired by tables on tables at the assembly of the Backspace Bamberg. We started by simply putting some tables on the tables (I think it were Lack by Ikea), binding them together. There were several issues. Power cables were no longer on the tables - now they were on the table-tables. That was better, but still ugly. Strapping tripple power sockets to the tables' legs did not really improve the overall look. A better solution was needed. We attached some LED strips to the tables as well, but that was not really nice, either. And the worst of all: the table-tables were blocking the view. You could not communicate with people on the other side of the table any longer. That is a catastrophe for an assembly!

So a better solution was needed. We had to construct longer legs for the tables, so that we could see people on the other side under the table plates. And since we were building our own legs, they seemed like a decent place to put power distribution - can you even have too many sockets? Our trusty laser cutter was used to construct legs broad enough to screw two tables on one leg and broad enough to hold 230 V sockets. The power is patched through from leg to leg using Kaltgerätestecker (the ones you know from desktop computers in Germany). And they got a nice black colouring, too!

Producing the boards ourselves would be possible, but they would not be cheaper than simply falling back to the good old Swedish supplier. We are using Kallax boards from Ikea. Under the boards we glued Velcro tape; here we can attach prepared LED strips and some conduits to hold the wires. They can be detached for better storage.

And while we are at it, we designed some special purpose Legs: One holds the LED strip controller, so that we can easily change mood of the light on our table-tables. There is also a 12/5 V version of the power Legs; hacking often requires lower voltages. We even have single width Legs which just hold up the boards without any additional capabilities (for the terminal Legs).