DIY: Make your own gaming table. Sunday, March 1, 2009 |
So here's the deal: I've caught the gaming bug again and wanted a cheap table to game upon. After a couple false starts and location being the major stitch, I decided since I now have a garage, I could host at my house. But no table of required size.
It needed to have the following:
1. Be portable. Joelle needs to park in the garage too, so it has to be light enough that I can move it myself.
2. Be of suitable size. Thinking of all the activities that could take place. Mainly tabletop gaming that requires space for maps, minis, people, dice, etc.
3. Sturdy enough that a bump won't send it flying. For 4 or more people? Your average purchasable folding card table won't cut it.
So what would any respectable nerd do? To google I go.
I see lots of . Their regulation tables are 4' x 6' which is a good size. I don't see a lot of portable tables though. Most are ridged plywood affairs, which works if you have a dedicated space. Problem is, 3/4 inch plywood is heavy at that size, so even if I make the top and legs removable, its a big sheet that while I am sure I could move, is difficult to finish as well.
I did come across this and I must admit I was inspired:
His plan was to unfold these on his existing dining room table. Good idea, but I have a small, very small, bar height, glass top table in the dining room. So I would have to make legs.
The problem with this is, making stable, foldaway or detachable legs that are is difficult for me to fabricate, as I am not nor have ever been a carpenter or even a real engineer (I am a fake one). Back to google and my next answer.
Somebody names Susan wants to have dinner partied in her tiny apartment. Asks about a sturdy light folding table. We see the board over table solution again, but later in the comments we see this gem:
So my plan was this: Get 2 door blanks, some sort of hinges, some rub on polyurethane and 2 saw horses. Oh and think of a way to keep the table from bending by either locking it in place or attaching it to the saw horses.So off to Lowes I went.
The boards I found were about 21$ each. Have an actual ok looking grain. They're 1 1/2" thick and quite light. At 80" long, that is 6" longer than a regulation Warhammer table. I thought 4' wide might be too narrow, but I didn't want to go with the 28" wide slabs. Once they were on the cart, it was off to saw horses.
Luckily for me, Lowes had their own version of the rad yellow sawhorses, at 22$ apiece. Kinda spendy. But I rationalized to myself that I would have a pair of saw horses for future projects ;) However, they have stickers on the padded tops which I cannot get off completely. I don't want to scrape off the top padding, so.. oh well their saw horses... who cares.
I grabbed some Minwax Wipe-On Poly with a satin finish. The wood it pretty light weight and needs all the help it can get. This will give it a bit of color, make it water proof and hopefully give it a fighting chance against what will be a life of hard polyhedrons bombarding it. This stuff dries in hours (not days), requires a rag and ventilation and sanding between coats. I picked up a sanding block and some 220 sand paper too.
Last I pick up some hinges. At first I was leaning towards several standard door hinges. Problem was that the smaller hinges wouldn't sit flush and I wanted to minimize the gap. Larger hinges sit a bit more flush, but they tend to be the same width as the door and I would have to chisel out material to make them flush. This was also a problem because there just isn't a lot of material to these doors. They're hollow. At most, the internal frame is 1" 1/2". I decided to go with piano hinges. 7$ each.
So I get home and get staining. After about 4 coats, you can see the darker color on the left. I am surprised as the shine from the grain on these doors. There is quite a bit of depth and character. Much like a maple top guitar. The satin finish looks good.
Next day I was ready to put the hinges on.
Using a 1/16 drill bit for pilot holes and the other half to keep the hinge in place, I quickly dispatched the hinge
Though not as easy as if the hinge was on the top, I was able to get the top flipped over on the saw horses.
But now I need to make it a bit more stable. The saw horses already have some holes in their tops, which I think I'm going to take advantage of.
I want to be able to bolt the table from the bottom with some long bolts. But because the table folds down, I can't have bolts sticking out from the unfinished side or it won't close properly.
I found Threaded Inserts which I can place in the bottom, then use a machine bolt to attache the table from the bottom. However, the wood I fear is too thin to take much abuse.
My idea is to glue some plywood strips to the table where it would rest on the saw horses then use the Threaded Inserts.
It needed to have the following:
1. Be portable. Joelle needs to park in the garage too, so it has to be light enough that I can move it myself.
2. Be of suitable size. Thinking of all the activities that could take place. Mainly tabletop gaming that requires space for maps, minis, people, dice, etc.
