Ok so here goes!
I did this today. Quick primer, i suck at diy, had only 4 clamps, a staple gun and a manual philips screwdriver. I would advise you probably want at least a posi drive if not an electric drill/screwdriver. Going to take you through my steps, along with a piece of advice so you can do this too. I would not say it is easy, it took me nearly 5 hours, but like i said, I had rudimentary tools and wanted to make sure i didnt screw up...
1) LABEL EVERYTHING! It makes everything a million times easier. Label the legs, the table sections, the legs attachments, the hinges. Just do it.
2) Remove legs. I place them in this position with the right leg over the left side. My table was very taught with the silver cable between the legs so it made this a tiny bit awkward at first.
3) Seriously, label everything!
4) Remove legs and leave in the same position for simple(r) reattachment later
5) Definitely label your hinges, these are a ballache to get off and then to reattach at the end. You really need the right hinge and screw in the original spot
6) Split the table apart
7) Remove the screws from all the rails. Definitely keep all of these in the order they came out!
8) Pry off the rails. At first i was gentle but then only some of the glue came off and it was messy. When i was more forceful, the glue was left on the board and could easily be removed along with the felt...
9) Label where the rails will go back!
10) Remove the felt. You are best off just ripping it out from under the staples on the underside.\
11) Cut your felt. I used Suited cloth from
amazon which was fine for me. I trimmed it to just larger than the table overall first, used clamps to hold it tight across the foam, then stapled. Take your time and you will be fine. I then trimmed the cloth again after stapling so it was smaller than the rails and would be hidden suitably.
12) Clamp the underside and staple. I clamped at the indented hinge points to ensure i didnt staple there, and thus would know where the hinges would need to go and where i needed to cut the cloth later...
13) Reattach the rails. I would advise that you actually place all the rails under the table section in order to line them all up, and then screw one in each at a time. It is vital you put some pressure down on the table as you screw, otherwise you will end up with a gap between the table and the rail where the screw pushed the rail up. I had to redo a rail because of this.
14) Reattach the two table sections together via the hinges. I think my hinges were pretty poorly screwed originally, so this was a real pain for me. Some of the screws are at an angle, some took a lot of work to get back in and one is in fact missing. Clamps are real important here in my opinion... note the areas of cloth i have cut out deliberately, rather than screwing through the felt...
15) Lay the legs back on as we took them off previously. Your labels from before should help. Lightly screw down the central supporting leg sections first before the outer leg sections. This allows you flex on moving the outer leg sections a little and also tensing the metal cable suitably. This was a bit fiddly, honestly doing this with help may have been easier...
16) Admire your work, your success and look forward to planning your next game!
Honestly, i managed to do this in an apartment in New York City with pretty much the most rudimentary skills and tools possible. I think anyone with a modicum of room and a good power screwdriver should be able to. However, I would advise you take your time and plan your steps. Hopefully this guide helps!
Any questions lets me know!
JC