I'm well into my second poker table build. I don't think there is anything earth shattering or distinct about this build - I'm just building a no frills round with cup holders in the rail. No racetrack, as that's my preference. Nothing flashy like lights or anything like that either.
My craftsmanship level is not on par with someone like Irish or the other table vets. But I'm striving to improve from my first table and create something I'm proud to play on.
So hopefully, a nice, decent, basic card table.
Here we go...
I went search through some local lumber places and found some 5'x5' baltic birch in 3/4" thickness for $59 a sheet. I picked up three sheets and got them home to my deck, which is where I have to do all my work as I don't have a garage or other workspace.
First I used a tape measure to check for square by measuring from corner to corner on the sheets and all seemed close enough. I used a chalk line at the corners to snap an x, then found the middle of each side and got a line put to the center. Using a compass and a borrowed router that fit the mounting holes on the compass (my Bosch did not fit the already drilled holes) I used a spiral upcut bit and cut out a slightly large than 54” circle on all three sheets. I had to go a fraction over 54” since the Lewin compass extension had a small window where the pin would jam up against the other part of the jig. It was either 54.25” or 53.5”. Nothing in the middle. Looking back I think I’d have preferred the smaller but it’s not that big of a deal either way. I did the cuts in three passes around each sheet. My pal said to put something heavy on the compass to help it keep stable from vibration, so I used a jug of milk.
Once the outside circle cuts were done I selected one of the sheets to be the top rail, one to be the lower part of the rail, and the third sheet was to become the bottom. Design is as far as I know a normal three sheet table without a racetrack.
After all three outside circle cuts were done, I started cutting the holes for the smalker standard size cupholders. I decided to go with a 5” rail, so I marked for the center of the circles to be 2.5” from the edge. I used a Jasper circle jig and a plunge router for the cup holder holes. I cut the circle holes for the rail sheets but did not drill the holes into the bottom sheet as I was hoping the cup holders wouldn’t go that far down.
Test fit:
Next step – use some scraps from the outside cuts to use for cutting cupholder rings. I followed Irish’s tutorial very closely from this thread. Cup Holders in Rail (with rings) - The Perfect Man Cave Irish’s tutorial is great – give it a read. So to make them I took two of the scraps, and screwed them together.
Then I took a few tries to make sure I got the right size cuts to fit the cupholders.
Then I set it up to cut them in bulk, measured it out, drilled a hole for the jig to fit into, then screwed the top sheet into the bottom for each ring and made the outside circle cuts first into the top sheet. Using a plunge router, I made three quick passes each slightly deeper to cut through the top sheet of wood. Then I reset the jig for the inside cut and made three more passes for each ring with the plunge router to cut it free.
Next up, I wanted to put a ¼” thick piece of wood between the two rail pieces so the final piece would fit properly against the playing surface sheet with foam. So I bought a 4’x8’ piece of 1/4” pine plywood and put it over the bottom rail circle. Using a router with a flush trim bit I went around the circle and cut the thin plywood to size. Of course, the 4’ width is not enough to cover a 54” round, so I had to put the leftover 1/4” plywood on the remaining part and put a couple screws in it to hold it.
Then using the flush trim bit again I cut this to size to finish the ¼” spacer outside cuts.
I removed the ¼” plywood from the rail pieces and made the inside circle cuts. First, I cut the top rail out. Then the bottom lip piece. Of course, with only 1/8 of the final pass to go, the PoS borrowed Ryobi died. I went to Homes Despot and bought a replacement. I couldn't stand buying another junkbox so I bought him the lower end porter cable. Unbelievable how much nicer this thing cuts, it was insane. Night and day. I had to drill into his Lewin compass for new holes to match the baseplate, but somehow I think he'll be ok with it.
Once the bottom lip was done, I reattached the smaller part of the ¼” plywood and used the flush trim bit to cut the inside part out.
Then I reattached the larger part of the thin plywood with some small screws…
And again used the flush trim bit to complete the fit.
At that point I used a roundover bit to slightly break the edges on the top and bottom parts of the rail pieces. After that, I was ready for some assembly.
First, the cup holder rings were put on with some glue…
And attached with some brads to hold them down.
Then I glued all the rail pieces together, put a countersunk screw in slightly to the left of each cup holder to hold the rail pieces together, and then drilled for T-Nuts for both the rail and the playing surface.
