Acacia table Cracked Frame - repair ideas??

RayTheVillages

My table frame has cracked as shown in the photos :(  

Has anyone suffered this problem and come up with a good solution?

I'm thinking of reinforcing it with a piece of angle steel.  Would like to hide the angle by putting it on the bottom and back side but the cross braces don't allow enough space for that.

I guess another option is to completely disassemble the table and replace that piece of wood.

I contacted BGE but they denied a warranty claim - table is 20 months old and warranty is just one year.

fishlessman

easiest way would be to run another board over it cut to fit between the two front legs, i think you could make it blend that way.  dont have one of these but if the back side is similar in design you could also spin it 180 and put the clad board in back

GrateEggspectations

Rather unfortunate that BGE won’t help you out. You are not that far outside of warranty and seems like you were using it for its intended purposes. I wouldn’t be very pleased. 

Paging @HannahGreeneEgg in case she can help support. 

zaphod

take off the bottom brace (8 screws) and cut the thickness of your angle iron (3/16" maybe) off the front end. put back the brace and you now have room for the angle iron.

Buckwoody Egger

agree with fish.  reinforce the exposed surface with a wood sister or metal brace. then “hide the ugly side”. but if you are out in the open a wood sister glued on the outside and screwed from the interior out would “hide in plain sight” pretty well. 

for the hidden angle iron approach, you could do a little surgical inspection. removing the wood plug on the bottom (surrounded by the split) should tell you what’s going on with the cross member and how much of it may be a tab going into the front piece. or if it is one of those ikea 90 degree hidden fastener jobs. you could then hacksaw the end of the cross member halfway up on the inside to fit angle iron in between. or simpson strong tie pieces for both. 

i picked up one of those tables used because it was wobbly. didn’t love the lack of lock washers or the way the casters wore out.  so instead of looking for a used egg to put in it and worry about i hacked a weber 22” and added a truck box.

if you get into the repair i would reinforce some or at least add lock washers. then hint around for what your next big gift can be (or make your own table)

zaphod

that plug is likely the weak point that caused the crack. is there something behind the plug (screw) otherwise why is it there?

Ybabpmuts

zaphod said:

that plug is likely the weak point that caused the crack. is there something behind the plug (screw) otherwise why is it there?

Bingo. The break radiates from that plug. I think its the root cause of the crack.

Buckwoody Egger

yes Z — i agree and we were replying simultaneously. i am not sure what it is behind that plug but it should be connection to the cross member to take some load to the side board 

alaskanassasin

I’d be going to war with Bge. That some bs and that table is probably not cheap

MaskedMarvel

Be aware - there’s a plug on the other side as well. 

HannahGreeneEgg

GrateEggspectations said:

Rather unfortunate that BGE won’t help you out. You are not that far outside of warranty and seems like you were using it for its intended purposes. I wouldn’t be very pleased. 

Paging @HannahGreeneEgg in case she can help support. 

I've passed this over to our Customer Support to see if there's any help we can provide, realizing that the warranty is only for 12 months. @RayTheVillages - I'll be in touch with what I hear!

Mark_B_Good

As others have said, you want to sister a solid piece of hardwood into the back of that cracked piece, and catch the two legs on the ends.  For extra security, you can probably prop a wood leg under that crack, and tie it into the bottom base (but I know that would probably interfere with egg access, like where ash opening and inlet vent is).

I would at least put support under that crack as a temporary, cause that thing is ready to go ... and you'll have some fairly bad damage to your egg.

Unfortunate place for where that knot in the wood is, right where the load is at it's highest.

GrateEggspectations

HannahGreeneEgg said:

GrateEggspectations said:

Rather unfortunate that BGE won’t help you out. You are not that far outside of warranty and seems like you were using it for its intended purposes. I wouldn’t be very pleased. 

Paging @HannahGreeneEgg in case she can help support. 

I've passed this over to our Customer Support to see if there's any help we can provide, realizing that the warranty is only for 12 months. @RayTheVillages - I'll be in touch with what I hear!

Appreciate the support, Hannah. 

RayTheVillages

HannahGreeneEgg said:

GrateEggspectations said:

Rather unfortunate that BGE won’t help you out. You are not that far outside of warranty and seems like you were using it for its intended purposes. I wouldn’t be very pleased. 

Paging @HannahGreeneEgg in case she can help support. 

I've passed this over to our Customer Support to see if there's any help we can provide, realizing that the warranty is only for 12 months. @RayTheVillages - I'll be in touch with what I hear!

Thanks for your help, looking forward to hearing from Customer Support

RayTheVillages

Alas, I never heard anything from customer support. Disappointed but not surprised really.  

The bottom horizontal board on each side carries the load. They are only 3/4" x 3" which I think is very undersized since the egg itself weighs at least 160 lbs. Especially considering they have some vertical holes further reducing the strength (where mine cracked). Buckwoody is correct - there are no lock washers and Alaska is right - they are expensive, $670 is my recollection.  

I liked fish's idea for a repair. So I found some cedar 1 x 4's and put on a couple coats of Minwax Polyshades satin Pecan.  Jacked up the side for support and glued and screwed them in from the back. Did both sides for strength. 

Pretty pleased with the results!  Thanks guys for all the suggestions!

zaphod

looks like a good fix to me -  Hey mothership - this is one guy who won't be buying your wooden table ... 

Buckwoody Egger

great job and appreciate the follow up post!  should get some longevity out of that fix.