Fat Tire Lighted Rail Build Thread (2 Viewers)

[Trihonda]

Erik, you should be able to go back and / pull staples / stretch material / re-staple / and get those pesky wrinkles to go away. Try using rubber-coated wide pliers to grasp the material if you can't get a good grip with your fingers. Assistance from a second set of hands is helpful, too.

Patience will prevail over wrinkles, and allow you to be irk-free.

I use a pneumatic stapler, and I go to town with the staples, lest the hard stretched vinyl rip (which it does if I don't use a lot of staples). So, to pull them out would be an exhaustive enterprise. Plus, the builder buddy of mine only gave me an 1.5" wide space to nail to (bottom of the rail). I' almost think it'd be easier to build another rail than pry out 2000 staples.

Again, I'm being picky, and likely no one will care..

Here's where I'm at now

 

[Mental Nomad]

Is your vinyl fabric-backed? If it's not, and it's just vinyl, you may be able to ease the wrinkles with heat and they'll set flat when it cools. Make sure to test on scrap first, too much heat will soften the vinyl too much and you'll lose your tension or damage it. If it's fabric-backed, don't bother; the fabric will probably retain the crease.

 

[BGinGA]

Don't need to remove all 2000 staples, just the ones where the worst wrinkles occur (and if that's all 2000, then you were obviously rushing it). Shame on you.

 

[NiceShot]

I use a pneumatic stapler, and I go to town with the staples, lest the hard stretched vinyl rip (which it does if I don't use a lot of staples). So, to pull them out would be an exhaustive enterprise. Plus, the builder buddy of mine only gave me an 1.5" wide space to nail to (bottom of the rail). I' almost think it'd be easier to build another rail than pry out 2000 staples.

Again, I'm being picky, and likely no one will care..

Here's where I'm at now

View attachment 12408

Also, helps if you have a buddy willing to stretch while you staple. I did 3 rails on my own and finally decided some beer was worth getting help on my raised lighted table rail. Trying to consistently have the same amount of stretch throughout the rail is key and trying out different angles to clear wrinkles.

 

[Zathras]

I added the leather pliers on my last YAT order and have completed one of my two rails and they were a big help. There isn't much room to pull with a raised rail that is full width. Lot of finger/hand aches.

But am I understanding your photo correctly that you have only stapled down the outside of the rail so far? You should be able to correct a fair amount of that when you cut and staple the inside. Lets see some close up shots of your concerns...

 

[Trihonda]

Pics of the problem areas.

Close ups so they look worse than in person but it's still bad imho.

I placed the build on hold, until some new tools come in to help me re-do the vinyl.

Snagged these off amazon:

 

[BGinGA]

Yeah, those should be easily correctable. Are you using the 'split-the-difference' method? Hard for me to imagine how that long of a run of wrinkles could even be accomplished if so.

 

[Trihonda]

Yeah, those should be easily correctable. Are you using the 'split-the-difference' method? Hard for me to imagine how that long of a run of wrinkles could even be accomplished if so.

Ya, was doing the split the difference method, but admittedly my hands were already tired from the rest of the day's work, and I probably rushed it a bit trying to get it done. Despite the tons of staples, I'm planning to pull up the vinyl (leaving the staples) section by section, and redoing the stapling. I'm even toying with the idea of scraping the vinyl, and purchasing a new sheet from Joanns so I don't have to contend with existing staple holes in the vinyl. However, once I stretch the vinyl, the staples holes will hopefully fall off the radar?

 

[Mental Nomad]

If you tear it out of the staples, I'd be concerned that the staple cuts will lead the vinyl to tear very easily when you stretch.

Maybe you can pry them up reasonably easily using a sharp tool working underneath the vinyl? If you can start them that way, pliers should get them out fairly easily.

(Staple-pulling tip: when you've pried up one leg of a staple, don't grab with pliers and pull. Use needle-nose pliers, grab near the planted leg of the staple, and roll the pliers away from it. Much less taxing.)

 

[BGinGA]

I just use a flat-head screwdriver (and needlenose pliers, when necessary). Many of the staple holes will get cut off, or not pose a problem even if they remain.

On the other hand, I typically don't double-row staple until I'm satisfied with how the job looks.

 

[Trihonda]

On the other hand, I typically don't double-row staple until I'm satisfied with how the job looks.

