building my poker table top

Anonymous

As I discussed In my "cup holder/poker table" post I started making my 10-12 player poker table top.
I am only making a table top to throw on top of my octagon poker table base. I am wanting to keep it light and easily transportable.

Well I did not make it out to the stores today to look for the foam padding and fabric so all that I got done today was cut the shape.
I bought a 3/4" 4'x8' sheet of plywood yesterday at the building box. I had them cut it down to 36'' wide, 3x8 now. It should probably be 40" wide but we play cards in my basement and it is a little tight for space so 36" works better for me plus there is still plenty of playing room at that size.(again easier to transport also)

Pic1:

esool

Oops..That last post was me but I am having some problems with my computer so I will have to post the pics later..

esool

Here are some pics of the work in progress..(I got these plans from a site that was on a link from a link I received here. I will post it later on.)
1) Sheet of plywood ready to go.(you will need a work bench and an suv to hold it)


Now for rounding the ends. Measure the width of the table (36") then measure that distance from the end of the plywood and put a screw or nail in the centre. Attach a string to the nail and a pencil to the other end.(18") If you do not have string then use speaker wire. Now with the pencil round off your end.



As you can see I didn't follow the lines so well. Who cares, it's round isn't it?
I then used my grinder(because I just wanted to try it) to smooth out my crappy cuts.
Then I sanded the edges of the whole board.
This is very tiring work so make sure you have beer close by!

Repeat the same steps on the opposite side and BAM, your in business!


Now you may look at this and think it is pretty simple...Well it is. But for me since I am not very handy it took me 3 beers to do this much.
Now the hard stuff is coming. Drilling proper holes for cup holders, installing cup holders that do not fall through, covering the top with padding and fabric and eventually installing a rail....All on a budget.Hopefully I will finish it this weekend, I will keep you posted.
Costs so far:(Canadian)
3/4" 4x8 plywood, $35
2 yr old SUV, $20,000 (A minivan might work also but I didn't want to take the chance)
3 beers, $4
Total (so far) $20,039 + tax

djw

Wicked! Go esool!!

vinsanity

Looks nice. nice job Essol

dvst8r

Sweet!

Graham

"3 beers, $4"

What kind are best for table making? The silverish lables in the one picture could indicate Coors light?

esool

The kind of beer you drink while attempting any type of task is very important and not to be taken lightly.
For someone who is handy and knows his way around a garage this would only be a 1 beer job. Therefore he would be able to drink labatt maximum ice. But for someone like me who is not handy at all, you need a lighter beer because you will drink more doing the same job.
So yes I went with coors light. I found this to be a refreshing beverage while not effecting my ability to operate small power tools. It is not that I am worried about losing a finger I am more concern with screwing up the table while under the influence. 8)

vinsanity

Speaking of Canada's favourite breverage, We recently switched to Lucky beer as our beer of choice for our games. 24 bucks for a 24, a dollar a beer, can't beat that.

Jeremy

My brother says the cards run better for him when he is drinking Lucky :!:

esool

Lucky? Can I get that here at the beer store?

vinsanity

Yeah, we bought it from the beer store. And I've been up since I've started drinking it so I'm gonna keep riding it.

esool

Ok finally I have the foam and fabric to install. I shopped around for almost 2 weeks going to a kazillion carpet, homeware/hardware, fabric and carpet stores and I got the stuff.
1/4" carpet underpadding from the home depot, $23.

I sprayed the plywood with a can of spray glue. $10 home depot
I put the non-smooth side towards the plywood and let it dry.

Then I flipped the top over, cut the excess padding then stapled it to the bottom of the plywood.
Now I stretched the fabric over the top and stapled one side. Then pulled the opposite end tightly while stapling..The rounded ends you have to pull and staple a little at a time so as not to leave any wrinkles..

Oh yeah, I ended up getting velvet like material from fabric land for $15.
This was not my first choice but for the price I couldn't lose! Sorry about the shitty picture.


I now realize that I may as well attach folding legs to it which means I will have to reinforce the table top which means more work ahead....
Here is the link I used to make this thing. This guy even makes the rail himself!
http://www.pcpotato.com/pokertable1.htm

AK*1

Nice job dude.

