Hey guys, new to the forum but Ive lurked for awhile especially when figuring out how I wanted to build my table back in the spring. Got tons of ideas from here and seems like a great community. I like hosting home games with my friends every now and then. Only been to a casino once and played blackjack but no holdem. Anyway here is my table:
Built using 3 sheets of 3/4" plywood, 2 birch and 1 maple sheet. I added another 1/4" to the rail to give the full 3/4" rise above the playing surface and to expose more of the LED strip
I debated for awhile on where to place the cupholders, my brothers and I finally settled on doing it in this arrangement, however looking back I wish I had done a cup holder on each end and added a dealer slot. We rarely rotate dealers and always play either texas holdem or blackjack.
1/4" closed cell foam, again looking back I probably would have went with high density open cell foam as the closed cell is more sensitive to heavy weight and I have to remind people at the table not to press into the table too hard. It does feel great however
Went with a Chanman gaming suede with a betting line and suited pattern. Here I am testing the newly installed lights with the diffusers placed preliminarily.
felt with the rail removed. the playing area is on the 3/4" Maple plywood to give it a more solid feel and to resist warping slightly better than the birch.
Now came the hardest part. Unfortunately i went with only a single piece of foam. I believe I went with the 70lb. I only really read the stories of how notoriously difficult dealing with 2 pieces of foam is after I had ordered it. again if i were to redo this table id have gone with a single piece. The seams arent THAT bad, but its definitely noticeable and made it look unprofessional.
I went with the whisper vinyl as i read that it stretched a bit better than other vinyls. It was still rather difficult to work the creases out but a blowdryer helped a lot (or so it seems). One thing I tried researching a lot but could find almost no help with is how to upholster things without lumps. A lot of people make it sound simple to just pull each section equally as tight before stapling but its hard to gauge how tight you need to go. Some areas I pulled tighter than others. I was able to kind of identify most lumps and pull areas tighter to fix it but places like the inside and outside of the curves are noticeably lumpy. Next time I will have a professional upholster it.
And here is the final product. Well almost final, I still need chairs and I need to finish the base.
We went with Monte carlo chips, they feel and look great. Also got 2 sets of Copag plastic cards, one set of bridge and one set of poker size. Most people seem to prefer bridge around here but we really like the standard poker size. I also got a shoe and 12 decks of cheap paper cards. Lint rollers are for keeping the table clean of course.
This is how the lighting is controlled. I wanted more fine tuning to the color range than a standard remote would give me so I hooked each color into a PWM. The colors are white, red, green, blue, and the total brightness. Works great however the total brightness is very sensitive. I printed and glued a little gauge as well, mostly for aesthetics.
First game
Built using 3 sheets of 3/4" plywood, 2 birch and 1 maple sheet. I added another 1/4" to the rail to give the full 3/4" rise above the playing surface and to expose more of the LED strip
I debated for awhile on where to place the cupholders, my brothers and I finally settled on doing it in this arrangement, however looking back I wish I had done a cup holder on each end and added a dealer slot. We rarely rotate dealers and always play either texas holdem or blackjack.
1/4" closed cell foam, again looking back I probably would have went with high density open cell foam as the closed cell is more sensitive to heavy weight and I have to remind people at the table not to press into the table too hard. It does feel great however
Went with a Chanman gaming suede with a betting line and suited pattern. Here I am testing the newly installed lights with the diffusers placed preliminarily.
felt with the rail removed. the playing area is on the 3/4" Maple plywood to give it a more solid feel and to resist warping slightly better than the birch.
Now came the hardest part. Unfortunately i went with only a single piece of foam. I believe I went with the 70lb. I only really read the stories of how notoriously difficult dealing with 2 pieces of foam is after I had ordered it. again if i were to redo this table id have gone with a single piece. The seams arent THAT bad, but its definitely noticeable and made it look unprofessional.
I went with the whisper vinyl as i read that it stretched a bit better than other vinyls. It was still rather difficult to work the creases out but a blowdryer helped a lot (or so it seems). One thing I tried researching a lot but could find almost no help with is how to upholster things without lumps. A lot of people make it sound simple to just pull each section equally as tight before stapling but its hard to gauge how tight you need to go. Some areas I pulled tighter than others. I was able to kind of identify most lumps and pull areas tighter to fix it but places like the inside and outside of the curves are noticeably lumpy. Next time I will have a professional upholster it.
And here is the final product. Well almost final, I still need chairs and I need to finish the base.
We went with Monte carlo chips, they feel and look great. Also got 2 sets of Copag plastic cards, one set of bridge and one set of poker size. Most people seem to prefer bridge around here but we really like the standard poker size. I also got a shoe and 12 decks of cheap paper cards. Lint rollers are for keeping the table clean of course.
This is how the lighting is controlled. I wanted more fine tuning to the color range than a standard remote would give me so I hooked each color into a PWM. The colors are white, red, green, blue, and the total brightness. Works great however the total brightness is very sensitive. I printed and glued a little gauge as well, mostly for aesthetics.
First game