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I mean really, it's not a hard problem to solve is it? This table has four little rubber feet on it, or it's meant to, and these things frequently come off. Why do they continue to make them like this? It's infuriating!
I'm posting this in the hope that someone on STW works for a commercial furniture manufacturer and is able to explain it.
I think the bushings are shot
Tables are fine it's the floors that are uneven
Prove me wrong
Just use tables with three legs, problem that has been solved many times in human history!
Because floors can be uneven and tables get moved around lots so it could be all sorted and nicely levelled one day, then the seating arrangement is changed and it's back to being wobbly again.
For years I cleaned and set up a cafe space with ten four legged (dont ask) tables on an uneven flag floor. Every day Id get the tables sorted, in the right place with no wobbles. Plenty space between them. Every group of people who sat down would then move them slightly, not the chairs, the tables, so they wobbled. Then they wedged them wit bits of paper napkins, sweetie wrappers etc.
Drove me mad.
because they have 4 legs
Blatant attempt to get "thread of the week" status.
Usally old re-used furniture, OR 'retro' floor or creaky uneven boards, or speedily laid tiles. Add to that the need to move them frequently, usually to tidy up after someone with kids has been and destroyed the area.
But yeah, it's annoying.
What's the biggest table you could have with three legs? Is there a limit?
What’s the biggest table you could have with three legs? Is there a limit?
We’ve got a fairly large circular table with 1 leg but 3 feet. I’ve seen the same design but bigger then ours. Not sure exactly how big but easily 8-10 people.
Tables are fine it’s the floors that are uneven
Prove me wrong
I can, easily. I've investigated this on several occasions, and often it is the little rubber feet that have broken off. This cafe is a modern retail shed having been built about 6 months ago. It has a textured laminate floor laid over flat smooth concrete. The table has one leg, but the base is a disc which has the rubber feet on. Why four??! None would work fine, five, six, eight, would all work, but why not just a big piece of rubber on the bottom? Why four small feet? It's the worst possible configuration.
Maybe it's to allow air to flow under it when they mop the floor - ok that's fine, but just put loads of small feet on there and/or make decent sized feet that don't break off or fall out.
This table has four little rubber feet on it
And you're trying to fit it to a 3-dimensional surface. You have to match the number of table legs to the number of dimensions in your universe.
What’s the biggest table you could have with three legs? Is there a limit?
Maths problem!
I'm going to say there's no limit if it's evenly loaded i.e. each segment has a similar distribution, because the weight at the most vulnerable point mid way between two feet would be counteracted by the weight on the other side. Presumably you have a maximum anticpiated weight to be placed on the edge at the vulnerable point which would be the same as the rest of the table that is the other side of the chord passing between those two feet.
And you’re trying to fit it to a 3-dimensional surface.
Two dimensional - the floor is dead flat.
Yeah, but we're talking in a restaurant or cafe, where it could have any number of random people sat round it with plates of food and drinks scattered about. Elbows leaning on it. Auntie Maggie jumping up for an impromptu bit of karaoke in her stilettos.. little Charlie crawling underneath to find his blankie... etc. 😛
Maths problem!
Structures problem. The answer theoretically is no, though whether a table 5 miles by 3 miles would be practical is open to debate.
And you’re trying to fit it to a 3-dimensional surface. You have to match the number of table legs to the number of dimensions in your universe.
But tables already have 4 legs?
Because floors can be uneven and tables get moved around lots so it could be all sorted and nicely levelled one day, then the seating arrangement is changed and it’s back to being wobbly again.
This is, in theory, the sensible answer, except it's not.
My kitchen table doesn't wobble. Never has. None of my previous table/room combos have ever wobbled. I've just been to check on the tables in the work kitchen and they don't wobble. My work desk doesn't wobble and none of the ones around me do either. I haven't spent any time in my life at all de-wobbling tables unless I'm in a restaurant or cafe. My father used to plane things down regularly, to make things fit. I don't remember him working on tables ever. Doors, yes, they were almost a hobby to him. Tables and chairs, no.
Tables don't wobble anywhere, other than in restaurants and cafes. So, back to the original question.
5 dimensions in my universe.
Spring load the feet in relation to the legs for the four leg tables?
Tables wobble but they don't fall down.
I think your beef here is with the adhesive company that's responsible for the sticking of the rubber feet. It seems that this is the sticking point in this situation.
Whenever I make a table, if size allows,I put it onto the surface of the table saw(I know right!) which is the largest, and most likely to be flat machined cast iron thing in the place.
If it wobbles after that, it's your floor pal.
But as above, 3-legged tables for the win.
Tables don’t wobble anywhere, other than in restaurants and cafes. So, back to the original question.
I used to have a wobbly table in my house. It annoyed me so much I replace it (it sat on one big square "foot" which had warped over time and was no longer flat). Our office "kitchen" tables also wobbled - but are essentially cafe tables. So I think your hypothesis may be wrong - but people who are transient visitors to such tables have no vested interest in a proper fix. I've also eaten in plenty of cafe's and restaurants that don't have wobbly tables.
Now your original question was closer to the mark - why do cafe furniture makers not solve this problem? I'm guessing there are two main factors: 1. do cafe owners actually see the product for real before buying - or is it from a catalogue; 2. if the feet start to fall off after months can they be bothered to complain each time it happens. It may also be that they get dragged around by customers or staff more often and more roughly than you would at home or in an office so the feet get ripped off.
The real question - is why would a cafe owner not just have a supply of spare feet to stick back on.
Also, furniture in cafes and restaurants is designed to be annoying and uncomfortable so that you only stay long enough to eat your food.
It's my belief that the wobble is engineered in.
Why four??! None would work fine, five, six, eight, would all work
I don't think they would.
