Is it worth it to make your own poker table? (1 Viewer)

[CharlesPlays]

Has anyone made their own poker table? If so was it more cost effective than purchasing one? Where did you get your materials? I’m pretty handy the only learning curve would probably be the upholstery. I’m ready to upgrade from my barrington but not really trying to spend 1500 plus on a table. Any advice would be much appreciated!!!

 

[BPTDirector]

There are a lot of threads related to members building their own tables. Use the search function to find them. It’s the spyglass on the right top of the tool bar. Good luck and welcome to PCF.

 

[CharlesPlays]

There are a lot of threads related to members building their own tables. Use the search function to find them. It’s the spyglass on the right top of the tool bar. Good luck and welcome to PCF.

Thanks I’ll see what I can find

 

[Labrat]

The self-satisfaction is everything.

I built my 8-person table with the help of my father who has since-passed and I will never get rid of it.

 

[Deucekies]

And building your own allows to to build it exactly the way you want. Need a smaller size for a smaller space? You can do that. Want a racetrack and a raised bumper? Do it. Custom felt with your name on it? Go for it.

 

[CharlesPlays]

The self-satisfaction is everything.

I built my 8-person table with the help of my father who has since-passed and I will never get rid of it.

I can imagine it’s priceless. Do you have any pictures of it?

 

[JackJack]

Has anyone made their own poker table? If so was it more cost effective than purchasing one? Where did you get your materials? I’m pretty handy the only learning curve would probably be the upholstery. I’m ready to upgrade from my barrington but not really trying to spend 1500 plus on a table. Any advice would be much appreciated!!!

Worth it is tough to judge. I have two tables set up, one I built and one Barrington from Costco. I couldn’t build one for the price of the Barrington. The one I built seats ten far more comfortably, but it doesn’t fold in half or have LED’s. If I had to chose between the two as my only option the convenience of the Barrington would give it extra points.

If I had a dedicated poker room then I happily go with the built table, but know it cost far more than a Barrington. If you are talking about buying a high quality permanent table setup that changes everything, and I would build and save a grand or more.

 

[RadicusScout]

Thanks I’ll see what I can find

Look up the words "table build". That may help you find what you're looking for.

 

[sonic242]

Super happy that I have built my own (three over the years), but it isn't *that* much cheaper in the end. I guess it depends on your skill level and the materials you want to use. I keep choosing to build my own so that I can have exactly what I want- finishes, woods, foams, rail material etc. Plus I find a lot of satisfaction in learning how to do it all.

 

[Colquhoun]

"Worth it" is subjective. If you have the space, some woodworking skills, access to the right tools, and a vehicle capable of transporting full sheets of plywood...hell yeah, it's worth it. You'll get a superior product for the cost.
However, unless you're prepared in all aspects, buying a pre-built may be a better call.

 

[biggantt]

Yes

 

[CharlesPlays]

Worth it is tough to judge. I have two tables set up, one I built and one Barrington from Costco. I couldn’t build one for the price of the Barrington. The one I built seats ten far more comfortably, but it doesn’t fold in half or have LED’s. If I had to chose between the two as my only option the convenience of the Barrington would give it extra points.

If I had a dedicated poker room then I happily go with the built table, but know it cost far more than a Barrington. If you are talking about buying a high quality permanent table setup that changes everything, and I would build and save a grand or more.

Yes View attachment 1467254

Where did you buy the upholstery and padding?

 

[DrStrange]

How much is your time worth?

How much is money worth to you? Working in a low wage job might make a self-build more appealing. If one were a lawyer billing $1,000/hr, maybe it would be better to let a pro build the table.

Does this sound like fun? Perhaps the "fun" might be the most important thing of all.

Building your own vs buying a table is truly a person-by-person choice.

I have a Chanman table. It was not cheap. On the other hand, I have absolutely no useful table building skills. And I have plenty of money to pay for it. It is a very nice table I never could have done that myself.

 

[JackJack]

Where did you buy the upholstery and padding?

if I could do it again I would use Neoprene from Joanne instead of foam. I would do toppers instead of installed upholstery as well. Can swap out the toppers, while having a nice substrate in the neoprene base.

 

[Nymor]

I really enjoyed putting my table together and learnt a lot along the way - 'blogged' in tortuous detail in this thread

I managed my project inside a 2 bed flat calling on the services of a local CNC business, to produce all the plywood parts based on cut-sheets from FreeCAD, a wonderful Canadian craftsman called Chanman for my cloth, various foam/fabric/hardware suppliers, a sewing machine, staple gun and youTube ... edit: and PCF of course!

Recommended.

 

[ekricket]

How much is your time worth?

I see this a lot. If it’s my “sitting on the couch watching tv” time then it’s worthless.

If it’s my “I work for a living” time then it’s worth whatever time I have to take off work.

There is no magic store where I can trade in my “useless” time for top dollar. The only thing I can do is trade my “useless” time for more useful things, like making my own stuff.

If you aren’t doing anything, well, your time is worth nothing.

