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Shahnuli’s raised rail table build (1 Viewer)

shahnuli said:
Got bored waiting for stuff to arrive so did the decorative nails for some easy bling not to mention it covers up nicely the slightly wonkyily finished outer rail :sneaky:View attachment 405841
Click to expand...
This process very easy. I used the paper ikea measuring tapes (they are free - I had a 5-6 laying around from a previous trip from there). I forget who used these but I know it was from a build on this forum. Sorry I couldn’t give you credit to whoever thought of this first.
Used blue tape to stick around the outside bottom layer. Then drilled small pilot holes like @Trihonda i think said he did. Then the pins just in nice and easy with a rubber mallet.
My spacing was 2”. Of course the circumference isn’t perfectly divisible by 2 and OCD is strong with me. So what I tried to do was to have the slight variation at one end where I spaced the last 2-3 pins at slightly more/less that 2” so that unless you measure it the spacing still looks equidistant...not sure if I’m explaining it right.
 
shahnuli said:
Holy staples Batman! Finally done. Not the best rail but probably not the worst. Hands are exhausted.
View attachment 405343
Click to expand...
Ok. Now that my hands aren’t sore I can type up a little more info for anyone else that may be doing this:
- the harbor freight pneumatic stapler ($20 with coupon) was just too powerful and would get the staples embedded in the wood and also rip the vinyl. I think what I needed was some adjustability with the force but the harbor freight one didn’t have anything like that. But I may be mistaken since this is my first time doing something like this. I had to watch YouTube to even know how to connect the hose with the quick connect coupler lol.
- So it was plan B time. I didn’t want to spend 60-100 on a better stapler. So just sucked it up and used the heavy duty manual stapler. I ended up using 1180+ staples.
- the best help of all was the little $10 upholstery pliers/grabber. Used that to try and get my vinyl stretch to be as consistent as possible. For the guys who did it by hand only- you deserve a medal!
 
shahnuli said:
This process very easy. I used the paper ikea measuring tapes (they are free - I had a 5-6 laying around from a previous trip from there). I forget who used these but I know it was from a build on this forum. Sorry I couldn’t give you credit to whoever thought of this first.
Used blue tape to stick around the outside bottom layer. Then drilled small pilot holes like @Trihonda i think said he did. Then the pins just in nice and easy with a rubber mallet.
My spacing was 2”. Of course the circumference isn’t perfectly divisible by 2 and OCD is strong with me. So what I tried to do was to have the slight variation at one end where I spaced the last 2-3 pins at slightly more/less that 2” so that unless you measure it the spacing still looks equidistant...not sure if I’m explaining it right.
Click to expand...
Also another option was to just use edge banding for this outer/lower layer. But since I already went hog wild with the round over router bit and rounded the bottom part I couldn’t do edge banding :banghead:
 
CaseAce said:
I had two things, you may not have had.
1. So happen to have bought a really nice dewalt stapler a few days prior. Made stapling crazy easy.
2 my wife's friend gave me a hand with stretching the vinyl. She has played with vinyl before and having her helping hand made it alot easier than me doing that part by myself.
Click to expand...
Two people = heaven for this process!
 
shahnuli said:
Ok. Now that my hands aren’t sore I can type up a little more info for anyone else that may be doing this:
- the harbor freight pneumatic stapler ($20 with coupon) was just too powerful and would get the staples embedded in the wood and also rip the vinyl. I think what I needed was some adjustability with the force but the harbor freight one didn’t have anything like that. But I may be mistaken since this is my first time doing something like this. I had to watch YouTube to even know how to connect the hose with the quick connect coupler lol.
- So it was plan B time. I didn’t want to spend 60-100 on a better stapler. So just sucked it up and used the heavy duty manual stapler. I ended up using 1180+ staples.
- the best help of all was the little $10 upholstery pliers/grabber. Used that to try and get my vinyl stretch to be as consistent as possible. For the guys who did it by hand only- you deserve a medal!
Click to expand...
I actually did my rail with a manual staple gun too. I started out with an electric stapler that I borrowed, but it had no control over the force and I had so many issues with inconsistent staples and I was wasting time re-doing every third staple or so. Switched to my old Powershot manual stapler and it worked like a champ. With the design of that one it takes very little grip strength to use it, so it doesn't kill your hands.
 
