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Thread: My Gaming Table

  1. #1

    My Gaming Table

    One of my other hobbies is woodworking. I'd like to share some pictures of a game table project I recently finished.

    I keep forgetting to take pictures during an actual game, so I just set up my DMing stuff, picked a map my players went through recently, and threw some minis on it.

    Anyways, here it is!



    We mostly play in-person, but I use Fantasy Grounds to manage the campaign, display maps and images on the TV, and a couple of formerly-local players still join in remotely with Fantasy Grounds and Zoom.

    Aside from a couple of 2x4s underneath for support, the entire table is made of solid oak. The TV is a 43" TCL Roku TV and I have some plexiglass on top of it to protect it.

    The table top itself is 1x6 oak boards, all jointed and laminated together. After a LOT of sanding to get the top flat, I cut the hole for the TV out of it. I saved the piece I had cut out, finished it, and I can put it back into place when not using the table, so it's normally just a big flat surface and can be used for anything. Here it looks like with that panel back in place:


    I didn't want any knobs, handles, or anything marring the surface of the top, so I figured out a simple lift mechanism to remove that panel when needed. I reach underneath and press up on a small dowel that pushes the panel up, then I remove the panel. This is all that shows of that when it's open:


    Here it is with the dowel removed, so you can see it. It has to be larger at one end so it doesn't fall through, and the hole it sits in is similarly sized to match:


    I routed a t-slot into the table's aprons so that I can later make accessories that slide in anywhere on the table sides (cub holders, tablet stands, whatever I want to make) but I haven't actually made those yet. You can see the t-slots here:


    I didn't use any stain (oak looks great by itself) but did put a few coats of satin polyurethane to protect it.

    I'd love to hear what you think!
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  2. #2
    Quote Originally Posted by notrealdan View Post
    One of my other hobbies is woodworking. I'd like to share some pictures of a game table project I recently finished.
    ...

    Very nice!

  3. #3
    LordEntrails's Avatar
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    I like it. Much like what I imagine doing myself one day. Though I wouldn't dare cut our the access from the finished panel. Would never trust myself to make straight cuts! I'm glad you put in the T-slot, I image you'll be thankful once you do make the accessories for it

    I also assume you thought about put in power outlets under the table? Any reason you didn't?

    Your finish work is really nice, glad you left the oak natural, it's a beautiful wood

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  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by LordEntrails View Post
    I like it. Much like what I imagine doing myself one day. Though I wouldn't dare cut our the access from the finished panel. Would never trust myself to make straight cuts! I'm glad you put in the T-slot, I image you'll be thankful once you do make the accessories for it

    I also assume you thought about put in power outlets under the table? Any reason you didn't?

    Your finish work is really nice, glad you left the oak natural, it's a beautiful wood
    Thanks!

    Cutting the panel out was definitely the scariest part, but I got a track saw to do just that part. That made it a lot easier to get accurate, straight cuts.

    I mounted some power strips underneath the table at the corners. Everyone has easy access to outlets and USB ports for charging. There’s just the one power cord coming from the table to the wall to power everything.

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  6. #6
    Patou's Avatar
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    Wow!!! Love it. Pretty cool stuff!
    Patou a.k.a: Patmaster
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  7. #7
    Here are some pictures from building the table top itself.

    First jointing the edges, so they can be nice and flat against each other. Then gluing and clamping together, one board at a time until they're all one piece. Then trimmed to size and sanded.








    Also, just after a test cut of the t-slot for the aprons.


    I'm a little worried about actually using those for things like cup holder accessories. I'm terrified of the first time someone accidentally leans on one, because I don't know how much weight the slots will hold and they might just snap. I can rebuild an apron piece easily enough, but it would still suck. One apron piece split while I was cutting the t-slot into it, so I've already had to rebuild that one anyways, so I started getting nervous about this part. I could have routed out a slot for a metal t-slot track, but I don't think I'd like the look of it as much as all wood. I may end up leaving the t-slots as decorative for a while...
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  8. #8
    LordEntrails's Avatar
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    I was wondering about the strength of the T-slots myself. Maybe the solution is to build the accessories with a break away piece/attachment. So that the accessory breaks before the slot/apron piece does? Not sure what that design would look like though. I would start by assuming the cross section of the break away piece would have to be thinner than the lip of the T.

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  9. #9
    Like I said, this was the scariest part. After a lot of work, I finally had a nice, flat table top. Now I was going to cut a huge hole in it! I had all kinds of visions in my head about how terribly wrong this could go. Thankfully, I got myself a track saw that can do plunge cuts and it all went perfectly smoothly (after measuring and re-measuring about a thousand times!). I didn't go all the way up to the corners of the hole with the track saw, but left about an inch or so. Then, I finished the cuts with a jigsaw and cleaned everything up with a lot of sanding.

    Anyways, here's some pictures from this part of the project:







    And here's the under side of the table top, after I had the apron, supports, and TV box assembled.


    I have more pictures, so let me know if anyone wants to see anything specific about the build. I got a lot of inspiration from other similar projects I saw online, so my hope here is that these posts help someone else out with their project!

    EDIT: Somehow these picture attachments broke, so I just re-added them.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by notrealdan; April 25th, 2019 at 16:13.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by LordEntrails View Post
    I was wondering about the strength of the T-slots myself. Maybe the solution is to build the accessories with a break away piece/attachment. So that the accessory breaks before the slot/apron piece does? Not sure what that design would look like though. I would start by assuming the cross section of the break away piece would have to be thinner than the lip of the T.
    One of my players said maybe I could have the accessories have some kind of spring action, so when someone pushes down on them, they hinge down and spring back up on their own. Might be a little complicated, but I'd rather spill a drink on the floor than have to repair the table...!

    My other thought was install spikes on all of the accessories, so people only lean on them once!

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