Toy Train Table Plans - Giving a Homemade Gift
There is nothing more special when you are a child then getting a gift that was made especially for you by someone that you love.
These gifts are special, not only because they were tailored to your size and interests, but because of the love that went into their construction.
If you would like to create this type of happy memory for your child, grandchild, niece or nephew, then this year use toy train plans to build an activity table.
Selecting a Toy Train Table Plan for Your Project The first step in building an activity table is to find plans that will meet the needs of your special little one.
To start with look at their size.
The table will need to be low enough for them to reach nearly all parts of the table top, but tall enough to make the table viable for several years.
Next you will need to find a table plan that will fit in the designated play area.
This can be a challenge, especially if you live in a small house or an apartment.
Modifying the Design While most toy train table plans are going to have the same basic shape, the space you have available for the table may not work with the shape or size of the table in the plans.
Fortunately you can modify the design plans with a ruler, a pencil and tracing paper.
Size modifications are going to be the easiest to do.
All this involves is scaling math.
For example, if you want to reduce the size of a table you will just multiply a scaling factor by each of the table's dimensions, i.
e.
if you want to keep the height of the table the same but want to scale down the table's top by 25 percent, then you will multiple the length by .
25 and the width by .
25.
In this example if the original dimensions were 36" by 48" the scaling would be 36 X .
75 = 27 and 48 X .
75 = 36 which would produce a table top of 27" X 36".
If you need to change the shape of the table, you will need to do slightly more problem solving.
For odd shaped rooms or nooks, you may need to dissect one of the square corners of a rectangle shaped table to make it fit.
An easy way to do this is to lay down a large sheet of butcher's paper or drawing paper and create a template for the layout of the corner the table will be placed.
You can then use this template to modify the design of the table.
These gifts are special, not only because they were tailored to your size and interests, but because of the love that went into their construction.
If you would like to create this type of happy memory for your child, grandchild, niece or nephew, then this year use toy train plans to build an activity table.
Selecting a Toy Train Table Plan for Your Project The first step in building an activity table is to find plans that will meet the needs of your special little one.
To start with look at their size.
The table will need to be low enough for them to reach nearly all parts of the table top, but tall enough to make the table viable for several years.
Next you will need to find a table plan that will fit in the designated play area.
This can be a challenge, especially if you live in a small house or an apartment.
Modifying the Design While most toy train table plans are going to have the same basic shape, the space you have available for the table may not work with the shape or size of the table in the plans.
Fortunately you can modify the design plans with a ruler, a pencil and tracing paper.
Size modifications are going to be the easiest to do.
All this involves is scaling math.
For example, if you want to reduce the size of a table you will just multiply a scaling factor by each of the table's dimensions, i.
e.
if you want to keep the height of the table the same but want to scale down the table's top by 25 percent, then you will multiple the length by .
25 and the width by .
25.
In this example if the original dimensions were 36" by 48" the scaling would be 36 X .
75 = 27 and 48 X .
75 = 36 which would produce a table top of 27" X 36".
If you need to change the shape of the table, you will need to do slightly more problem solving.
For odd shaped rooms or nooks, you may need to dissect one of the square corners of a rectangle shaped table to make it fit.
An easy way to do this is to lay down a large sheet of butcher's paper or drawing paper and create a template for the layout of the corner the table will be placed.
You can then use this template to modify the design of the table.
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