conference room tables

I'm with you about not drilling holes in nice tables. One consideration is that power etc. connections change over the years so allowing for flexibility is best - your shallow conduits that terminate on the underside at each seat seems best, then you don't have an unsightly heap of cables running across the surface either.

John :-#)#

Yeah if the equipment is not a semi-permanent fixture you're better served by installing outlets instead of just making holes and covering them up.

same website has this:

hmm, recycled fortune cookie factories :)

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     ?

+1 to not using those ugly things. Sockets under the tabletop or attached to a leg are fine. I've never understood why some people seem phobic about the idea of a flex on the tabletop going over the edge.

NT

Yeah. I'm fighting hacking holes into nice wood tables.

We are now too sophisticated to occupy former fortune cookie factories. We have moved up to former furniture factories.

Amazing that it didn't burn to the ground decades ago.

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 
picosecond timing   precision measurement  

jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com 
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

If we get custom reclaimed-wood tables, which aren't super expensive, one option would be to have steel u-channel legs, so we could run cables, or install jacks, in the legs, mostly out of sight.

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 
picosecond timing   precision measurement  

jlarkin att highlandtechnology dott com 
http://www.highlandtechnology.com

tabbypurr wrote

Yea:

Aside form the hole for the Polycom on our table, We have a Netgear switch under the table so that any one can plug in. You could put power under there too. Cheers

Remove the table, tell people to charge their laptops and tablets before coming to a meeting, and hold the meetings standing up: You will save the cost of the table, not have to look at the tangle of cords, instill the need for planning, preparation, and organization into the attendees, shorter meetings, and possibly making the room available for more productive activities than meetings: The only problem I can think of is that as fearless leader, you will also be required to stand. (Think of it as an isometric exercise).

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If you did that with those grommets there'd be no desktop space left, it would take 4x as long to set up & alter, and you'd be out thousands of bucks for the grommets.

NT

I hate those little grommets, except perhaps for an individual's desk where equipment seldom gets moved. Much too awkward for a conference room table.

The best conference tables I've seen have a rectangular hinged section about 4" wide running down the middle. When you flip it up, there is a cavity (with power, video and network connex) big enough that you can plug wall-wart power supplies (even the biggish Macbook Pro plug packs) and shut them in. The hinged lid has a 1/2" gap which is closed visually by a brush, like a door draft excluder.

Recommend!

Clifford Heath

Not a good thing, IMO.

My large modular L-shaped office desk has channels underneath that can be slid in and out. _Much_ nicer than holes and grommets. Interestingly, this desk is about 40 years old yet they already understood. No cuts in the veneer whatsoever.

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Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

Like this:

and

Just make sure the trough is deep enough to conveniently stash the cables and power packs.

Clifford Heath

Two words: Harbor Freight :) They have a 4-foot, 12-outlet power strip (Item# 96737) for $25. Sometimes as low as $15 on sale.

Link:

We put two of these on the underside of the conference table; one on each side.

....and then we drilled the hole for the dreaded metal grommet to have a place for the HDMI cable. (I was a proponent of wireless screen cast, but got voted down).

I should probably mention that our conference room table is nothing special. At least I got it re-painted, got rid of the projector, and had a new drop ceiling installed...

Have you not seen these ?

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Those are terrible! We have them in the office desks, but that center lid is usually missing because it has to be taken out to feed the cables through and then replaced, which gets difficult when there are some cables running through (e.g. 2 powercords and 2 monitor cables plus mouse and keyboard). Or it flips out when the cables are moved a little. Then it is usually lost.

Our desks have power distribution at the underside, but that is too inconvenient for use by vistors. It is only used for fixed installation.

Easily remedied even for temporay connections: Slide-out cable trays underneath with spring loaded ports every xx inches. That's what my office desk has and it's 40 years old. Similar color as the wood so not very visible from the side. If not used the port flaps remain up so there aren't any gaps that would show the cables in there. The trays slide out just enough to lay in another cable or plug something in. This also makes sure there are no wild "cable sausages" on the floor or hanging from underneath the table because it all stays nicely tucked under the surface until at a controlled exit point.

--
Regards, Joerg 

http://www.analogconsultants.com/

I don't want to hack a hole in the table, but other people do. This one isn't so bad maybe:

The cover is attached, and we could put a section of wire cableway below, where wall warts and extension cords could be stuffed. Crud and dust would fall through the wire trough onto the floor.

A laptop and a conference phone will be on the table almost always, and their wires could sneak out through the brush. For guests, we'd flip up the door and reach down for the extension cord. They would normally use wi-fi, and we could unplug the HDMI from our laptop and hand it to them.

We are dumping projectors for gigantic TV sets.

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John Larkin         Highland Technology, Inc 

lunatic fringe electronics

OK; lateral thinking loonie idea time....

Is there any way you could make a feature out of dropping cables down from the ceiling to the centre of the table?

Have the table against a wall at one end, and run cables across the table top to the outlets/connectors. Put large and hires monitor against that wall, and use that as a very high quality projector. Simplifies the projector wiring as well as the power wiring.

To avoid knees getting clobbered by socket strips on the underside of the table, mount non-popup versions of these on the floor.

If you have a suspended floor, then bury the power points in floor with a cover on top. See any cubicle farm for details. Makes customers grovel, but that merely gets them into the right frame of mind.

If you don't have a suspended floor, make one 3" high. Also use it for tap-dancing lessons for your employees.

I think you can employ the Golden Rule. He who has the gold makes the rules. But if it were me I would drill the holes in the table and make the table functional