Next up… foam and vinyl for the rail.
My craftsmanship level is not on par with someone like Irish or the other table vets. But I'm striving to improve from my first table and create something I'm proud to play on.
So hopefully, a nice, decent, basic card table.
Here we go...
I went search through some local lumber places and found some 5'x5' baltic birch in 3/4" thickness for $59 a sheet. I picked up three sheets and got them home to my deck, which is where I have to do all my work as I don't have a garage or other workspace.
First I used a tape measure to check for square by measuring from corner to corner on the sheets and all seemed close enough. I used a chalk line at the corners to snap an x, then found the middle of each side and got a line put to the center. Using a compass and a borrowed router that fit the mounting holes on the compass (my Bosch did not fit the already drilled holes) I used a spiral upcut bit and cut out a slightly large than 54” circle on all three sheets. I had to go a fraction over 54” since the Lewin compass extension had a small window where the pin would jam up against the other part of the jig. It was either 54.25” or 53.5”. Nothing in the middle. Looking back I think I’d have preferred the smaller but it’s not that big of a deal either way. I did the cuts in three passes around each sheet. My pal said to put something heavy on the compass to help it keep stable from vibration, so I used a jug of milk.
Once the outside circle cuts were done I selected one of the sheets to be the top rail, one to be the lower part of the rail, and the third sheet was to become the bottom. Design is as far as I know a normal three sheet table without a racetrack.
After all three outside circle cuts were done, I started cutting the holes for the smalker standard size cupholders. I decided to go with a 5” rail, so I marked for the center of the circles to be 2.5” from the edge. I used a Jasper circle jig and a plunge router for the cup holder holes. I cut the circle holes for the rail sheets but did not drill the holes into the bottom sheet as I was hoping the cup holders wouldn’t go that far down.
Test fit:
Next step – use some scraps from the outside cuts to use for cutting cupholder rings. I followed Irish’s tutorial very closely from this thread. Cup Holders in Rail (with rings) - The Perfect Man Cave Irish’s tutorial is great – give it a read. So to make them I took two of the scraps, and screwed them together.
Then I took a few tries to make sure I got the right size cuts to fit the cupholders.
Then I set it up to cut them in bulk, measured it out, drilled a hole for the jig to fit into, then screwed the top sheet into the bottom for each ring and made the outside circle cuts first into the top sheet. Using a plunge router, I made three quick passes each slightly deeper to cut through the top sheet of wood. Then I reset the jig for the inside cut and made three more passes for each ring with the plunge router to cut it free.
Next up, I wanted to put a ¼” thick piece of wood between the two rail pieces so the final piece would fit properly against the playing surface sheet with foam. So I bought a 4’x8’ piece of 1/4” pine plywood and put it over the bottom rail circle. Using a router with a flush trim bit I went around the circle and cut the thin plywood to size. Of course, the 4’ width is not enough to cover a 54” round, so I had to put the leftover 1/4” plywood on the remaining part and put a couple screws in it to hold it.
Then using the flush trim bit again I cut this to size to finish the ¼” spacer outside cuts.
I removed the ¼” plywood from the rail pieces and made the inside circle cuts. First, I cut the top rail out. Then the bottom lip piece. Of course, with only 1/8 of the final pass to go, the PoS borrowed Ryobi died. I went to Homes Despot and bought a replacement. I couldn't stand buying another junkbox so I bought him the lower end porter cable. Unbelievable how much nicer this thing cuts, it was insane. Night and day. I had to drill into his Lewin compass for new holes to match the baseplate, but somehow I think he'll be ok with it.
Once the bottom lip was done, I reattached the smaller part of the ¼” plywood and used the flush trim bit to cut the inside part out.
Then I reattached the larger part of the thin plywood with some small screws…
And again used the flush trim bit to complete the fit.
At that point I used a roundover bit to slightly break the edges on the top and bottom parts of the rail pieces. After that, I was ready for some assembly.
First, the cup holder rings were put on with some glue…
And attached with some brads to hold them down.
Then I glued all the rail pieces together, put a countersunk screw in slightly to the left of each cup holder to hold the rail pieces together, and then drilled for T-Nuts for both the rail and the playing surface.
Next up… foam and vinyl for the rail.