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Table #1 Step by step how too | tools | cost

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Step by step how too : (back to top)

The time has come to build another table. Not some much that I need a new one but I just like building things. This one is going to be a bit more high tech.

The last table is a little big for the new poker room so I decided to build a small circular table this time. The first thing I had to do was make a circle cutting jig for the router. A simple thick piece of metal will work nicely. All I did was drill 2 holes in it that lined up with screw holes on the bottom of the router. I counter sunk the screws in the metal so the bottom was flat. A also attached another small piece of metal to the other side of the router base to keep a nice level base. Now all you have to do is measure down the stick the length of the radius you want to cut and drill a hole. Put a nail through the hole you just drilled into the center of the board and your ready to cut some circles.

The main playing area was made by cutting 2 half circles out of the MDF. Each half circle has a radius approx 30.5in. The playing area was cut using a 37in diameter. Then I routed the edge to give it some character. Before cutting out the center I routed 2 channels in the bottom about 1/4 inch deep. This is where the plexy glass will go. Finally I used the router to cut out a 34in diameter circle. This small circle will be the padded playing area and will fit nicely inside the outer trim. If you check out the picture of the bar stool base you will notice a bolt coming up through the middle. I went with a bar stool swivel because it was cheap and I figured it would be more heavy duty than a lazy susan. Only problem was it took to much force to rotate. If you stood on it you would swivel nicely, but trying to turn it by hand took allot of force. I ended up drilling out the rivet in the center and adding a bolt. By tightening / loosening the bolt I can not adjust the tension. It now spins with a minimal amount of force.

Next up was laying out where the cup holder where going to go. The gray area in the below pictures represents the center playing area. I started by dividing up the race track area into 8 equal areas. This was accomplished by drawling lines at 45 degree angles to each other. The other lines in the drawling represent where the dealer button LED's will go. In front of each playing will be a set of 16 imbedded LEDs, that will light when that player is the dealer. As you rotate the center playing area the LED dealer button will move player to player. We will get to the wiring part later in the build. With everything mapped out it was time to get out the router and start making some dust. To get the strait lines for the dealer button I screwed a 2X4 to the table and ran the router along the edge. You can see in the one picture I messed up my line and had to go back with some bondo to straiten it out. The LEDs for the button are going to be mounted to pieces of aluminum mounted under the table. Because I didn't want them a full 3/4 of a inch below the race track I routed out an area to counter sink the plexy in the underside of the table. Now the LEDs will sit approx 1/8in below the race track.

With the basic layout ready, it was time to lay the carbon fiber. It's actually blue kevlar woven in with carbon. I wanted to use red / black carbon because the room is going to be red but has it turns out I didn't have enough red laying around to cover the whole table. This stuff is pretty pricey to by in small amounts and I wasn't going to buy more red just for the table. Luckily I have a big roll of blue laying around. Once it's dry the blue becomes very subtle.

A little more progress this weekend. With both sides covered in carbon I started by using the router to cut out the dealer LED's. This is the first time I have ever cut carbon with a router. It worked fairly well, it's the kevlar that is a pain in the ass. The kevlar never really soaks up the resin so when you try and cut it, it tends to fray. You end up having to go back over it with sand paper to get all the tuffs off the edges.

In preparation for the flood coat of resin I needed to build a dam on both the inside and outside of the table. This part of the table won't be visible anyway, so I just needed something to stop the resin from flowing. I also had to seal the gap between the 2 pieces of the table.

With the glue drying I started working on the electronic parts of the table. In front of each player will be an embedded LED strip that lights to indicate that they are the current dealer. The LED's are mounted on pieces of aluminum, that are painted black. The wiring mess in the one picture is the circuit laid out on my bread board. It causes the LEDs the chase back and forth. Now that I have a working circuit I'll have to make up eight of these, one for each dealer button light. The white mess on the back of the LED strips is silicon. It's there for 2 reasons, one is to seal the holes the LED's come through, so the flood coat or resin doesn't leak through. The other reason is to just hold the wires in place, so things don't short out.

