Table support in front of Sprinter

In 2012 I built a table support for the front of our Mercedes Sprinter between the swivel seats that fits into the Sprinter storage slot below the heating controls.  It was built to support a table large enough to eat on and a smaller table to hold a 15″ laptop computer.  We have a table for eating in the back and so in fact seldom use the one up front.  However, the laptop is always on the smaller table where we use it while driving for GPS (Copilot), for general computer work from the passenger seat while driving, and when stopped I turn the driver seat towards the center and work on my photos.  Also see photos at the bottom of this page. The laptop table together with the counter behind the driver seat works well for lunch. 

The wood table support is made with layers of plywood glued together.  It fits into a dash compartment that is meant for a radio or to store things.  The strut below supports a lot of weight on the table without introducing too much torque on the dash.

Below see photos with titles taken January 2018 and a dimensional diagram.  The strut below is made from metal conduit that fits inside schedule 40 PVC pipe.  There is wood dowel plug in the bottom of the pipe and a screw in the wood that fits into a hole in the floor. I used a router to make a slot in the side of the part that goes in the dash to make room for cables. One cable is for usb3 to a 6TB drive that I put on the shelf over the visor. The part that goes into the dash is under size and I use some large pan-head screws to adjust the size to fit on one side and the bottom. I hold it in with some wires on the bottom.  The big knob on the end keeps the table from turning but we seldom use that.  The Dell docking station requires only one cable to the laptop to provide power and data, making it easy to remove and hide for keeping cool and security when parked.

The post to the floor is far enough forward that even with my long legs I can rotate either front seat while sitting in it. With the laptop in place either of us can get out of our seats and go the the back without rotating the seat (we do need to push them all the way back, however).

Questions?  Use the comments below.

-- David Elmore