Serving tray stand

[phi1l]

I expect this is a long shot, but here goes. I need to make a serving tray stand that will put tray at the height of my grill. I thought I would use a single cross buck design, with the cross buck interlaced and made from a single piece of 2x4 sized wood. Below are a couple of pictures of a very rough prototype of the joint. The key to getting this to work right is the dimensions & angles of the diagonal cut right so that it will open to the desired angle. This prototype obviously opens way too much for my purposes. My question is: Has anyone worked enough with this type of pivot to come up with design data to cut one of these so that it will open to the desired angle?

[Richard in Smithville]

I wonder if this link might help you?

http://www.canadianhomeworkshop.com/...d=3075&la_id=1

[cabinetman]

What you might try is to draw in full scale the view of the parts in the open position showing the contact line. If you get it close on paper, you can likely cut the parts out (the old paper template trick) and see how they rest in the closed position. You can always do your modifying on paper first...it's cheaper than wood...and easier to cut.
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[cgallery]

This is definitely thinking outside of the box. Can't wait to see progress.

[Wood_workur]

No matter what, your open angle will ALWAYS vary slightly. The way I'd get to where you want from within ten degrees is to file the parts that come into contact. I can highlight a pic if you don't understand.

[LarryG]

An interesting little design problem! If you can supply a few key dimensions, I would be happy to work this out with our CAD software. That will be far faster and more accurate than any other method.

Send me a PM if interested, and we'll work it all out before posting it here.