Starting my budget 58" round (1 Viewer)

Jake14mw

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Got up to 60 degrees here today in CT, so I got started on the table I've been planning for a while. So much nicer/easier to work outside!

Why a budget table? Well, mainly because I don't NEED another table. I have an full size 10 person table, and a second 8 person table already. Made them about 10 or more years ago. I only host at my house about 6 times per year, and with the exception of one event per year, I only need one table. Hard to justify to the wife taking much time or money for another one. So, I'm trying to save money however I can. I decided I wanted to try out a round. I remember way back in the old days playing on round tables, and I really like being able to see everyone. Wanted this table to fit 7 or 8. Did a lot of research on here, some people said that 60" is good for 8, but raking pots can be a little difficult, so I decided to cut it back to 58". My biggest worry is that my whisper vinyl is 54". The table will have a small raised rail, so I think I'll be able to stretch it. I know other people have done it, but it might be tricky.

Starting with this table I got on CL for $40.
Round Table.jpg


It actually tilts. This is a must for me for storage. I will either use this, or I have a pedestal base I bought years ago that I might use. I will build either a tilt mechanism for that, or maybe I can make it removable? Hmmm....
hinge table.jpg


Here is the start. Using only 1 piece of plywood for the whole rail!
drawings.jpg


Progress...
progress.jpg


More a little later!
 
More on the plan of where I'm going-

  • 58" round
  • Base of table is 54" round table top shown above. No cutting necessary!
  • No cupholders in table or rail. I don't personally like them there. Trying to come up with innovative slide out cupholders. I have slide outs on my other 2 tables.
  • Slightly raised rail with LED lights. Diagram below.
  • Black whisper vinyl. 5" rail made from one 3/4" piece of plywood that I had in the garage.
  • Rail foam will be Joanne's 1" foam left over from a table made 10 years ago. Will need to be pieced together, covered with batting from Joann's.
  • Playing surface padding is carpet padding from Home Depot, $8
  • Playing surface felt using material bought from local discount fabric store years ago for $6.
  • As stated above, for legs, either use metal base with tilt, use wood pedestal with tilt (link below for more info), or make top removable from wood pedestal.
  • Planning on providing 4 usb charging ports at side of table
  • I am trying to figure out a way to incorporate four 7" Amazon fire tablets into the design to display tournament director. I had two, and bought two from somebody on CL for $40. Original plan was embedding into table surface, but now am either going to have them as pullouts with the cupholders, or attached to a hanging light above the table, scoreboard style.
  • One immediate question - Opinions on wrapping the vinyl all the way around the third bottom layer of ply vs. wrapping it around the two layers, and adding a veneer wood and nail heads? I have always wrapped it all the way around, but I think on a round table, the wood trim and nail heads might look nice. Also, The vinyl would have to stretch less. Any suggestions on wood veneer to order and nail heads? Thanks!

https://www.pokerchipforum.com/thre...ge-top-table-like-this-one.47243/#post-880710
 
More pics. Done cutting all the rail pieces.
cutting.jpg


First and last beer spill on the table! No cupholders will be in/on the table.
spill.jpg


Using the one piece of plywood worked fine. For the main 5" wide piece, it was two pieces. Same for the 4" layer, with one small patch. Needed four pieces for the bottom 2" wide layer. I used a jigsaw because I don't have a router. I did the same for my other two tables, and they look fine. Went pretty quickly, and the cuts came out pretty well. Will take a belt sander to the outside edge, and sanding blocks to the inside edge.
done.jpg
 
Made a little more progress. Sanded down rail and got some rail foam done.

To save money, I am reusing leftover Joann's 1" foam from 10 years ago. Because the Joann's foam is kind of soft, I'm putting a thin (3/16") yoga mat foam below it. Got it for $3 from goodwill. Not really necessary, but I think it will prevent any feeling of bottoming out on the wood.
yogafoam.jpg


Foam neeeded to be in 3 pieces, so I will have three joints.
foampieces.jpg


In order to help hide the seams, I bought a big sheet of cotton batting that can go over the top in one piece.
battinglayout.jpg


This is where I stand now. Not sure how exactly I am going to cut the inner batting. Next step is vinyl! One piece of good news is that I measured the Joann's whisper vinyl and it measures 55 1/2 inches wide. It will need to be stretched here to about 62 inches. Always the worst part of every build!
battingon.jpg
 
Next step is vinyl! One piece of good news is that I measured the Joann's whisper vinyl and it measures 55 1/2 inches wide. It will need to be stretched here to about 62 inches. Always the worst part of every build!

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but I just noticed that you plan on stretching the vinyl almost 7" to fit the outside of the rail... is that amount of stretching even possible with Whisper vinyl?
 
you plan on stretching the vinyl almost 7" to fit the outside of the rail... is that amount of stretching even possible with Whisper vinyl?
Yep. Cut the center and there is a remarkable amount of leeway in at least one direction.
 
Yep. Cut the center and there is a remarkable amount of leeway in at least one direction.
Yes, I did read here before that people have done this for up to 60" rounds. Not the easiest thing to do, but doable. There was an old thread somewhere that documented the process. I thought I bookmarked it, but can't find it. If anyone remembers or finds it, can you post a link for me?
 
Perfect. Thanks!

Reading through that, one thing that comes to mind... Wouldn't it be better to stretch and staple the short side of the vinyl first?

I would recommend sticking with the steps noted - you staple the long side first so the vinyl is secured before you make the center cut to stretch the short side. Helps to keep the vinyl in place while you're making that short side stretch, which can be challenging to keep from bunching up.
 
