Affordable Bonsai Turn Table

[Bonsaiforest]

Found this aluminium lazy-susan on ebay. For the quality they are really good for the price. On the web page you can choose different sizes...when you read the item description you'll see that they hold an amazining amount of weight for their size, the smallest is going for a little over $9.00 including free postage. I purchased the 12ich for $18.69 & it took a couple of weeks to arrive.

Here's the link
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/301921014592 ... EBIDX%3AIT

Found an old chopping board (14 inch) x ( inch & 1/2 thick) in a council clean up. Took it home dried it out & and sanded out to make it level, as well as remove all of the scratches & cut marks. It was a light coloured board without much character, so I stained it with a rich oak then covered with three coats of polyurethane. Decided against the little white plastic feet as I didn't want it slipping around on my bench. So fashioned my own rubber feet out plastic rod from the hobbie store & bits and pieces that I found at Supercheap auto. All up it only cost me between $25 to $30 + a little time.

I'm definitely going to get a lot of use out of this for my smaller to medium size trees.

Hope you like it.

[Pearcy001]

Nicely done! Will the top coat scratch when pots are moved around it?

Sent from my SM-G920I using Tapatalk

[Bonsaiforest]

Probably... But the polyurethane that I used is for hardwood floors so pretty durable & will easily handle rainy days as well. If it ends up too badly scratched & I don't like the look of it any more, then I'll just give it a light sand and another coat or two to bring it back to life.

[melbrackstone]

fantastic macgyvering!!

[thoglette]

Nice serious table for larger trees.

For littler ones, the IKEA snudda "lazy susan" works well for little $

[shibui]

I'm assuming this is designed to hold a tree while you work on it. I also made something similar but it is difficult to work on the tree with no brake. The tree keeps moving as you try to wire or reach in to make a cut towards the centre

See how you go with it and whether you can work out how to add an ingenious, easy to use braking device to hold it still while doing intricate work on the tree

[Bonsaiforest]

give me time shibui....will take a little bit to figure out but I'll post when done....that is of course if I can figure it out

[Paul W]

WHERE DID YOU GET THE ROUND CIRCULAR BIT

[Bonsaiforest]

Hey Paul .... the aluminium lazy susan ring is listed on ebay.

Just click on the link below

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/301921014592 ... EBIDX%3AIT

I made the feet out of bits and pieces that I picked up from a local hobby store, bunnings & supercheap auto. hope that helps

Cheers

[peterb]

Hey bonsaiforest
where you put your feet , could you perhaps bolt a plate with a hole through it sticking out and another plate to the board then line them up and have a pin that slides through both to lock it in one position
peterb

[melbrackstone]

I have to admit I'm still using my Ikea snudda from 30 years ago.

Hey bonsaiforest
where you put your feet , could you perhaps bolt a plate with a hole through it sticking out and another plate to the board then line them up and have a pin that slides through both to lock it in one position
peterb

Sounds like a plan!!!

[shibui]

could you perhaps bolt a plate with a hole through it sticking out and another plate to the board then line them up and have a pin that slides through both to lock it in one position

Won't that limit locking to only one position? Sort of defeats the whole idea of being able to turn the tree and work on all sides as needed doesn't it?
I think the lock needs to operate at any point as the top is turned.

[Daluke]

IKEA sell lazy Susan's for $12

[Paul W]

Thanks Bonsaiforest,did not think of fleabay, you can get all sizes I see

[peterb]

That's right Shibui, it would but not sure how else unless you have a bottom base same size as top and dril a hole in top and multiple holes in bottom. Can't think of any other way. The tables I make have a brake that locks into the shaft in the middle, but they're a fair bit dearer at $160
Peterb