How To Make A Wooden Lazy Susan – Ideally, you’d put a plate of food on this Lazy Susan table, but your family needs quick access to bananas. Jean Levasseur
The Lazy Susan, or turntable, is a beautiful and functional addition to your dining room or kitchen. Imagine sitting down to a lavish holiday meal where everyone can use every dish without feeling uncomfortable or asking others to put down their forks and pass the potatoes. And if you build it yourself, you’ll have a conversation starter ready for every meeting
How To Make A Wooden Lazy Susan
At its core, the Lazy Susan is a circular cutting board on top of a smaller circular cutting board, with rotating equipment sandwiched between them. The end result is impressive, but fear not—this is a project that anyone with moderate woodworking skills can tackle. I built mine 18 inches in diameter out of maple with walnut accents, but there are many ways you can customize it. You may want to use different types of wood, rotate the board so that the edge or end grain is visible, or burn designs into the piece. Whatever your personal aesthetic, you can find a way to make a lazy susan feel special to you or the person you made it for.
How To Make A Diy Lazy Susan For Your Table
DIY projects can be dangerous even for the most experienced crafters. Before proceeding with this project or any other project on our site, make sure you have all the necessary safety equipment and know how to use it properly. At a minimum, this may include safety glasses, a face mask, and/or ear protection. If you use power tools, you need to know how to use them safely and correctly. If you are not satisfied with what is described here, do not attempt this project.
1. Cut the boards for the large and small Lazy Susan discs. For the 18-inch and 10-inch diameter hoops, I cut the maple board into four 19-inch pieces for the top and three 11-inch pieces for the bottom. Next, join (or square) the boards so that both ends are parallel to each other and perpendicular to one of the boards. If you don’t have a jointer, you can do this on a table saw.
We have a detailed guide on how to join wood without joints, but I can summarize the basics. First, place the level next to the fence of the table and touch the edge of the table that is more concave to the level. Then position the fence saw so the blade picks up the chip from the other end of the board and pushes the board and level together to make the cut. This creates a straight edge that is perpendicular to the bottom of the board. Next, turn the board over, place the same face down, and cut the other end using a table saw fence like a normal (no level) fence. Do this with all the panel space.
2. Glue the length back together to form the top panel. Spread glue around the edge of each piece of wood and clamp it roughly square, using a pair of under-shape clamps. Then place two more clips on top, about a third of the way in from each end, and tighten. Having clamps on the top and bottom will keep the board from rotating while the glue dries. If desired, you can add staples to ensure a flatter attachment.
Custom Lazy Susan
Tighten the clamp until the glue comes out of all layers. If the glue doesn’t come off, you haven’t used enough. Wipe off as much glue as possible with a damp paper towel while the glue is still wet. This will make life easier when sandboarding later.
3. Glue the short length to form the bottom panel. You should repeat the previous step with a smaller piece of wood.
4. Sand or flatten two flat boards. After the glue has dried according to the manufacturer’s instructions, it’s time to cut the boards. They should be fairly flat, but some of the seams are ridged and misaligned. The easiest way to get the job done is with a large planner, but many people, including myself, don’t have access to a 20 inch wide planner. However, an orbital sander and 60-grit sandpaper is an efficient and DIY-friendly way to line up seams and remove residual adhesive. You can also use a belt sander or a hand plane.
5. Draw your circle. It’s tempting to use the string method to draw a circle: insert the tip into the center of the board, tie a piece of thread around it, and attach a pencil to the thread a radius away from the tip. And honestly, that’s what I did at first. Unfortunately, when I drew my circle, the string was bent and the pencil was slightly bent. Not much, but my “circle” is about a quarter of an inch short of a diameter.
Diy Tabletop Lazy Susan
A good strategy is to use long pieces of wood instead of rope. After you’ve stuck a nail in roughly the center of each board (be sure not to stick the face you want to be on top of the lazy susan), drill a nail-sized hole in one end of the thin piece, the other two big enough for passed through two circles of pencil radius (I’m 5 and 9 inches from the center tip).
When the template is ready, slide the scrap over the top of the large board and methodically rotate the wood to find a large circle. Repeat with a smaller space. The wood doesn’t bend or allow the string to move nearly as well as the pencil, and you have to have two perfect discs.
6. Cut your circle. There are many ways to do this. Circular cutting is easy with a rotary and plunge router. If you have access to it, you can actually skip step 5. But I didn’t have that, I used a jigsaw, a palm router and an orbital sander.
Start by standing outside the line and cutting out one of the circles with the jigsaw. After you’re done cutting, cut on the line with a palm router and cut straight. Take your time with this one so you don’t slip and get cut off in a circle. Finally, clean up all the edges with a random orbital sander and 60-grit sandpaper. If you don’t have the tools, you can use an orbital sander to get to the line, but it may take longer to remove enough material.
How To Make A Wooden Lazy Susan • Whittled Lovelies
7. Pre-drilled holes for swivel hardware. The best drill to use for this step is smaller than the screw shaft included with your turntable kit. Before drilling, center the rotary device on the right side of the board (under the top and bottom board).
The easiest and fastest way to find the center is to draw two diameters perpendicular to each circle. Draw one through the original nail hole using a straight line or level. Then draw a second diameter using the gear box, keeping the straight edge perpendicular to the first line.
Turn each screw hole in the fixture to the diameter line. If you see a line in the middle of each hole, you are in the middle. Mark the location of each pilot hole and drill.
8. Drilling access holes in the bottom board. To properly install the conversion device, first connect to the bottom board, then to the top. However, there is not enough space between them to use a screwdriver or drill, so you will need to make access holes.
Lazy Susan Upgrade To Your Food Slab
To find the right place, place the rotary device on the bottom table. Then rotate the piece of hardware attached to the top board so that the screw hole is through the wood, not the metal. Mark the location, then drill a ¾ inch hole through the bottom board. This will be an access hole so you can attach the hardware to the top board.
(Optional) 9. Insets root to change hardware. It’s not strictly necessary, but it makes installing the hardware easier. When you have marked for the pilot hole, trace the contour of the hardware. Then, using a router and a straight cutting piece, the indented root is equal to the thickness of the metal turning device. This part holds the hardware in place when you try to install it, which is a big help.
10. Two sanded smooth circles. Sanding is the key to creating beautiful wood. At this point in the project, you’ve sanded everything flat with 60-grit sandpaper. Now using an orbital sander to move the rest of the grits: 80, 120, 150 and finally 220. I rarely see myself going above 220-grit and this project was no different. Higher braids are possible
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