I mounted the LED strips under the table using some 5 minute epoxy. After that was dry I went back with silicon and tried to seal them to the table. Before I do the flood coat of epoxy everything must be sealed. Once the silicon was dry I filled the LED dealer button inset full of resin.

More progress on the table this weekend. The first picture show the LED circuit for the chasing LED that will go in the center of the table. The circuit only shows 30 LED's where the final circuit will have 112. The second picture show the actual circuit board that will control the 8 dealer button circuits. I know it's not pretty, but it works and that is all I care about. The trim ring sits on 2 pieces of plexy glass. The outer ring of plexy is clear, it's brown at the moment because it still have the protective coating on it. The trim ring behind it is black and holds the LED's that will chase each other around the ring.

I already poured the first flood coat of resin on the table, then went back and scuffed it up in preparation for the final coat. You will also notice I used black electrical tap to divided the race track into 8 sections. The real reason I did this was to cover the seam the runs down the center of the table. I wanted the center section to be imbedded in the resin so I poured a small amount of resin along the inside of the table and placed the trim ring with the plexy glass down in it. The little metal pole you see in the one picture is a support column. It's just a little piece of metal tubing that covers the screw going up through the table into the trim ring. I centered 8 support poles on the pieces of tape dividing the playing area.

While the resin was drying I focused my attention the playing area. The playing area was cut out of a piece of plywood with the router + circle jig. Then I went around the outside edge and used the router to remove about half the thickness of the board. This is the part that will over hang the above trim ring. I also beveled the edge of the board with the router. Once that was done I mounted the lazy susan swivel to the bottom. Next up was to spray the playing area section with 3M spray glue and attach the foam. Once the foam was trimmed I used duct tape to hold it in place. With the foam in place it was time to glue down the playing surface material. The fabric is Suited Speed Cloth from casino supply. I designed the logo and had a local screen printing shop apply it to the fabric. Out with the spray glue and duct tape again.

This last picture shows the playing area mounted inside the trim ring. More to come next weekend.

So the first couple of pictures show the PVC tube I mounted to the outside edge of the table. You can see it was the perfect size to fit under the paddle rail. It's only purpose is to support the padded rail. I drilled large holes in the top of the PVC for the screw head to fit through, and little holes in the bottom so I didn't split the pipe. Next up was attaching the padded rail. With the rail in place I ran a bead of construction adhesive under front edge. Then I used an air stapler to attach the bottom edge to the table. In preparation of the last flood coat of resin, I scuffed up the surface with a scuff pad. I let the resin dry for a few days and then went back with the router to cut out the cup holders. The blue tape was just to keep the router base from scratching the table surface. I probably should have done this part outside, because it made a huge snowy mess. I took the one picture in the middle of the white out. The trim ring around the playing surface needs another coat of black paint but other than that it's pretty much done. Still need to make the table legs and finish all the wiring but we are getting closer to being done.

Finally a weekend were I could spend my time focused on the table. First up was making the table base. I picked up a free table and with a little cutting it should work out fine. I basically just cut out the center and used some 2X4's to piece it back together. With that out of the way it was time to focus on the electronics. I started with the 8 dealer buttons. Hidden among that mess of wires on the under side of the table is the LED sequencer I built. All 8 dealer buttons are connected to it, and I switch the power to the LEDs infront of the player with magnetic switches. In the 6th picture you can see 8 little white switches, when the magnetic mounted to the under side of the playing surface (last picture) line up with the switch it turns on the LEDs infront of the player. The headache was connecting all the LEDs around the perimeter of the table. I almost went through 3 200ft spools of wire. The circuit board in the top corner controls the LEDs. Much to my amazement it actually works, here are 3 videos of the table in action.