Take a table with equal length legs on a convex edge-of-a-cylinder surface.
3 legs work because if one foot is off the ground then the table can pivot around the line between the ends of those legs until the 3rd leg hits the ground.
With four legs as the table pivots around a line between the two legs on the ground to put the 3rd leg down, the other leg raises off the ground. It's possible to rotate the table so that the legs are in exactly the right position around the curve - but that will be broken if the table is moved.
5 legs will kind of work. The table can pivot around the line between legs 1 and 3 to put perhaps leg 5 down. This will leave legs 2 and 3 off the ground - so like a 3 legged table with the legs not symmetrically round the table. Because the weight of the side on the ground is higher that the other it still won't wobble.
6 legs won't always work. If legs 1 and 4 (i.e. opposite each other) are on the ground and legs 2,3,5 and 6 not (and this depends on the orientation of the table) then it can pivot to put either leg 2 or 3 down - but this raises legs 5 and 6. The table can now rock backwards and forwards between leg 2 or 3 and leg 5 or 6.
More legs are like 5 or 6 if odd or even - but becoming more rocky as you get more legs.
Your table with one big foot would also wobble on this floor.
I think your beef here is with the adhesive company that’s responsible for the sticking of the rubber feet. It seems that this is the sticking point in this situation.
No, with the cafe companies who continue to buy the damn things even though they're proven to become wobbly. And the table companies who spec rubbish feet.
@sl2000 yes for legs on a curved surface. However I was thinking of tables where the feet can be one detached. Start with 5, lose one, you're still ok.
Tables wobble but they don’t fall down.
Goddamn that DJ made my day
Four-legged tables are pretty good, but three-legged tables rock!
(Can't believe I had to make that joke, here, don't tell me you all declined to because it's not funny or something.)
I’m posting this in the hope that someone on STW works for a commercial furniture manufacturer and is able to explain it.
I was going to say explanations won't help stop the wobble. However you could print the explanation out on a sheet of paper, fold the paper up a few times and then wedge that under the wobbly leg. HTH!
The answer theoretically is no, though whether a table 5 miles by 3 miles would be practical is open to debate.
Might be a long time waiting for someone to pass the salt
Four-legged tables are pretty good, but three-legged tables rock!
No three legged tables are generally stable but four legged have a tendency to rock if floor is uneven (even slightly) or a rubber foot has fallen off. This principle that describes this is structural redundancy which is why four legged 'tables wobble but they don't fall down'.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redundancy_(engineering)
Edit: more direct reply to the OPs problem: poor quality table. Is the coffee great there? If not does another cafe have less annoying furniture?
How long do we have to keep this going for thread of the week status?
I think you've been de-feeted
Hover tables are the future
Do tables wobble in Japanese cafés?
There was a brand of floor polishing machines where all the customers in Japan complained that once every hour, the motor would drip one drop of oil onto the newly polished floor, so it had to be done again. But only in Japan. They looked at how the machines were shipped, the Japanese translation of the maintenance instructions, etc, everything they could think of (short of asking Singletrack) for why only the machines in Japan dripped oil.
Eventually, they discovered that all the machines dripped oil, but only the Japanese customers had the expectation of quality that drove them to complain. Café tables wobble because nobody cares enough to stop them wobbling.
I went in a cafe on Skye a few years back and spotted a massive but empty table. I asked if I could sit there but the staff told me it was reserved for a local. I asked who and they just said it was Macleod's
Wobbly tables can be fixed with maths.
I’ve investigated this on several occasions
Drinking yourself under the table is not ‘investigation’
The trick to making a four legged table that doesn’t rock is simply to make sure the table isn’t too rigid. If it can flex a bit all four feet stay in the ground.
To stop people dancing on them
The answer theoretically is no, though whether a table 5 miles by 3 miles would be practical is open to debate.
Might be a long time waiting for someone to pass the salt
ideal for social distancing though
It's a result of the waiting on staff having sex on them after hours....direct from an industry insider😉
My dining table rocks badly - but that due is to an uneven floor
As regards molgrips cafe my bet is its two things. 1) tables get moved around a lot and thus th efeet get dislodged - this is much higher usage / wear than you would get in a domestic setting and 2) cafes watch costs so do not buy expensive tables with high quality feet
Eating out wouldn't be quite the same without a wobbly table.
And perfect if dessert is a wibbly wobbly jelly.
Agree @tjagain but why do manufacturers even make tables with those crappy little feet that always fall off?
Café tables wobble because nobody cares enough to stop them wobbling.
This is the answer. The people affected by it aren't the people who can do anything about it. Which is sadly very common
Four-legged tables are pretty good, but three-legged tables rock!
Can't believe I delivered this joke the wrong way round 🤦♂️ Still, it's probably funnier that way.
Can’t believe I delivered this joke the wrong way round 🤦♂️ Still, it’s probably funnier that way.
It's ok. Either way is about the same...
😉😂👊
Tables for cafes and restaurants are not bought by the user. Same for any commercial supplier.
the manafacturer, ultimately, doenst give a toss whether the product is any good. The buyer isnt using them. They are bought a price point and built at a lower price point, and designed for less again. They need to look ok in a catalogue or with a quick glance over.
A lot of relatively expensive shiney stainless steel thrown together in the hundreds by the cheapest monkey who could drive a welder they could find.
Also, the user is GOING to break them, so why spend any more on a quality product?
Semi disposable.
Its like Vans getting crap paint jobs. theyre going on a fleet, the fleet manager isnt paid enough to care, the users are going to trash them anyway.
Drive down the bottom line.
They're not wobbly they're too stiff, which stops the table being able to bend enough that all 4 legs can make contact with the floor.
Wobbly tables can be fixed with maths.
Wow. I learnt something new today. Cheers <clinks beer glass>.