[QUOTE

Btw went with ezlok inserts at the bottom of playing surface layer. It took a little practice to get it right but overall not too much of a PITA.
[/QUOTE]
What really helped with getting the inserts in was to be straight as possible with both the pilot holes as well as getting inserts in. The only cheap way I found to do this was to get this: Milescraft 1312 DrillBlock-... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F1ZJFZK?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Of course, a drill press would be great but way too expensive an option.
 
shahnuli said:
This process very easy. I used the paper ikea measuring tapes (they are free - I had a 5-6 laying around from a previous trip from there). I forget who used these but I know it was from a build on this forum. Sorry I couldn’t give you credit to whoever thought of this first.
Used blue tape to stick around the outside bottom layer. Then drilled small pilot holes like @Trihonda i think said he did. Then the pins just in nice and easy with a rubber mallet.
My spacing was 2”. Of course the circumference isn’t perfectly divisible by 2 and OCD is strong with me. So what I tried to do was to have the slight variation at one end where I spaced the last 2-3 pins at slightly more/less that 2” so that unless you measure it the spacing still looks equidistant...not sure if I’m explaining it right.
Click to expand...
Here is another, albeit more expensive, option to place your nail heads with precision.
 
One Eyed Dollar said:
I actually did my rail with a manual staple gun too. I started out with an electric stapler that I borrowed, but it had no control over the force and I had so many issues with inconsistent staples and I was wasting time re-doing every third staple or so. Switched to my old Powershot manual stapler and it worked like a champ. With the design of that one it takes very little grip strength to use it, so it doesn't kill your hands.
Click to expand...
I think the one I had laying around was an old Arrow brand. It took some hand strength. But wearing gloves softened the blow but I still had sore hands.
 
shahnuli said:
Ok. Now that my hands aren’t sore I can type up a little more info for anyone else that may be doing this:
- the harbor freight pneumatic stapler ($20 with coupon) was just too powerful and would get the staples embedded in the wood and also rip the vinyl. I think what I needed was some adjustability with the force but the harbor freight one didn’t have anything like that. But I may be mistaken since this is my first time doing something like this. I had to watch YouTube to even know how to connect the hose with the quick connect coupler lol.
- So it was plan B time. I didn’t want to spend 60-100 on a better stapler. So just sucked it up and used the heavy duty manual stapler. I ended up using 1180+ staples.
- the best help of all was the little $10 upholstery pliers/grabber. Used that to try and get my vinyl stretch to be as consistent as possible. For the guys who did it by hand only- you deserve a medal!
Click to expand...

you adjust the pressure and power by adjusting the air pressure to the stapler on the compressors regulator.
 
Trihonda said:
you adjust the pressure and power by adjusting the air pressure to the stapler on the compressors regulator.
Click to expand...
So I actually tried that. But when I tried that it would just stop working. So it was either no staples coming out or staples coming out and being deep into the wood and tearing vinyl.

It probably was user error though:)
 
Busy week and weekend so wasn’t able to work on the table. But I’m on the home stretch!
Figuring out and then doing edge binding with a dark walnut veneer:
B31A847A-8A24-4A00-AC1E-0BE8B70184FF.jpeg

B941B178-5018-4081-BDA6-7E0B1867EBD1.jpeg


the curves were a bit of pain but just was patient and did smaller sections at a time and all went smoothly. I will be doing the edge trimming tomorrow.
 
Jake14mw said:
Wait, so are you removing all the nail heads and putting edge banding on?
Click to expand...
I think the edge banding is for the exposed inside edge of the raised rail (the part you see where the felt meets the rail).

@shahnuli yeah ironing the inside curves are a pain huh...i had slightly better results using a hair dryer on the curves.
 
Correct! The outside part I went the paint/deco nails route since I did the round over bit doofus move on it already. But it actually looks pretty good. Only need to do the edge banding on the inside raised rail.
 
Al Azouri said:
I've been looking for something like this for a long time. I regularly search Carig's list, Let Go and Offer Up. I've come up short every time. What's the magic sauce?
Click to expand...
Lol. No magic sauce other than keeping an eagle eye for seemingly crappy dining tables and taking a chance. E.g. The pic of the table that I got my legs from didn’t even have a good view of the pedestal, only half of one foot was showing. I took a chance and drove 40 mins to go take a look.
 
Last edited:
Ok. Project is done!
I’d like to thank all of you in this forum for the fantastic suggestions and encouragement. It really did help immensely. I’ll post a follow up with final thoughts and learning experience comments later.
Here are some pics:
603C5EB4-6E12-4002-ABC1-DFB92428D949.jpeg

12C7B948-224C-4B5D-A1E0-F5BFB9B3AAD5.jpeg

A6B29AAC-FCBC-4F4A-9B55-DC6327D4623C.jpeg

79B6F9C3-8827-4CFD-B866-937480E06392.jpeg

AC34DE68-80B1-42F6-88F5-DFC39A526AB6.jpeg
 
By the way: it took me and the wife (needed her help bringing sub base and playing surface layer up the stairs) 10 mins to take table apart and bring it up and put it together. Those tbolts are freaking amazing. Glad I took the time to go that route.
 

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