Breakdown table (folding table) advice. Learn from my mistake (1 Viewer)

Freeroll

Two Pair
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I recently completed a table that breaks down in to several pieces, so I can easily transport it by myself if I need to.

I was too lazy to take pictures as I was going through the build process, but I just thought I’d share this, in case it could help someone avoid the same mistake (or maybe I did something wrong other than what I think the problem was).

The table turned out as well as I expected, except for the seam, where the two playing surface halves meet. There are many small wrinkles (wrinkles may be the wrong word, waves maybe?) in the cloth, where I pulled it over the the edge of the playing surface (where it meets the other half of the playing surface). These waves are small, and not even really noticeable unless there is a light source coming from the side of the table, instead of overhead.

I think what caused this was that I used the open cell playing surface foam, instead of the firmer closed cell volara foam. For the record, I like the way the open cell foam feels under the speed cloth, but I think the closed cell foam would hold up a little better at a seam in the middle of the table.

DB926EF4-8698-430A-9989-366FAF1E395C.jpeg
 
Thanks for the advice... I'm about to start my build will absolutely look into the closed cell foam.
 
Chanman has done folding tables with two hinges in the middle like yours (though not as wide a space between them) and no seam on the felt.
I was considering doing something like that, but ended up making the two halves of the playing surface detatch completely from each other, so I can more easily transport it by myself, if need be.
 
I was considering doing something like that, but ended up making the two halves of the playing surface detatch completely from each other, so I can more easily transport it by myself, if need be.

I might have to consider something like this for my roulette table. I definitely don't have space to keep something like this on display at all times. A two (or even three) piece solution would make things a lot easier for storage and transport.
 
Is the foam all the way up to the seam? I would make it so that there is a piece of wood at each edge of the table where the seam is, so that the seam is more flush together rather than a gap caused by the compressed foam. The same way people used to make flush racetracks.
 
Is the foam all the way up to the seam? I would make it so that there is a piece of wood at each edge of the table where the seam is, so that the seam is more flush together rather than a gap caused by the compressed foam. The same way people used to make flush racetracks.
Yes, I brought the foam right up to the seam and cut it flush with the edge.
 

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