Mardi Gras Table Build (1 Viewer)

[brains613]

Glad I got my injury out of the way before I started this!

 

[brains613]

I have a few more pics, but I'm wiped out. We got the rest of the cuts done today, with one exception. I still have to cut the cupholders out of the rail. We moved operations to my friend's house, and I didn't bring the layout, so we didn't have reference points on where to put them.

 

[brains613]

Last night, we transferred the three sheets of plywood to my buddy's house to work on it today. There were several reason, but mostly because he's doing the cuts, and that's what he wanted. Also, he has this:

Which is what he recommended using to rip the spacers:

So we worked in his wood shed today, and got several things done...

Prep work

Cutting the ORL: (bonus Jack Russel...)

Outer rail lip - you can see where we made a mistake here:

Sp because of that mistake, while cutting the inner rail lip (from the same sheet of ply), we had to rig up something so we could free-hand the cut:

(Yes, that's me holding a cinderblock while the cutter runs the router along what we hope will be a straight cut...)

Worked out well. Here's the inner rail lip...

 

[brains613]

After that, we took a break, During which, I got reacquainted with my handsome friend...

And our cutter took some time to show his bitch who's boss...

After the fun, we realized that we had the playing surface board cut out already, and the only thing left was the rail:

So I worked on spacers... (easy)...

 

[brains613]

And our cutter worked on the rail..

So tonight, I'm hoping to get the veneer sanded down and level. I'll also be applying another coat of stain. I'm still not happy with it, but I'm not sure how to get to my vision. I'll think about it a bit today.

 

[daschuck77]

That's looking great! And hey, I did cut some stuff up too and not just take pictures and mooch your beer!

 

[brains613]

Got a bit more done this evening. (Having the build thread up is a good motivator.) I sanded down all the pieces to smooth the edges. Then, because nobody was home, I got working on the cupholder cutouts.

Prepping -

You can't make them out, but there are rings drawn on the ply.

ONE DOWN!

I didn't think I'd get the rest done, but I figured out a method to move quickly. I took the circle jig off the base of the router. Put a nail with a thin head in the hole I needed. Then I cut that nail down using a dremel so it was shorter. Then I drilled into the center of each circle, using the inner pieces from the rings as a guide. Then I ran a screw into what would be the circle piece left after making a cut. After that, I set the router to plunge half the depth, routed all ten holes, then set it to do the remaining depth, and finished the cuts. It ended up being about 8 minutes of thinking and prep, then about 25 minutes of cutting. And voila!

I'm probably not going to get much done for the next few days. I host (and deal) a game on Wednesday nights, so I'll be getting ready for that tomorrow. It takes a LONG time for me to unwind after the game, so I don't usually get to bed until 330-400 am, so Thursday night I usually just relax. We'll see how motivated I am...

 

[brains613]

Oh. I forgot something. Before I did all the work in the last post, I put a thick coat of stain on the base of the edge banding. I used the same dark stain I used on the legs, thinking it might be closer to how I might like. It was only AFTER I did all that other work, and was using my leaf blower to blow sawdust out into the driveway, that I realized the stain HAD to still be tacky, and the veneer is likely now covered in a layer of sawdust. I'm afraid to look, so I didn't . I don't want to be heartbroken over it, because if I see it, it'll nag at me all night. I'm just gonna concede that I'll likely need to get another strip and redo the veneer on the base.

 

[brains613]

Because I'm stubborn, and even though I should be sleeping, I used these:

To do this:

And get this:

Spacers are glued on. I'll have to run some screws through them tomorrow. I just realized that I need longer ones.

 

[brains613]

SO, we have ten days until the next game, and I'm determined to have this done by then.

So I tried running screws through the spacers. The glue was probably alright, but I really wanted them screwed. It's probably obvious to others, but I didn't realize that you can't really screw sideways into plywood. It starts to split.

I slept on what to do. I realized that I had made PLENTY of spacers, and that they were exactly half as tall as I needed. So I knocked them all off with a rubber mallet, stacked them two high, glued and screwed them.

Split piece, and what I did to resolve it.

Got all the spacers (re)done

Got the lip installed as well.

 

[UTGPoker]

This is going to be one serious table!

 

[Irish]

FYI - with spacers that tall, you may want to wrap the edge of the rail with a thin layer of hardboard or add more spacers to fill in the gaps, especially at the cup holder locations. You'd probably be OK if your raised rail was only ~3/4", but with the taller 1.5" riser, you may find that when you're upholstering the rail, the foam along the edge of the rail will sink into those gaps. You'll end up getting "soft spots" in the foam, which will make it tougher to get an even pull and may make for a lumpy final product. Here's a pic (linked here so as to not muddle up your thread) of a table I did with a similar riser height, you can see the spacing of spacers is tighter.

 

[brains613]

I hope so, but I think I just realized that my diffuser strips are a half inch too narrow.

