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Homemade Craps Table (1 Viewer)

natumes

natumes

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I've been wanting to build my own gaming table for some time now and I've finally got the wife's approval to do it (partly because we have space for it now). Because of limited space I want it to be dual purpose and have a poker table top as well (which should be easy enough to have a removable topper). I've been scouring the internet for craps table plans and homemade tables and I've found a fair amount if info, but nothing that's really complete. There are a couple youtube video series of guys building their own tables but they leave out a lot of details. Wondering if anybody here has built their own table and could share your experience and maybe some details with me on your process. I'm experienced using tools and I've built some simple furniture items, but this will be my biggest furniture project undertaking.

What was the length and width of your total table? Playing surface? My wife wants me to keep the total table length to 8 ft which seems like it should work for the single dealer layout.
How tall is your table?
I'm pretty set on doing proper curved corners and I know how to do the kerf cuts - what radius did/would you use? Are there curved chip rails available that fit that or did you custom make them?
What material did you put under the layout?
How did you join the side walls to the table? Did this cause any issues stretching the layout? (I would think a screw hitting the layout would grab and pull)

Any other advice you've got I'll gladly take!

5/14 Update:

Got the frame done, sub base and table top pieces attached, table corner radius' done and about half the kerf cuts for the back walls. Kerf cutting is extremely tedious, but the results are great. Wishing my circular saw was corded, might have gotten all the kerfing done last night but ran out of battery juice.

Leg construction.jpg frame finished.jpg sub base attached.jpg kerf cutting.jpg wood bending.jpeg
 
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Nice! What height is the base? Maybe 24"?

And what is the wall measurement? Maybe 18"?

Are you going to put a chip tray/railing on top of the wall?
 
You've got a massive tub going. I took some 4x4 posts and cut them on a 45 and the rubber just naturally curves. The entire thing bolts together. I can assemble it in about 15 min. Casinos put the felt directly on the wood but I didn't want my dice getting beat to shit because I'm not in a position to replace the dice every casino night so I put a very thin layer of padding underneath. Be careful though or your dice will bounce out of the tub every throw.

1589478605512.png


If my layout looks weird it's because I took a full tub felt and cut it to make a 1/2 tub.

1589478707167.png


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Halloween casino party

1589478987101.png
 
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Frame is 27", so 28.5" to the tabletop. Walls are 11" on the player sides and then will get railing on top of that plus chip rails. 9" wall on the dealer side. I'll be putting a topper that will cover the chip rails which will create a bar height table. The plan is to have one side finished hardwood for board games and the other side felted for poker. Not sure we're going to love poker at a bar height table (plus it's ~6" wider than a poker table), so I may build a folding poker table as well if I can fit it in the same room.

@moose no curved walls would have definitely been easier. Unfortunately neither I nor my wife could convince me that curved walls wouldn't just look awesome. How long is your table? My playing surface is going to be just shy of 8'x4'. Any longer and I think I'd have to have 2 dealers.
 
natumes said:
Frame is 27", so 28.5" to the tabletop. Walls are 11" on the player sides and then will get railing on top of that plus chip rails. 9" wall on the dealer side. I'll be putting a topper that will cover the chip rails which will create a bar height table. The plan is to have one side finished hardwood for board games and the other side felted for poker. Not sure we're going to love poker at a bar height table (plus it's ~6" wider than a poker table), so I may build a folding poker table as well if I can fit it in the same room.

@moose no curved walls would have definitely been easier. Unfortunately neither I nor my wife could convince me that curved walls wouldn't just look awesome. How long is your table? My playing surface is going to be just shy of 8'x4'. Any longer and I think I'd have to have 2 dealers.
Click to expand...

8x4 is a half tub. My base is 8x4 and the playing surface is slightly smaller so players can put their chips on the base.
 
