Can this table be made with an indexer for under $30
 

We buy these tables for $25-$30 from guys who sell them by the roadside in our neighbouring country, Mozambique. I think the folding legs, hand-carved from a single log, are amazingly clever. (The top diameter is about 20").

Gerald I don't have an indexer but I've repaired a couple of those tables for a friend that brought them home from Africa. I had to drill and insert 1/4" pins where they had cracked (from rambunctious (sp?) children) in the cross grain section as can be seen in the 5th picture down. Anyway I always thought they where a clever design also. If you could use a wood that was less likely to split or crack across grain, or perhaps use a penetrating epoxy it would prove a stronger design.

Gerald,

At one time I wrote some code to do both a wooden chain and a "ball and cage" on a conventional shopbot. With an indexer I feel sure that could be "carved". There might be a little work needing to be done with conventional carving tools. I did leave a bit of material needing to be done by hand with the chain and ball in cage on purpose.

Ron Brown

Gerald clever design indeed. The other thing of interest is that this is build from a piece of log.Most people would take board from a "round" tree glue them into a square and turn it round before starting to carve. Working with raw wood make sense economically and aesthetically.
Happy new year. Long live your Forum