Dealer Button Video
Ring Video
Ring Video in the dark

Tools : (back to top)

• router
• 1/4 + 1/8 + 1/2 strait bit
• 3/8 + 1/4 round over bit
• circle cutting jig
• jig saw
• chop saw
• drill press
• drill
• air powered nail gun
• air powered staple gun
• hvlp paint gun
• large ruler
• tape measure

Cost : (back to top)

Step by step how too : (back to top)

If you have looked around ebay recently you will see there are allot of people making and selling poker tables and table tops. I was originally just going to buy one, but the quality tables are 1000+. So I though it would be cheaper and more fun to build my own table. Nothing like the satisfaction of doing it yourself. A quick search on the internet and I came across this homepokertourney.com After seeing the tables others people built it was time to get started. I decided that I wanted to build a table top that I could set on top of my kitchen table, since that is where we play currently. I also wanted the table to easily slip into 2 pieces so I could store it. First step was the design.

I know I wanted a large octagon so I decided it would have to be made out of 2 4X8 sheets of plywood. After measuring the kitchen table I decided the octagon would be 68"X68". In the drawling you will see the 2 sheets of plywood.

Next I decided that I wanted the race track to be 11" wide. Now remember some of that area will be covered by the padded rail and the trim around the playing area. This worked out nicely because it made the center piece 46"X46" and it could be made out of a single piece of plywood.

Now that I have my over all dimensions it was time to break out the calc and find all the measurements I needed. To make life easier just visit http://www.csgnetwork.com/righttricalc.html

With all the measurements it's off to home depot to by some plywood. I purchased

• 2 4X8 sheets of 3/4 oak laminated plywood (87.98)
• 1 4X4 sheet of 1/2 plywood (15.99)
• pint can of stain (5.87)
• pint can of clear polyurethane (8.97)
• can of mineral spirits, because I am using oil based products (3.37)
• 76 ft of quarter round (42.98)
• foam brush for the stain (.57)
• 8 thumb screws 1/4 by 1.5 (10.16)
• 5 packs of self stick felt pads (7.75)
• 2 10' 2X4 (7.98)

I got the guy at home depot to cut the oak plywood into 68X34 squares. If you look at the above diagram this means I only need to cut off 2 corners on each sheet when I get home. I don't have a table saw but using a circular saw I feel pretty comfortable making these cuts. They don't have to be perfect because the outer edge will be covered in padded rail anyway. I had home depot cut the plywood into a 46X46 square, again so I would only have to cut the corners off. Once I got the wood home I put the 2 large pieces of plywood next to each other and drew a circle with a 36.8in radius. To draw this I took a large level / ruler and drilled a small hole in one end. I put a nail through the hole and had my friend hold the nail in the center of the 2 pieces of wood while I held a pencil at 36.8 inches out and walked around the table. Again you only need to be close.

You will notice that with the circle drawn every time the circle leaves or comes back over the board it intersects with the corners of the octagon. All I had to do was drawl lines between the intersections. I used the same process on the inner octagon, only I used a circle with a 24.9in radius. Look at the above picture and it will make more sense. With my lines draw I took the plywood out side and cut it with the circular saw.

To center the little octagon on the big one I snapped chalk lines between all the corners. To double check it's placement you can also measure to be sure the race track is approx 11" all the way around. Next up was laying out the location of the cup and chip holders. I decided to put the cup holders on the left hand side of the player because most people are right handed and I didn't want people having to reach over or around their beer everything they need to pick up their card or chips. Before marking the locations I temporarily installed the padded rail from casino supply and the trim around the center octagon. This allowed me to determine where the center of the race track would be. I marked the locations of the parts and took the pieces down stairs to cut. The cup holders where also from casino supply (Black Drop In Jumbo 3 1/2 Inch Diameter). For those holes I used a 3 5/8 inch hole hole saw on my drill press. For the chip trays I just used a jig saw and cut a square out about 1/2 smaller on all side than the square I traced around the chip holder itself. You want to make sure the hole you cut isn't to big or the chip tray will fall right throw the table. Can't be to small of the tray won't fit. You want the hole to be a little larger the the indents for the chips this way you can move the tray around some to try to get it parallel with the edge of the center octagon.

