Decide upon the proportions of your table. How big will you make the tabletop? What shape do you want to make your table? How tall should you make your table? Draw all of these on paper, making your own blueprints. Purchase a piece of plywood big enough to serve as your tabletop. You can also purchase two smaller pieces, so long as each piece is larger than half of your tabletop.
Use a circular saw to cut your tabletop to the proper size and shape. If you bought one big piece of wood, cut that piece exactly in half. This is where your table will fold. Sand the edges of your table to make sure they are smooth. You don’t want your guests to get splinters.
Use coupling brackets to make two semi-circles out of curved aluminum pipe. These should be identical so your table is symmetrical. Drill identically placed holes in these semi-circles. Do the same at the top of four pipes of the same length. These are the legs of your table. Make sure the legs of the table are small enough to fit inside the halved tabletop when you fold them. Use wingnuts to attach these together in such a way that the legs will be at a right angle to the table’s top.
Couple the two semicircle pipes with hinges on both sides. Make sure the hinges will lock in position when the tabletop is flat. You don’t want to have a table in which one half of the top is higher than the other.
Screw brackets over the semicircles to attach them to the each of the halves of your tabletop. Check to make sure the table collapses properly and that everything is lining up properly. If it doesn’t, make adjustments until everything is in the right position.
Finish or paint the top of the table to suit your taste. You can use an oil-based stain or acrylic paint to make creative designs. You can put felt on both halves of the table and staple-gun it into place. Once you’ve customized its look, your collapsible table will be a convenient place to entertain.