Engineering x Art : Tensegrity Table

Over this latest school break my dad - a mechanical engineer and hobbyist - and I made a "tensegrity table". Unlike a traditional table, there are no rigid pieces that connect the base to the top. Instead, the surface of this table is suspended from its base through a series of tensioned cables which are designed to balance and support the tabletop. While we are hesitant to test the maximum load on this piece, it performs comparably to a normal table in day-to-day use! The surfaces of this table are octagons custom crafted out of Ash wood with each side measuring around a foot. The interlocking “V”s are pieces of 1’ ½’’ aluminum extrusion cut to make a 42-degree angle (a hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy reference my father insisted on). Supporting brackets are used to hold the aluminum extrusion in place, and 1/8 ” cables secure all the suspended pieces. Over the holiday break, we plan to make a smaller version suitable for traveling back to Nashville with me as I return to campus for the spring semester.