With the holes cut it was time to stain the wood. Before staining I sanded the wood down with 220 grit sand paper. This makes the wood smooth but it also remove the chalk lines I snapped earlier. I let the stain sit for 40 minutes and the whipped the excess off.

With the stain drying I started to work on the center octagon. First step was gluing on the padding. I bought the padding from a local fabric shop, it's 1/4 headliner foam ( 2 yard 17.94) To secure the foam I sprayed both the board and the foam with 3m high strength adhesive spray. I had it in the garage but I am pretty sure it's available at home depot for a couple of bucks. After letting the glue dry for about 2 minutes I carefully laid the board down on the foam. Then stapled the foam every few inches to the board. I used an air powered stapler and 1/2 staples.

Being a little over excited to glue the foam down I forgot to install the tee nuts in the board. In the 3rd picture above you will see little slits in the foam. If your following my page, before you install the foam install the tee bolts. They are available from home depot. I used 8 1/4 by 5/16 tee bolts. I put one in each corner of the octagon.

The right way to do it is before you install the foam put the small octagon in place on the larger octagon and drill a hole through both boards at the same time. Do your self a favor and mark how the 2 octagons are situated. If your like me you forgot to do that and the first time you go to assemble it you have to try 8 different times to get the holes to line up. Once the holes are drilled use a hammer to set the tee nut into the top side of the smaller octagon. Go back using a larger drill bit and bore out the holes in the larger octagon. This is allow you to fine tune the placement of the little octagon. No that the tee nuts are in place glue and staple your foam down.

While the glue dried I went back and worked on the large octagon. Here I attached two pieces of quarter round side by side to make a large piece of half round trim. I couldn't find half round large enough so this was my only option. The trim is attached with small nails and glue. Having a air powered nailer is helpful. This trim serves two purposes one it will give the foam padded rail more support, and 2 it will help hold the foam in place. I got this brain storm from other people's pages who complained about installing the foam rail. They mention that it was a pain to make sure the foam stayed in place on the top of the table while trying to staple it from underneath. With the half round in place the foam stays in place nicely, in fact the first time we played on my table I hadn't even stapled the foam rail in place and it didn't move the whole game. Before the table is 100% done I plan on not only stapling it to the larger octagon from underneath but I am also going to lay a bead of glue along the half round to hold the top in place.

Since my large octagon is 2 pieces I need a way to hold them together during game play. My solution was to install 3 latches to hold the boards together. The first latch is in the center of the 2 half's. First thing I did was cut a square out of the center of the 2 pieces, then I mounted 2 2X4's one along the inside edge of both pieces The 2X4's stop before the chip tray, although they didn't have to because the chip trays are not that deep. For the 2 outside latches I mounted those directly to the underside of the larger octagon. Care should be taken to mount them inward enough so they do not interfere with the foam pad that will be wrapping around the side of the table. With the latches in place I can easily connect the 2 pieces together without the use on any tools.

Since I am building a table top that is going to hang over the edges of my table I wanted to give the boards more support so it wouldn't bend over time. Simple solution was to screw 2X4s to the bottom of the large octagon. When placing them be sure to avoid the cup holders and the holes you drilled for the tee nuts. Also be sure you don't put any screws in the race track area or they will be visible. Finally be sure you stop the 2X4s short of the edge to allow room for the foam rail. Once the 2X4's where in place I put little pieces self adhesive felt all over the 2X4s to keep them from scratching the kitchen table.