3. Sturdy enough that a bump won't send it flying. For 4 or more people? Your average purchasable folding card table won't cut it.
So what would any respectable nerd do? To google I go.
I see lots of . Their regulation tables are 4' x 6' which is a good size. I don't see a lot of portable tables though. Most are ridged plywood affairs, which works if you have a dedicated space. Problem is, 3/4 inch plywood is heavy at that size, so even if I make the top and legs removable, its a big sheet that while I am sure I could move, is difficult to finish as well.
I did come across this and I must admit I was inspired:
The question becomes: How do you make a multi-functional table that is the correct size, easy to setup and move, doesn't cost a lot, has no splinters and doesn't kill your back?
Solution:
Two cheap wooden doors and some packing, gorrilla or duct tape from Lowes.
His plan was to unfold these on his existing dining room table. Good idea, but I have a small, very small, bar height, glass top table in the dining room. So I would have to make legs.
The problem with this is, making stable, foldaway or detachable legs that are is difficult for me to fabricate, as I am not nor have ever been a carpenter or even a real engineer (I am a fake one). Back to google and my next answer.
Somebody names Susan wants to have dinner partied in her tiny apartment. Asks about a sturdy light folding table. We see the board over table solution again, but later in the comments we see this gem:
"- buy two of these rad yellow steel sawhorses at Home DepotFrom some of the posts in "Mr Door Table's" forum I knew I wanted to hinge the doors. Tape wasn't going to cut it. But since I wanted the hinges on the bottom for a smooth playing surface, if someone put some pressure on the edge, the middle would spring up.
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100003259&categoryID=502727
and keep them in a closet or under your bed
So my plan was this: Get 2 door blanks, some sort of hinges, some rub on polyurethane and 2 saw horses. Oh and think of a way to keep the table from bending by either locking it in place or attaching it to the saw horses.So off to Lowes I went.
The boards I found were about 21$ each. Have an actual ok looking grain. They're 1 1/2" thick and quite light. At 80" long, that is 6" longer than a regulation Warhammer table. I thought 4' wide might be too narrow, but I didn't want to go with the 28" wide slabs. Once they were on the cart, it was off to saw horses.
Luckily for me, Lowes had their own version of the rad yellow sawhorses, at 22$ apiece. Kinda spendy. But I rationalized to myself that I would have a pair of saw horses for future projects ;) However, they have stickers on the padded tops which I cannot get off completely. I don't want to scrape off the top padding, so.. oh well their saw horses... who cares.
I grabbed some Minwax Wipe-On Poly with a satin finish. The wood it pretty light weight and needs all the help it can get. This will give it a bit of color, make it water proof and hopefully give it a fighting chance against what will be a life of hard polyhedrons bombarding it. This stuff dries in hours (not days), requires a rag and ventilation and sanding between coats. I picked up a sanding block and some 220 sand paper too.
Last I pick up some hinges. At first I was leaning towards several standard door hinges. Problem was that the smaller hinges wouldn't sit flush and I wanted to minimize the gap. Larger hinges sit a bit more flush, but they tend to be the same width as the door and I would have to chisel out material to make them flush. This was also a problem because there just isn't a lot of material to these doors. They're hollow. At most, the internal frame is 1" 1/2". I decided to go with piano hinges. 7$ each.
So I get home and get staining. After about 4 coats, you can see the darker color on the left. I am surprised as the shine from the grain on these doors. There is quite a bit of depth and character. Much like a maple top guitar. The satin finish looks good.
Next day I was ready to put the hinges on.
Using a 1/16 drill bit for pilot holes and the other half to keep the hinge in place, I quickly dispatched the hinge
Though not as easy as if the hinge was on the top, I was able to get the top flipped over on the saw horses.
But now I need to make it a bit more stable. The saw horses already have some holes in their tops, which I think I'm going to take advantage of.
I want to be able to bolt the table from the bottom with some long bolts. But because the table folds down, I can't have bolts sticking out from the unfinished side or it won't close properly.
I found Threaded Inserts which I can place in the bottom, then use a machine bolt to attache the table from the bottom. However, the wood I fear is too thin to take much abuse.
My idea is to glue some plywood strips to the table where it would rest on the saw horses then use the Threaded Inserts.
Labels: gaming, Tabletop Gaming