 

[brains613]

FYI - with spacers that tall, you may want to wrap the edge of the rail with a thin layer of hardboard or add more spacers to fill in the gaps, especially at the cup holder locations. You'd probably be OK if your raised rail was only ~3/4", but with the taller 1.5" riser, you may find that when you're upholstering the rail, the foam along the edge of the rail will sink into those gaps. You'll end up getting "soft spots" in the foam, which will make it tougher to get an even pull and may make for a lumpy final product. Here's a pic (linked here so as to not muddle up your thread) of a table I did with a similar riser height, you can see the spacing of spacers is tighter.

That's a good tip. Thank you for that. I will cut more spacers this weekend. I used all but a handful. (Or maybe get hardboard and flush trim it.)

 

[brains613]

I hope so, but I think I just realized that my diffuser strips are a half inch too narrow.

@Irish - Any idea what I can do for this? I have acrylic strips, already cut to 4 feet long and 2 inches wide. I think I need them to be 2.5 inches wide, maybe a little more if I decide to route a channel for them. I can get others, but don't necessarily want to wait for them to come in the mail.

Any ideas?

 

[Irish]

@Irish - Any idea what I can do for this? I have acrylic strips, already cut to 4 feet long and 2 inches wide. I think I need them to be 2.5 inches wide, maybe a little more if I decide to route a channel for them. I can get others, but don't necessarily want to wait for them to come in the mail.

Any ideas?

Depends, I'm not exactly sure how you're assembling the acrylic strips in relation to the rail & playing surface - do you have a sketch of the proposed cross section or reference thread you're trying to match?

 

[brains613]

Cross section is posted here.

http://blog.brodie.me/2014/05/diy-poker-table.html

I was thinking of maybe attaching it to the rail bottom piece of ply, but keeping it raised. Might be complicating it, though.

 

[brains613]

@Irish

Realized that might not be clear. Here's a quick drawing of the cross section.Blue line is the diffuser.

 

[Irish]

Cross section is posted here.

http://blog.brodie.me/2014/05/diy-poker-table.html

I was thinking of maybe attaching it to the rail bottom piece of ply, but keeping it raised. Might be complicating it, though.

OK I see what you're doing - as long as you're able to attach the diffuser nice and level, I don't see why that wouldn't work.

 

[brains613]

Cool. My plan is to just find something half an inch thick, and use it a a guide. Thanks for the input!

 

[brains613]

LOTS of pictures coming later today, but I need help at the moment.

@T_Chan , @Irish ( @Tommy - This function is pretty cool, by the way.)

Somehow I got a bit of spray adhesive on the playing surface. I didn't even notice it. I was messing around with screws when she came by and said. "It's looking good, babe. (beat) What's this?", and swept her finger across it. "Eww, it's sticky."

Any ideas what I can use to remove it? It's gaming suede. I have some scraps I can test some things on. (Goo Gone, a little alcohol..) Any other ideas?

If I can't get it off, it's not the end of the world, but I'd like to try.

Picture -

 

[celticnoel79]

Looking on with interest.....

 

[Irish]

I'd defer to Chanman on that one, assuming it's one of his cloths. If not I'd say to try a little mild detergent like dawn with warm water. Good idea to test on the scrap first though.

 

[T_Chan]

You'll want to get some 80 grit sandpaper and aggressively... Oh wait that's for something else.

I would try a damp cloth and gently try to work out the adhesive. To be honest I haven't got adhesive on gaming suede before so I don't know the best procedure.

Definitely try different methods on some scrap if water doesn't work.

 

[MoscowRadio]

Maybe test a little Goo-Gone on a scrap to see how that works? That might leave a permanent dark spot on the cloth though due to its oily texture.

 

[brains613]

Pics

Deco nails. Was going for a Mardi Gras bead look

HT Irish for the tip about covering the gaps in the rail. I bought a piece of hardboard, and agonized about how I was going to gut, then realized the cuts really didn't need to be straight at all. So I just freehanded it with a jigsaw. Then attached it with staples into the spacers.

 

[Stylin]

Looking good. WIsh I had a tip for the glue. I had some residue on my gloves that transferred to cup holders recently. I tried goo gone and every other kind of remover I could find in the shop. Mineral spirits, acetone, even metal polish. Nothing would take out the dark spots in the brass. Ended up ordering new, what a waste! But hey, I learned and wont do that again.

Do yourself a favor and use a 3/8" roundover bit on the rail edges. You'll feel them under the foam if you don't. I do both the inside and outside of the top rail board.

 

[brains613]

Cupholders glued and test fit -

Trying to glue down the diffuser strips -

I abandoned that for a bunch of different reasons. And the pictures I took of working on the playing surface are somehow missing...

Anyway, playing surface is done and diffusers are just glued together.

 

[brains613]

Foaming the rail -

Looking good. WIsh I had a tip for the glue. I had some residue on my gloves that transferred to cup holders recently. I tried goo gone and every other kind of remover I could find in the shop. Mineral spirits, acetone, even metal polish. Nothing would take out the dark spots in the brass. Ended up ordering new, what a waste! But hey, I learned and wont do that again.

Do yourself a favor and use a 3/8" roundover bit on the rail edges. You'll feel them under the foam if you don't. I do both the inside and outside of the top rail board.

Too late...

 

[brains613]

Foaming the rail. Spray adhesive didn't want to adhere to the hardboard. Should have put the rough side facing outward.

Working the suede.