Couch table extension for IKEA Råskog

Råskog Extension Table

This is an extension table for the IKEA Råskog trolley that can slide over your couch or armchair to keep books, phones or tablets at viewing height. It's also nice for chairs where you don’t want to attach a table directly to the armrest, like swing chairs or rocking chairs, and for couches that have very asymmetrical or no armrests.

I use this mainly for family video calls where I don't want to hold my phone the entire time, for watching movies on a tablet or for needlework that I want close by. I've been using a wooden prototype in the past year and have finally gotten around to creating a proper model for this.

The design blends in with the trolley itself and uses the same size tubes as the original trolley. You can attach IKEA’s NORRÅVA lid/tabletop to it or use a custom tabletop.

This is an OpenSCAD design. It’s parametric and you can adjust it to your needs, e.g. for a smaller printer or different trolley size.

Printing

The table consists of four different parts and they all fit on a 256mm x 256mm print bed

• Clamp: table-facing side

• Clamp: trolley-facing side

• Right bracket

• Left bracket

I printed all parts in PLA at 0.2mm layer height and with 6 wall loops and 25% infill for extra stability. For the brackets I used adaptive layer height.

No supports are needed.

The brackets are flattened so they can be printed lying on the side. All screw holes include slack for the printer and have a teardrop shape so the top prints cleanly.

Non-printed Parts

Because the table needs to bear some weight, especially when you pull the trolley around by the table, metal screws are used instead of printed ones. The table is designed to use components you can find in a small local hardware store. They also very closely match the look and feel of the original IKEA hardware (M5 carriage bolts and acorn nuts) but are longer so they work with the thicker 3D printed parts. No extra tools are needed for assembly; you can use the ones that came with the Råskog!

You’ll need:

• 6 carriage bolts for attaching the clamp to the trolley

  • M5 (DIN 603), 30mm long

  • These have a round 13.55mm diameter head that's 3.3mm high. They also have a square inlet with 5.48mm side length and 4.1mm height.

  • If you find a 30mm bolt that is slightly thinner and has a smaller head, it should also work.

• 6 matching nuts

  • M5 hex nuts or acorn nuts

• 6 matching washers

  • 15mm outer diameter or a bit smaller

  • Inner diameter 5.3mm or something else that fits the bolts you're using

• 4 wood screws for attaching the tabletop

  • Thread should be at least 20mm long (the bracket already takes up 14.8mm of that). This depends a bit on the tabletop you're using.

  • Flat head (no countersink)

  • Head diameter smaller than 10mm.

• Tabletop of your choice

  • Any small tabletop you like will work!

  • The IKEA NORRÅVA lid works great and has dimensions of 42cm by 31cm

  • I myself have laser cut one from a template that's a bit like the NORRÅVA, but shorter and with a handle for pulling. The template is attached as an .svg if you want to use it.

  • If you have access to a large printer, you could also print a tabletop based on the .svg.

Assembly

Assembling the table is pretty straightforward: You insert the 6 screws into the printed clamp around the trolley at the desired height (make sure to use the clamp part with the square cutouts for the table-facing side), then insert the two printed brackets into the clamp and tighten the screws.

In a second step you attach the tabletop.

Notes

This has been a lot of fun to design and I've learned a lot about OpenSCAD, the BOSL2 Library, 3D print considerations and names for the different types of screws I have lying around the flat.

I hope this design is helpful for some people and you’ll get some use out of it!