Building a home Poker Table - Page 2

BuyPokerChips · #11 03-30-2004, 11:21 PM

CrazyEyez · #12 03-31-2004, 12:37 AM

Just finished mine. Cost was about $140. Stole the main design idea from a picture that someone posted, Hedge Henderson I think. Then added a padded/vinyl rail.

table pics

Hedge Henderson · #13 03-31-2004, 01:10 AM

I knew I should have patented the thing!

A mighty fine job you did, CrazyEyez. If ours only looked half as good...

If you're still thinking about the size, wacki, 48x84 works great for ten people. We've even played eleven on it a few times. The only problem we've had is one of our Kem decks curves a bit up instead of down and those cards sometimes become airborne when dealt by the players on the ends, especially when said players have had a few.

jumpthru · #14 03-31-2004, 01:24 AM

That table looks SICK...if you would only write up some detailed instructions....I got lost about how you made a removable felt (assuming it is), and how you made the padding.

georgejetson · #15 03-31-2004, 01:34 AM

Materials came out to about $165. The biggest single expense there was the card-suit cloth, which, with shipping, was $52 for two yards. I didn't have to buy legs because someone gave me a banquet table and I pulled the legs off it. I've seen comparable ones for about $40.

Now... I could kick myself over the expense of letting an upholsterer finish the rail for me. I didn't know how to keep the vinyl from gathering going around the curves, or I would have tackled it myself. Naturally, the day after I get it back I finally found some photos that would have served as perfectly adequate guidelines. Oh well. (Plus, someone has now posted some great pics in this thread). Live and learn. I paid $125 to have it done professionally (and that was just labor- I'd already bought the materials). Don't make that mistake. My $165 table almost doubled in price. Look at the photos in this thread or go to www.pcpotato.com and check out his instructions.

Even with the expense of the rail, I believe I came out way ahead, and would recommend to most folks building a table versus buying if it's at all an option. Saving that expense it seems like you could build one any way you like for no more than $200 or so.

George

georgejetson · #16 03-31-2004, 02:16 AM

Here goes:

Start with a piece of wood out of which you intend to cut your tabletop. Doesn't matter what size, shape, etc. Let's say you're going to ovalize a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood. Get another sheet the same size to use for the rail. (I used MDF instead of more plywood because it was much cheaper, and didn't need to be anywhere near as strong). The sheet for the rail probably doesn't need to be any thicker than 1/2".

Draw the template for your table on the sheet for the rail, whatever shape you want. Put that sheet (MDF, whatever) on top of the first and square it up. Clamp the sheets together, and with a saber saw, cut out the table according to your template. Now you'll work with each piece seperately; your goal is to cut out the centers.

For the rail, *carefully* draw a new line all the way around your MDF (use your compass and straight edge), inset 4" (or however wide you want your rail). Now cut out this center portion you just drew, and you're left with a one-piece rail, 4" wide that squares perfectly with your tabletop.

Next, follow the same procedure with the actual tabletop, but this time only go in half as far as you did for the rail. So, if your rail was the outer 4" of the top sheet, cut off the outer 2" of the bottom sheet. Square these two pieces back up, then glue and screw them together. Now you've got a one-piece rail that lifts on and off easily from the tabletop. Think of it as a lid of sorts.

I've found that just the thickness of my tabletop cloth is all it takes to keep the rail snug. I haven't bothered to semi-permanently attach it yet. When I do, I'm simply going to put some tee-nuts on the underside of the rail and run bolts through from the bottom of the tabletop. Or, plain old wood screws would do the trick. One thing that may or may not bother you: Because of the thickness of my tabletop padding, there is a 1/2" gap between the bottom of the "lip" underneath the rail and the bottom of the actual tabletop. You can't see it, can't feel it unless you reach under there. If you're aiming for perfection, either add yet another piece of plywood to the equation the same thickness as your tabletop padding and repeat step two, or *carefully* cut out your tabletop padding to stop at the edge of the rail.

I hope this makes sense. If not, I've got a couple photos I can scan and try to post.

As I mentioned in another post, there are some good instructions online (this thread even) for adding padding and vinyl to the finished rail. Check those out and avoid paying someone to do it.

Cheers,

George

CrazyEyez · #17 03-31-2004, 09:02 AM

I can post a few more details tonite....for some reason my work started blocking this site. Probably because they noticed I was spending more time reading twoplustwo than actually working. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

elwoodblues · #18 03-31-2004, 11:56 AM

[ QUOTE ]
they noticed I was spending more time reading twoplustwo than actually working

[/ QUOTE ]

I hope my employer doesn't follow the same standards...

beerbandit · #19 03-31-2004, 12:02 PM

I made a ten person (nine is much more comfortable though)table out of the 4x8 sheet of OSB. Actually two sheets--First I cut out the shape which I just made two circles (4' in diameter) and the points touch exactly in the center and on the center of the ends. Cut that out and used another sheet to make an outer ring that was two inches wide (for the bumper). I also used scrap pieces to make a lower ring (basically a spacer) to give the bumper a little more heigth.

Slacker13 · #20 03-31-2004, 01:42 PM