Home Made Gaming Table "Topper" - Part 3

This is part 3 of my "How I went from being a DIY novice to building my own gaming table" thread - Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here

Lights, Camera, Action

The final part of the trilogy..

So, I wanted lights. All the best tables have lights. Lights are cool. 
No idea how you add them!

After a lot of Googling I found things called LED Strip Lights. They are EXTREMELY expensive.
In Currys and B&Q.

But EXTREMELY cheap everywhere else.

So, Amazon sell them for between £7 and £50, but I found a set with 150 4&5 star reviews, for only £14.99, so I went with them (full disclaimer, I actually went with another brand first, but it didn't work AT ALL so I had to order a second set from a different maker).

This is what I bought...

You get two reels of 5 meter light strip, a power box, remote control and splitter. You can change the colour, dim them, make them flash (God no!) and they attach via a double sided sticky back.

Perfect.

First I had to flip the table top. You can see underneath here more detail of how it sits on the table too (if you are interested, and if you're reading update 3 then I guess you must be).

I had to unwind the lights to test them and set the size. With these you can cut them to size with a pair of scissors. Genius!

It came with a splitter (below) so I could put one set on one side, and one on the other side, then hopefully work out how to connect them when I set it up each time.

The problem I encountered was that my table top was nice and flush when you put in place. So much so that there was no room for the cable to come up.

Now, my electrician skills are as good as my woodwork skills - i.e. non-existent! So, I decided to drill away a small section in the middle, so when it closed there was a small gap just big enough for the wires to poke through.

That was a pain in the backside, as it was under the rim on the side, and not easy to get to. But I managed to get a decent gap in the end, and then set about removing the tape backing and sticking it in place (remembering to wipe down the dust first!)

Below you can see the first one stuck on, with them going through the gap.

  

 

Here is a shot of them stuck around the underside edge. When its flipped they will be at the top of the rim, hidden by the edging (which is why I made it a bit wider earlier in Part 2)

I stuck down the second side

Then attached the Remote box, connected the wires (so I could work out how much give I had) and then attached the box to the side of the table with 2 small pins.

Below you can see the small hole I made for the wires to come out. I always sit at the same spot in the room, so I had the wires come out here, so no one else would have to see them!

I then tested them. 

LIGHT!!!

Ok, time to flip the table, and set it up, and test it properly. 

Below you can see how the wires looked when it was all ready to go.

And here it is!! My finished Gaming Table Topper complete with Lights!

My camera struggled a bit with the LED's, but hopefully you can see well enough to get a feel for it.

The best bit (for me) is that due to the way this is made I can quickly change the table cloth colour, and with the LED colour change remote I can then change the lights to match. Wonderful!!

I hope you like it, and if you want to make you're own and need some advice just drop me a note. And please do let me see any you make that were inspired by this!

Good luck!

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Tech bits in case you are building one - the felt was from Dunelm (UK), where they cut to your size for around £5 a meter. The wood was from B&Q - between £2 and £5 per section depending on the piece. The rubber underlay was around £3 a meter from Dunelm (cut to size). In total I spent about £65, and it took me around 8-9 hours to complete from start to finish (not all in one day!).

Home Made Gaming Table "Topper" - Part 2

Part 2 (of 3) of the Great Gaming Table Adventure


Part 1 is here


I wasn't very happy with the result of the table yesterday (see part 1) - it was OK, but it wasn't what I had in my head. So as I had a day off work booked I decided to try and go about fixing some of the issues.

First of all the top. I had used pine strips that were about 6cm wide, which wasn't enough to hide the lights I wanted to eventually have under them, plus the nails I used weren't even, and some of them didn't like up properly!

So, I went back to B&Q and found some strips that were twice the width, and matched the depth of the main sections. This should make it look like a nice chunky bit of wood from a distance.

Second I wasn't happy with the stability. The arms felt a little fragile, so I found some metal L brackets, in brown, and decided to add these to each corner.

And finally, the colour. Although I had waxed it, it had come up very very light, which I didn't like as it didn't match any of the rest of the furniture in the room - and looked quite cheap (which it is!).

So I found a few videos on YouTube about varnishing, and grabbed some Ronseal furniture varnish with stainer.

Below you can see the new wider strips, plus the bracket, and the first coat of varnish.

It instantly looked better! But the tin said to do 3 coats, so I persisted.

For anyone trying to copy this, before the stage above I had to cut them to size, wood glue and nail them in place (making sure to seat all the nails firmly down so you couldn't feel them if you run your hand over it), and then spent some time sanding them down with 2 different types of sanding paper - to remove all the roughness, and make sure there were no splinters.

After the coat above I then gave it a few more coats

Above you can see the thin top panels better, and the bracket. The varnish dried super quickly, 20 minutes between coats, then an hour to dry completely! Recommended!

I then tested it on the table without the cloth.

As you can see it got much darker, and really started to compliment the brass hooks and the brown brackets.

Time to test it out!

The process is ...

Roll out the felt, with the non slip rubber underneath it (to protect the table and to give it a nice padded feel when playing)

Make sure it is nice and flat and smooth

Then add the first section, making sure to pull it back as you push it down, so it pulls the felt tight as it drops, which makes the cloth flat, and makes the section snug as it "seats" itself.

Then put the second section down, repeating the pull of the felt from above, but so its tight against the other half.

Then push them together, whilst keeping the cloth tight.

Lock the two together with the hooks.

This keeps them tight against the table and stops it moving (it feels very secure and doesn't move at all once its locked down).

I also found some little tags to go over the screws to hide them, which really helps make it look a but posh!

And finally, you have a gaming table!

