I have been planning for some time to build a pedestal table to complement my Xenon Pedestal. The design I came up with references my Carbon hall table except that it uses an aluminum joint instead of the cast concrete joint that joins carbon’s legs to its top.

The design called for a 3″ square piece of aluminum which comes twelve feet long. It is quite substantial and about as much weight as I can comfortably carry on my own.

Here the profile of the joint to be is scribed in a red layout dye on the end of the aluminum chunk.

The aluminum is roughly sawn to size on the table saw utilizing a special blade specifically designed to cut non-ferrous metals. This quickly hogs out a lot of material and creates a useable cutoff.

Next stop is the horizontal mill, where the aluminum is precisely milled to size. The flood coolant helps prevent the chips from getting so hot that they weld themselves back to the part.

This quickly generates a whole pile of chips!

Next the mill is switched to a slab cutter utilizing the overarm. The 45º face is milled.

The fastening holes are drilled and tapped on the vertical mill and the results are: two finished parts

The Brackets are eventually sanded and integrated into the table. The Torus table features a concrete base and stainless steel cables.

The aluminum joint is a great addition to my repertoire, I will definitely be working this way again!