So after the neccessary consideration, here is my modified plan. It delays things by only a couple of days since I have to get a few more pieces of lumber and 8 more of my leg level T-nut and bolt assembles, and the necessary washers, nuts and bolts to join tables, but the biggest change ended up being that there will be 4 smaller tables instead of 2 larger ones. Ultimately I figured it just made more sense to put legs under all of the table and reverse the gussets on the top frames themselves.
So ultimately, I now need 10 – 1x3x6 boards (1 more than planned), 14 – 1x3x8 boards (4 more than planned), 8 – 2x2x8s for the legs (was 4 originally) and 16 T-nut and bolt assemblies for the leg levels. It adds probably $40 to the cost of the tables, but all things considered, that’s not a bad price, and it sure beats the heck out of building tables that I then have a struggle to pull out if we were to move.