Wisdom here folks... ^^^^ Although I typically stretch so hard that a single row often rips out unless it's anchored by two rows...

I'm honestly considering a simple hammering down of the existing staples, and stretching the vinyl, re-staple. Not really considering removing staples, as there are likely 1000+ staples in the rail thus far... Prying might seem like the best course of action, but it's something I have no time or patience for.

 

[Mr. Cheese]

That's alot of staples!

 

[Trihonda]

More table work Tonight. First step, add deco-nails. Using ikea measuring tapes

Add a drill template

A well paid helper.

 

[Trihonda]

Redoing the vinyl. Ugh. Pain in the arse. Wish I'd bought new vinyl. It turned out good. Glad I redid the rail

 

[Trihonda]

Nearly complete (need to attach pedestal kickplates)

These are preliminary pictures. I'll take better ones once the table is 100% done and in it's new home (game room).

 

[Bloody Marvelous]

Wow, that's one stunning table

 

[spikeithard]

There's a 1/2" grove in the base that the acrylic fits down into. The aluminum diffuser fits between the play surface and the Acrylic diffuser.

Really not all that happy with the rail upholstery. It's not my best work, but the raised rail is throwing me for a loop... That, and the table is wider, which is leaving me next to no material to get a good handhold for stretching the vinyl. Very minor wrinkles in the rail (seems on par with other tables I've seen about, but not really up to my standards). At this point, I'll just finish the rail vinyl, as I don't have a lot of choice since it's 1/2 done. However, I'm sure the wrinkles will irk the hell out of me. I'm sure few (if any) of my players will notice, or care.

those corners are a PITA! Im not sure how different vinyl is from suede to stretch but I had a heck of a time with it and ended up with a few minor wrinkles. But I am not much of a perfectionist (unlike my dad who is) so I let it slide. No one will ever notice.. So I think and hope

great looking table though!

PS. Your sweet ass pics remind me to look for a diffuser! looks so much better than just plain plexi thats lit up

 

[Mr. Cheese]

Looking good. How did you attach the gaming cloth to the playing surface foam? I used 3m spray on my last build with SSC but not sure if that's OK to do with gaming cloth.

 

[T_Chan]

3m77 is safe to use on gaming suede. Just a light haze though.

 

[Trihonda]

I didn't use any adhesive on the cloth, just on the foam underneath. Then stapled the cloth to the play surface. Then used t nuts to secure the play surface to the base.

 

[Tommy]

Table came out great. Nice work!

 

[spikeithard]

I didn't use any adhesive on the cloth, just on the foam underneath. Then stapled the cloth to the play surface. Then used t nuts to secure the play surface to the base.

same. Came out well and is holding up well. Just pulled as tight as possible and put a kabillion staples in it.

 

[AfterTheFact]

Looks great, much luck with it.

 

[Irish]

Nice work, the decision to redo the rail was definitely the right one, the re-finished product looks so much better. As the vinyl relaxes over time & use, those wrinkles would have gotten worse and driven you nuts.

I really like the custom cloth as well, the bike chain betting line is the perfect touch to the design. Do yourself a favor and get a dust cover for the table, the darker color cloth will show every bit of dust, a simple dust cover will do wonders in keeping it clean.

 

[Zathras]

Very nice! gonna be a sweet table to play on!

 

[Mental Nomad]

Glanced at this thread again and was reminded that furniture nails / decorative tacks really look incredibly classy when done well.

Good call on the re-stretch; the cleaner job really looks great next to the other details. With the classy nails and excellent lighting, a wrinkled rail would look even more out of place. Instead, this table is looking like a knock-out.

 

[Trihonda]

Glanced at this thread again and was reminded that furniture nails / decorative tacks really look incredibly classy when done well.

Spaced them at 1.5" and it is an easy way to add classy bling to a project. I suppose I didn't really need to do them, but I'm glad I did. They look nice and are a counterbalance to the one side of the diffuser you see, when looking at the table from one side. It was cheap too... Maybe 150 nails, at .05 each?

 

[Mental Nomad]

Using the disposable paper measuring tapes as templates was clever, and the free labor was brilliant, too!

 

[NiceShot]

Great idea!

More table work Tonight. First step, add deco-nails. Using ikea measuring tapes

View attachment 12871

View attachment 12872

Add a drill template

View attachment 12873

A well paid helper.

View attachment 12874

 

[manamongkids]

nice work, looks beautiful