...Any suggestions on wood veneer to order and nail heads? Thanks!

No suggestions on nail heads, but this is the edge banding I used on the base plate of my octagon. The veneer was off the shelf at Lowes or Home Depot, I used a clothes iron, it was easy to work with and the result is very good.

20200122_091849.jpg


20200122_091658.jpg
 
Several nail head options available at YAT:

https://www.yourautotrim.com/denahe.html

I personally either like the smaller chrome heads: https://www.yourautotrim.com/niplcdenahe.html
or the chrome suited ones: https://www.yourautotrim.com/newsuitednails.html

Just keep tabs on the nail head size, some of them (like the shotgun shells) are slightly larger than 3/4", so those will overhang the plywood base. Some tips on installing them: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/some-new-tables.6750/post-406966
 
No suggestions on nail heads, but this is the edge banding I used on the base plate of my octagon. The veneer was off the shelf at Lowes or Home Depot, I used a clothes iron, it was easy to work with and the result is very good.

View attachment 396164

View attachment 396163
Thanks for the recommendation. I went to my local Lowes and they didn't have any at all. So, I wound up ordering this one from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KSQFP4Q/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
 
Several nail head options available at YAT:

https://www.yourautotrim.com/denahe.html

I personally either like the smaller chrome heads: https://www.yourautotrim.com/niplcdenahe.html
or the chrome suited ones: https://www.yourautotrim.com/newsuitednails.html

Just keep tabs on the nail head size, some of them (like the shotgun shells) are slightly larger than 3/4", so those will overhang the plywood base. Some tips on installing them: https://www.pokerchipforum.com/threads/some-new-tables.6750/post-406966
Thanks for the advice. Do you always space your nail heads 1 1/2 inches apart? I guess I will decide the nail heads and veneer stain after I decide which base I'm going with. I think it will be this one
pedestal.jpg
 
Do you always space your nail heads 1 1/2 inches apart?

Depends on the nail heads, but yes usually it's in that range, 1 1/2" to 2". I've seen examples of really tight nail head spacing (practically touching), and I personally just don't care for that look - YMMV. The tighter the spacing, the more obvious any out of alignment nail heads become.
 
I will follow prewious posts. Looks great. My dream poker table is one from Rounders movie. Round, six max no cup holders, red cloth.
Looks like yours is right this way.
I can just hope that one day, someday I will sit down and play at this one.
 
Rail mostly done. Of course fingers are hurting typing this! There are still two spots on the inside rail that are not tight enough, and one 2 foot section of the outside of the rail that has wrinkles that are not acceptable to me. Those will have to be fixed another day.

railprogress.jpg


Outside wrinkles that need to be fixed.
railwrinkles.jpg


How it looks on the table top. (Excuse the mess!)
rail.jpg


The good news is that I examined it pretty closely, and I can't see the foam seams at all. I'm happy about that.
 
Rail mostly done. Of course fingers are hurting typing this! There are still two spots on the inside rail that are not tight enough, and one 2 foot section of the outside of the rail that has wrinkles that are not acceptable to me. Those will have to be fixed another day.

View attachment 396498

Outside wrinkles that need to be fixed.
View attachment 396499

How it looks on the table top. (Excuse the mess!)
View attachment 396500

The good news is that I examined it pretty closely, and I can't see the foam seams at all. I'm happy about that.
Easily fixed by pulling a few staples and using a heat gun to help stretch. Easy peazy.
 
Update - Fixed the issues with the rail fairly easily. I think it looks great. There is one spot on the inner bottom where a joint in two wood pieces was not good enough, so there is a little jog in the vinyl, but that's okay, I'm happy with it.

The carpet padding is on the table top. Now I have to choose the cloth I'm going to use. See my other thread if interested. The one I was leaning towards doesn't seem to be playing well with the carpet padding. I have been looking forward to it because I love the feel of it. It has a thin velvety feel. But when paired with the carpet padding, the thinness works against it. I may be able to solve that by putting another thin cloth that I have under it. Option 2 is to go with the top vote getter in the other thread. We'll see.

Next step will be to attach the led light strip to the rail. It has an adhesive strip, but planning on using some 3M 77 spray adhesive on the plywood to help make sure it stays. One great thing is that it looks like my rail diffuser plan will work perfectly. That 5/8" edge guard seems like the perfect height.

Now I'm thinking about the usb ports. The original plan was to steal smashr's method he showed in his 56" round build, recessing it into the actual plywood. Now I'm thinking I'm going to keep it simpler and just attach them to the bottom of plywood like this:
usb.jpg


Any suggestions on how to attach it?

Other thoughts at this point:
  • I am still debating whether to go with the metal base it's on now, or use the wood pedestal. The metal base has a little too much give when you lean on the rail for my liking. If I use the wood pedestal, depending on the final cloth color, I may need to either sand it and stain it black, or paint it black.
  • It looks small for 8 players. Won't really know until I get 8 people around it. I knew from other people's posts here that 60" would be better spacing for 8, but some people said raking pots on a 60" table was not ideal. Also, that extra 2" may have been too much for the vinyl stretching.
  • I'm not loving the rail height over the playing surface. It seems too high. This is completely surprising to me. Especially since I have almost the identical setup on one of my other tables! Very odd. It's just a 3/4" raised rail. When the rail is screwed down, that will compress it a little. I think it will work out fine.
 
I was just plugging some usb cords into those ports. I don't think I'm going to be able to anchor them underneath solidly enough. :tdown: Any suggestions?
 

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