I also built my own table. Its fun, and a hell of a lot cheaper than buying one.

Also - notice how sweet Neil's chips look. A great investment.





P.S. Our trophy (awarded annually to the champ of our big game) is the shit.

AK*1

djw

That's an awesome trophy!! lol nicely done.

vinsanity

That's an awesome trophy dude, how much did it cost you guys. And what's the inscription say? The Yaghoobian cup?

AK*1

Thanks dudes. Our trophy actually has a history to it. I'll copy it below...


Norik Yaghoobian - Dec. 31st 1975 to July 2nd 2002.

R. I. P.


THE YAGHOOBIAN CUP was created as a memorial to Norik Yaghoobian, who tragically left us way before his time. 

We last saw him in Las Vegas on July 2nd, 2001, exactly one year before his accident.  The previous night, our poker group's innaugural championship was staged, on the final evening of, quite possibly, the best bachelor party ever.

Norik was in fine form that weekend, and left us with the perfect lasting memory of the kind of guy he was - the most hardcore, fun-seeking, risk taking, party starting, goodtimes general as ever there was. 
 
Soon after his funeral, Hollywood Mike had a brilliant idea  to create a championship trophy for our group, to be named after our departed friend, to honor him in memoriam, in a way he would be so proud to embrace.

THE YAGHOOBIAN CUP is awarded annually to the poker player most excellent in cunning and strategy.

vinsanity

I'm sorry about your loss dude. That's really nice though. Gives extra meaning to your game I'm sure.

esool

Good stuff AK!

At our bi-weekly game the winner gets to take home our "trophy"....

It is hard for the camera to catch all the bling bling 8) but that is $15 worth of precious metal and stones!

The Champion of the year gets a shirt, hat and small ass trophy.
and of course bragging rights for a full year.. :P

esool

I installed the support rails and the legs finally. I am thinking of different ways to make these legs more appealing to the eye....
Down the road I will install a padded rail along the edge. DJW let me know how your's turns out..

Dan808

hey esool, i was looking at that underpadding the other day. now, i've never used it on the tables i've made, but can you feel the lumpiness of that when you play? you can feel the little foam "pebbles" when you press on the foam, but does that disappear once it's felted over?

djw

Yes, the pebble feeling really goes away once you have felt attached.

Snoman

was it only $15 for the 8x4 sized velvet, or was it 15 per foot?

esool

Dan wrote:

hey esool,can you feel the lumpiness of that when you play? you can feel the little foam "pebbles" when you press on the foam, but does that disappear once it's felted over?

I went to a lot of carpet stores before deciding on the underpadding from the home depot for this exact reason. No one else has commented on the pebble feel but I can notice it a little in some spots. Probably because I know it is there. Over all I am very happy with it.

was it only $15 for the 8x4 sized velvet, or was it 15 per foot?

$15 on sale for the whole piece. About 9x4', faux suede I believe they called it..

If I'm not mistaken my table has cost only just over $100 so far. Pre-rail..
$35 Plywood-Home depot
$23 Under padding- H.D.
$10 Spray Glue-K.D.
$17 Legs-H.D.
$ 4 2 pine 2x4s-H.D.
$15 Fake suede material-Fabricland

$104 Plus tax and I still need to add a rail one day...

Oh yeah I bought a can of scotch guard "for delicates" for $8 because my buddies are all a bunch of ignorant asses that like to spill beer on my stuff. :evil:

Anonymous

Nice table!

I'm in the process of building the exact same table, cut the plywood last weekend and intend to make the rail tomorrow sometime. The only hard part of the project will be the placement of the cupholders. I scored a bunch of cupholders that fit into the armrest of an SUV and was wondering if they should be flush with the rail or out about an inch?

And how strong and sturdy is you're table?? Was thinking of buying the legs and doing exactly what you are doing instead of buying a 6' folding table.

Will try to post pics of what I have done so far tomorrow.

esool

This is the link I used for the instructions, http://www.pcpotato.com/pokertable1.htm
A couple other guys here made the same table, check the post "cup holders for poker table" for idea's and answers..