 

[nickmate]

I found it significantly cheaper to build a table when comparing to the prices we have here in Australia. Most of what is available here is mostly generic Chinese produced tables—there aren’t really any true custom table builders. Probably down a lack of demand.

I built my table for the enjoyment of the project so I don’t count my time in the costs as it was time well spent!

 

[biggantt]

 

[drdr]

I found it significantly cheaper to build a table when comparing to the prices we have here in Australia. Most of what is available here is mostly generic Chinese produced tables—there aren’t really any true custom table builders. Probably down a lack of demand.

I built my table for the enjoyment of the project so I don’t count my time in the costs as it was time well spent!

This.

In Australia you can't buy quality tables easily. The quality tables available are custom tables from overseas and very expensive. But similar quality can be achieved by self building if willing to put time and care into a pretty big project.

My current estimate for three matching tables I want to build is I'll save 2/3rds by building myself. So three self built tables for price of one custom ordered table.

 

[idoru99]

I have built two tables for myself and helped two friends build their tables. While these are not nearly as nice as the tables built by Chanman and others, work well, and I get better each time I build one. Lots of good advice in this thread, but if you decide to build your own I don't think you will regret it.

 

[ningolfsland]

I've built 6 tables now. 3 for myself and 3 for others. I really enjoy the process - both the mechanics of it and the creative aspects of making something better than the last one (craftsmanship and functionality). I don't enjoy the rail upholstery (horrible on my wrists and I don't think I'm very good at it) so I've started using a shop in town for that and did custom cloth from Chanman on my current table that I really love - I can't imagine running a game on a table I didn't build at this point.

 

[mr11]

I think if you’ve already got all the tools, you could make a table cheaper than a Barrington table or at least close to it. Obviously there’s a lot things that you can do to make it more expensive. Even if it costs the same as a barrington table, at least you picked the colors and made it the way that you wanted.

 

[Taghkanic]

I found it really difficult, but really rewarding. And it made me appreciate other people’s tables a lot more.

 

[bigblind]

made my table many years ago, I've added a custom felt, I love it!

 

[Phoe9x]

Built my table in a single Saturday. Was pretty simple (time consuming) and really rewarding. I found a couple of tutorials on YouTube which make the process really simple to follow.

I bought all of the materials from Lowe’s/Home Depot and YourAutoTrim. Total cost was in the ballpark of 500-600 back then. I’m frugal so I like paying the cheapest amount even if that means I need to do the hard work.

 

[CharlesPlays]

Built my table in a single Saturday. Was pretty simple (time consuming) and really rewarding. I found a couple of tutorials on YouTube which make the process really simple to follow.

I bought all of the materials from Lowe’s/Home Depot and YourAutoTrim. Total cost was in the ballpark of 500-600 back then. I’m frugal so I like paying the cheapest amount even if that means I need to do the hard work.

Can you post links to the tutorials you found most helpful?

 

[mr11]

Built my table in a single Saturday. Was pretty simple (time consuming) and really rewarding. I found a couple of tutorials on YouTube which make the process really simple to follow.

I bought all of the materials from Lowe’s/Home Depot and YourAutoTrim. Total cost was in the ballpark of 500-600 back then. I’m frugal so I like paying the cheapest amount even if that means I need to do the hard work.

Im in the process of replacing the felt on my poker table. I got matting from YourAutoTrim and speed cloth from amazon. You can probably get better quality speed cloth elsewhere but my poker table is just a cheap one with folding legs that I can store away if needed. It might be worth looking into higher quality cloth if you’ve got a more permanent table

 

[Phoe9x]

Can you post links to the tutorials you found most helpful?

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/first-table-build-pictures.104261/

I think I posted the YouTube link that I found most helpful in the comments of my showcase thread.

 

[sonofneeway]

I have designed and built custom poker tables for years now. Shipped them from Vermont all over the US. I hate to admit it but they are really not that difficult to build. Check out yourautotrim.com for all of the poker table building supplies that you would need. I can give you step by step instructions as well if you DM me.

 

[ekricket]

I built a table out of a single sheet of mdf, quilt backing, upholstery fabric, and strips of vinyl instead of a whole sheet. Cost was under $100.

I cut the oval out first. Then I took the oval cutout and cut it into four pieces, cuts in the middle of the arc and in the middle of the long side. I took a half inch off of each cut end and spliced the whole thing back together. Now it has a one inch lip with the solid oval as the base.

Upholstery the solid oval like normal, the batting for pad and the fabric stretched tight.

For the rail, put the padding on and use the longest vinyl strip to fit the long sides. Then as you add strips around the arc, roll the leading edge under - when you staple it to the rail this will not unroll. Do this around the table. I used pieces that were 8 inches wide to have room for padding and stapling as well as width to stretch along the curve. If you go to a real upholstery store to get spare materials they will show you this trick as well as probably having cheap excess you can use for various parts of your table. They gave me free strips of foam for the rails, for example. Old stuff they had laying around.

that was a long time ago and I don’t have pics anymore. But we used it for years until I built bigger and better ones. It was narrow, which was kinda ok for dealing.