I'm so happy with the end result! Just the lights to go (they arrived today, but didn't work, so I've another set on the way).

Looks great, in my humble opinion, much better than I imagined it would.

And when you want to pack up at the end of the night, it takes just a minute to unhook, lift off, roll up and pop away in the cupboard!

The table put away for the night!

Next, the lights!

Below, testing it out with Eldritch Horror!

Part 3 is here - Lights!

Home Made Gaming Table "Topper"

Disclaimer: I have never built anything out of wood before, and I know this isn't the best table out there by a long stretch, but I was pretty proud of my achievement!

Note I changed the design a little after I had built this, see Part 2 here for the changes and Part 3 for when I added lights

So, I REALLY wanted a Gaming Table - I have a friend with one, and its awesome, but there was zero way I could afford one. Even the Kickstarter "toppers" were out of my league, so I figured there must be a way I could make something. Somehow.

I spent ages thinking about it, googling things, browsing the BGG forum and looking at the tables other (far cleverer and skilled) people had made and posted. And despite my lack of any DIY skills whatsoever, I decided I should just go for it.

We have a small IKEA extendable dining table at the moment (which is a reasonable size when extended), so I didn't need to make a completely new table (plus I had no idea how) - so instead I decided to make a Table Topper - something that would sit on top of the table, but give the same look and experience as having a Gaming Table.

Willow sitting on the A Feast for Odin rules, which is on our extendable IKEA table

("If I fits, I sits" is the Cat Motto)

First of all I drew out an initial plan (which was in itself an effort, and took me about 10 different pieces of paper before I finally managed to make it look vaguely similar to what was in my head!).

The initial idea was that it would have an inner frame which would sit on the table top, with an outer frame connected to the inner frame, which would be longer than the edge of the table, and would stop it moving about. I would have a hinged section at each end that would fold up under the table and lock on to the sides, to hold it firmly in place.

The actual table top itself would be a custom cut piece of felt, with a rubber anti-slip mat underneath to keep it from moving (and to provide a cushion so you could pick cards up easily) - and both mat and felt would sit directly on the existing table. The frame would then go around the table edge, to give the illusion of a full gaming table.

This was how I was playing initially on the table

First of all I went out and bought some red felt, and the rubber mesh backing, and tried this out (using table cloth clips to hold it in place). This wasn't as easy as it sounds - it took me weeks to find somewhere, and in the end I was shopping in Dunelm (a UK haberdashery - if a haberdashery is a place where they sell cutesy home furnishing type things) where I happened upon their fabric section. 

They cut felt to your size (90cm wide max - the width of my table!) for about £5 a meter. They also sell the rubber anti-slip matting for the same price.

I also picked up some table cloth clips to hold it down and try it out.

Not bad..

I invited some friends round and we had a test game to make sure we were happy with the base! We were. I lost.

Once I was happy with the topping it was time to attempt to build something.. as I mentioned at the start I have never built anything out of wood before. I am a health care analyst by profession, and spend my life in front of a PC, and the idea of doing something like this was frankly terrifying! There isn't much call for Wood working skills in a standard UK NHS hospital.

But I figured at the end of the day, its just a giant game insert - which I make all the time out of foamcore, so.. what the hell, just go for it!!

Here is the initial purchase of wood, with assistance from the Oz and Willow.

(Full disclaimer - I cocked up. For some strange reason whilst at the store I got it into my head I needed 4 pieces to make 2 sections, and when I got home and went to mock up the table I realised I was 2 pieces short and had to go back out again!)

I used the table as my guide, and laid out the first "inner" layer of wood around the edge. I had decided to scrap the hinged idea, and just build two sections, with a hook to hold them tight together.

I then drilled two holes into each side and screwed these together to form my initial "U" frame for the first half, as you can see below.

The next step was adding the outer frame, which would hold it onto the table when playing. I used wood glue and screws to attach these. 

The idea was that the first frame (the inner frame) would sit on the table top, with the second frame (the outer frame) extending down over the table edge to stop it sliding off.

Wood glue. Like PVA glue but.. actually it looked just like PVA glue. More expensive.

Once this was on, I then put a thin strip of pine over the top to act as an arm rest, and to cover up my messy joins!

Below shows both tops added, which were held in place with small tack nails and wood glue. I left a small "lip" on the inside of the frame, so I could add some LED light strips at a later date.

Below you can see the first half complete. I deliberately didn't cover up all of the underneath section at each end, so I could have the second half overlap it when it was put in place, to give it a more robust feel on the table top.

The second part was then put together in the same way

When the two were finished they could be lifted on and off quickly and easily (they were very light).

Here they are on the floor so you can get an idea of the size.

The next step was adding the clips (hooks) to each side, to hold them together on the table (note how terribly my sawing is!!). I later sanded this and it looked better. Ish.

Once the frame was complete I roped in a friend to help me sand it down, then decided to coat it in furniture wood wax to protect it. 

Unfortunately this gave a very light finish, and was very smelly. I really wanted it to be darker.

Below is how the completed frame looked on the table. The cloth will eventually go onto the table direct (over the rubber mat) and then the frame goes on top of that holding it in place.

Finally the felt (and rubber backing) was laid down, and the frame slotted over the top, and the hooks clipped together to hold it in place.

This is the how the table looked at the end of the first day, with Terraforming Mars christening it, and Oz watching on!

I was pleased with this. Its very lightweight, easy to take on and off and pack away, and looks much better than I expected (imho anyway). But it still wasn't perfect, and I felt it could of been better.

In part 2 and 3 you can see how I changed my mind about some of the choices made above, and finished off the table top.

If you have any questions, let me know, or any suggestions on how to improve it.

Part 2 is here