Frangible Tabletop Adhesive Frame Assembly to Prevent Drilling Cracks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Drilling into thin, hard, and frangible materials like sintered stone or porcelain tabletops causes cracks or fractures, and attaching plywood for screw attachment leads to warping and increased weight, compromising aesthetics and weight savings.
Innovation Solution
A tabletop system with a metal frame and binder that adheres the tabletop to the frame without penetrating the tabletop, using a binder applied to the frame's rim and traverse members to secure the frame and legs, eliminating the need for screws in the tabletop.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If drilling is used to attach frame and legs to thin hard frangible tabletops, then attachment is achieved, but cracks or fractures occur in the tabletop
Solution Approach 1:
A binder is introduced as an intermediary substance applied to the rim of the metal frame to attach the tabletop. This binder creates a bonding interface between the frame and tabletop without requiring penetrations into the fragile tabletop material, thus achieving attachment while preventing cracks or fractures
Solution Approach 2:
The traditional mechanical attachment method (drilling and screwing) is replaced with a chemical bonding method using a binder. This substitution eliminates the need for mechanical penetrations into the tabletop, resolving the contradiction between achieving secure attachment and maintaining tabletop integrity
2Ease of manufacture
If plywood sheet is glued to tabletop for attachment, then drilling limitation is overcome, but plywood is unsightly and warps/rots outdoors
Solution Approach 1:
The plywood substructure is completely removed from the system. Instead of using plywood as an intermediary attachment layer, the binder is applied directly to the metal frame rim, eliminating the aesthetic and durability problems associated with exposed plywood while maintaining the ability to attach frame and legs
3Ease of manufacture
If plywood is used as substructure, then attachment is enabled, but extra weight diminishes weight savings of thin material
Solution Approach 1:
The heavy plywood substructure is extracted and replaced with a lightweight binder applied only to the frame rim. This eliminates the unnecessary weight while preserving the attachment functionality, thus maintaining the weight savings advantage of using thin tabletop material
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Prevents cracking and fracturing of the tabletop while maintaining weight savings and aesthetics by securing the frame and legs without penetrating the tabletop, ensuring a stable and visually appealing structure.
Implementation Method 1
A binder may be applied only to the rim of the metal frame wherein the top structure is adhered to the rim
Data Source
AI summary
An outdoor table is provided. The table includes a substantially horizontal top structure forming a top surface of the table, having a longest dimension of at most 2300 mm and a shortest dimension of at least 380 mm, and having a substantially uniform thickness of between 3 mm and 20 mm; a metal frame supporting the top structure, where the dimensions of the frame are substantially congruent with, but smaller than, those of the top structure, and comprising at least three penetrations in the bottom of that frame to provide attachment to table legs; at least three table legs; and a binder applied to a top surface of the metal frame, or to the underside of the top structure, opposite to a top surface of the metal frame or both, wherein the top structure is adhered to the frame using only the binder, and where no penetrations are made in the top structure for the attachment of the frame or table legs thereto.