Missed posting as stuff was going along so here's a bunch of photos of progress through today:

sidewalls and rubber test fit.jpgdealer cutout.jpgouter backwall 1.jpgouter backwall 2.jpgouter sidewalls.jpgstained.jpgstained detail.jpg

Stain is a bit darker than I wanted but my wife picked it out and really likes it. Next up is the chip rail and arm rail, then boxing in the legs + stain, then moving it into the basement for final assembly.
 
boltonguy said:
Wow amazing work. That has got to weigh a ton!
Click to expand...
It is quite heavy. Only gonna get worse when the diamond rubber gets added too. Fortunately it moves in pieces, haha!


dimperdoo said:
that's like my plan too ~one side & the prop layout
Click to expand...
I'm excited for the custom layout I've got ordered from @T_Chan for a single dealer. We were able to fit ATS, hop bets, and a small prop box with everything in comfortable reach.
 
allforcharity said:
Craps tables are usually very deep. I'm not sure how you'd put a poker top on a craps table and make it look good and playable. Need some professional designers/woodworkers to pipe in.
Click to expand...
For a dual purpose table, I think it would be best to build a sitting height poker table, then remove the padded rail, change (or overlay) the felt, and add the craps walls on top of that so you have a standing-height craps table. They only issue would be to make sure the craps walls were secure to the poker table base so it didn't shift during play. I think you could router out a groove in the poker table that would be covered by a the padded rail...the craps walls could sit in that groove.
 
WedgeRock said:
For a dual purpose table, I think it would be best to build a sitting height poker table, then remove the padded rail, change (or overlay) the felt, and add the craps walls on top of that so you have a standing-height craps table. They only issue would be to make sure the craps walls were secure to the poker table base so it didn't shift during play. I think you could router out a groove in the poker table that would be covered by a the padded rail...the craps walls could sit in that groove.
Click to expand...
That's almost exactly what I am doing. I have a poker table where I can remove the rail and surface, switch out the craps layout insert and place the craps wall/rail on top. It's actually large/heavy enough that it won't shift, but I'll probably end up with a few clasps to secure it at the end.
 
Got most of the rail base done last night, just need to trim the end pieces to size. Also super excited to reveal the custom layout which just got shipped! @T_Chan sent some photos of it last night and it looks fabulous! Can't wait to get it on the table!
rail base.jpg layout printed 1.jpg
 
Got it in the house! All that's left to do is upholster the rail and add the chip rails. I think I want to add some kind of hand rail on the dealer box, but for now it works fine. Still waiting on shipping for the craps layout and chip rails. Threw the poker felt on to test it out, little bouncy with the foam underlayment but not as bad as I thought and no marks from the dice so it should hold up very well.

20200606_122243.jpg20200606_145957.jpg20200606_152548.jpg
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yeah mine was a little bouncy too since it’s on 1/4” closed cell. I think it’ll be fine for house play. Your craps tub is looking real good!
 
markleteenie said:
yeah mine was a little bouncy too since it’s on 1/4” closed cell. I think it’ll be fine for house play. Your craps tub is looking real good!
Click to expand...
The table being 4-6 feet shorter than casino tables helps a lot too, dont have to throw nearly as far so you can do a nice easy toss even from the end. We tossed for about 20 minutes and didn't have any bounce out.

allforcharity said:
Nice! I see you're using the BEC chips for this. Let me know if you want to expand your $5s and/or $25s.
Click to expand...

Will do, we haven't decided if we're gonna do 1/100 or 1/10 value on chips. If we go for pennies, I imagine I'll need more 25s for sure to handle the "high rollers" :rolleyes:.
 
When I refelted the craps table at my local casino, they didn't use any foam at all. Although that was one of the reasons they were replacing the playing surface, because it got really dented from all of the dice throws. I had to cut them a new 16' insert, that was fun to deliver.
 
T_Chan said:
When I refelted the craps table at my local casino, they didn't use any foam at all. Although that was one of the reasons they were replacing the playing surface, because it got really dented from all of the dice throws. I had to cut them a new 16' insert, that was fun to deliver.
Click to expand...
Yeah I've read of all kinds of different underlayment. Layout on wood, a layer or 2 of vinyl, newspaper, and it seems more recently the 1/8" foam. The foam definitely saves the layout from dice dings, but it is bouncy. I would bet a 16' table with foam gets a lot of dice bouncing out. Dice "controllers" hate the foam, which means casinos probably love it.
 

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