Now that the glue on the smaller octagon is dry its time for the felt to be applied. One thing I did before applying the felt was to spray the foam with a fabric water replier. I got an aerosol can of the stuff at the same fabric store that I bought the foam at. My thinking was the foam is glued down so it can't be easily replaced. If someone spills bear on the table it will soak into the felt and not the foam. The felt is just stapled in place so it can be replaced when it gets old. You could probably spray the felt also but I wasn't sure if the spray would effect the way the felt looked or felt. I didn't want felt to discolor or looked as though someone sprayed clear spray paint on it, or have it be clumpy. The spray didn't seem to effect the foam at all so you would probably be fine spraying the felt, just test it out to be sure. Attaching the felt was just a matter of stapling to the back side of the little octagon again using and air stapler and 1/2 staples. Be sure to pull the felt some what tight to avoid wrinkles but not tight enough to compress the foam around the edges of the octagon. Once the foam was stapled in place I put duct tape around it just to help hold it in place.

Time to attached the little octagon to the large octagon. Simply place the smaller one on the center of the large one lining up the marks you made so the tee nut holes line up correctly. If you forgot to mark the octagons just keep rotating the smaller octagon around until the holes line up. It's a 1 - 8 shot, that of course took me 6 tries. With the holes lined up I took 8 thumb screws from underneath and screwed down the small octagon. You will notice in the pictures I have 2 washers on each thumb screw, the first one was to keep the head of the thumb screws from going into the larger hole I drilled. The second washer was because the thumb screws were just a little to long and were causing a small bump in the felt above. The second washer made it so when you tightened down the thumb screws hand tight the top of the thumb screw was just barley below the top of the tee nut. I went with thumb screws to allow the table to be completely assembled without any tools. With the thumb screws in place and the latches shut the 2 larger octagons are actually held together so well you can pick up the whole table from one side. I don't recommend carrying it this way has you are putting a far amount of stress on the 1/2 plywood. Don't want that snapping.

While the little octagon is in place mark off the edge of the little octagon using a pencil. Remove the little octagon and place some blue painters tape inside the pencil line. You have have masked off the race track area and it's time to apply the clear polyurethane.

You could apply poly to the whole larger octagon but why only the race track will be exposed. I applied the first light coat of ploy with a good brush and let it dry 6 hours. I then sanded the poly with 220 grit sand paper and applied another light coat. After 2 light coats I decided this is going to take for ever to build up and applied a heavy coat of poly. Big mistake when it dried I ended up with air bubbles all over the place. I spend a lot time sanding down poly and had it pretty flat. A quick call to my father, mr. bob vela himself advised me it was much better to spray the poly on. Now I have a HVLP paint gun that I use for automotive painting and there was no way in hell I was pouring anything oil based into my gun. I would be plagued with fish eye's for ever. Luckily I had a spare cheap paint gun in the garage that was available and has become my office oil based poly spray gun. All I can say is wow, spraying that stuff is 100 times better, it goes on just like automotive clear coat. Smooth has glass, no air bubbles, no brush marks and it takes 1/10 the time. I sprayed the pieces 3 times allowing 30 minutes in between coats. The end result was great but I can still see some low spots in the poly where the air bubbles where before. That okay because I will need to spray it again after I add the trim around the playing area anyway.

With the smaller octagon bolted to the larger octagon it was time to add the trim. Nothing special here just a matter of measuring the trim and cutting the correct angles. I just guessed 22.5 degrees and it work great. Before attaching the trim you need to do 2 things first stain the trim and second go ahead and sand around the edge of the little octagon where the trim will be. Remember in order for the poly to stick it must be sanded but you don't want to try sanding right next to the trim and risk sanding off the stain. I sanded the edge and stained the trim. Once the stain was dry I used the air nailer + glue to attach the trim to the larger octagon. With the trim attached I went back and put a little stainable wood filler in all the holes left by the nails. Once that was try I used a small brush to dab stain on each spot. It took a few coats because the wood filler kept soaking up the stain. Eventually it stopped and the wood filler blended in very well.

At this point it was mid day saturday and I though hell the table is almost done I am going to use it tonight for our weekly game. All that was left was installing the cup holders, chip trays, and foam rail. Like I mentioned earlier with the half around along the outside edge of the table the foam rail is held in place nicely. Here is some pictures of the table 90% done.

The table was a big hit at the poker game, had two people ask me how much I would charge to build them a table. Wait till they see it totally done. More pictures to come after I get the final coats of poly on.

It's been several weeks since I did anymore work to the table, been to busy using the table to get any work done on it. Last night I had some time so I figured I permanently attach the foam rails and the chip trays. To attach the foam rails I used an air stapler and 1/4 wide 1 in long staples along the bottom edge. I placed the poker table on top of the kitchen table with the edges hanging off the table and stapled it from underneath. This way I could make sure the rail stayed in place on the top of the table while I was stapling it from the bottom. Once all the staples where in place I went back and carefully lifted up the foam along the top of the table and put some polyurethane glue on the wooden rail support. The glue will hold the top part of the foam rail in place. I used duct tape to hold the foam in place while the glue dried. I used the same glue to glue the chip trays in place. For obvious reasons I didn't put any glue on the 2 trays that sit on the line where the table splits in 2. I would say were about 98% done now. Once the glue is dry I'll flip the table over and put more glue on the chip trays from underneath.

Last night while taking apart the table I weighted it, table is heavier than I though. Center octagon weights 15 lbs, each half of the large octagon weights 45 lbs. Total weight is about 105 pounds. In pieces it's not bad for one person to move around. I store it behind a couch in the basement and carry it up stairs into the kitchen when we play.

Finally got around to taking some almost complete photo's. I still need to make little cover pieces that will go over the gaps in the foam rail.

Updates 03/29/2005

After playing on the table for several weeks I noticed the kitchen table legs where getting a little lose. I tightened them but sure enough after one night of play they where loose again. I think the problem is the poker table is pretty heavy and when people reach across to collect chips the weight of the table really puts some force on the kitchen table legs. My solution was to make the table stand alone. Back online to casino supply for 2 sets of table legs + off to home depot for some wood. The top of the table is made out of a 4X8 sheet of 3/4 inch plywood, the supports where made out of 2 X 12 + a little piece of 2 X 10 that I had in the garage. To make the top part of the table I just laid the poker table top on the sheet of plywood and traced the outside edge of the table. Then I cut the plywood a few inches shorter than my lines. I attached the 2 X 12 pieces and bolted up the legs. Be sure to off set the legs some so they fold up correctly. If you are using 2 sets of legs the second set will not lay completely flat because of the first set of legs. Once the legs are bolted on, it's time to cut them down to size. When the table was sitting on top of my kitchen table it was a few inches to high so I cut the base table legs 3 inches shorter than my kitchen table legs. To cut them I turned the table on it's side and used a chop saw with a metal cutting blade. You will notice I cut 4 large circles in the base table top, this is so I can still get to the thumb screw that hold the center octagon in place. I could have cut all eight but didn't feel like it. To mark the locations of the holes I placed the poker table on top of the base table and stuck a pencil through the holes in the poker table to mark the base table. Then I used a jig saw to cut a somewhat circular hole.

Next up was making little cover pieces to go over the gaps in the rail. For this I cut 2 strips of black vinyl, folded over the edge and glued it together. Then I attached velcro to the back side of the vinyl and the table. I went back with a black marker and colored the edges of the white velcro so it would stand out as much, you would be better off buying black velcro if you can find it.

To cover up the ugly table base I took some black vinyl and made a little table skirt. I simple cut long 8inch strip of vinyl and stapled it to the bottom of the table. Remember it's got to be 2 pieces so you can still split the table in half.

Well that's it the table is done, nothing more to do then enjoy playing on it. Thanks for stopping by, if you have any questions feel free to ask.

I decided to stop playing in the kitchen and turn the extra bedroom into a poker room. A little paint, molding and some pictures as she is almost done.

Tools : (back to top)

• circular saw
• jig saw
• chop saw
• drill press
• drill
• air powered nail gun
• air powered staple gun
• hvlp paint gun
• 2 5/8 hole cutting saw
• large ruler

Cost : (back to top)

Tourney Clock : (back to top)