Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table
I was asked by a client that had seen a similar table at Wayfair but wanted something a bit bigger, and nicer for their new gaming room. This one was a real head scratcher as far as the construction. The craps table was the most fun to make with a bent plywood lamination at the ends, the bumpers, and custom felts. Routing the chip holders made me realize I need a bigger router! The legs slide on to some tenons in the aprons and are bolted by some threaded inserts. It is incredibly strong and feels as sturdy as a pool table when assembled.
Red Oak and Red Oak plywood with custom felts and bumpers. Custom Upholstery done by Tack and Tuft Upholstery
The top has one side that is a dining / general use surface. In this arrangement the upholstered armrests on the card table side fit snugly around the chip rail of the craps table. Flip the top over to reveal the card table with a custom felt, drink holders, and upholstered arm rests. There are six "pucks" that drop into the cup holders on the chip rail with a non-slip rubber surface to keep the top from sliding around, and prevent the two finished surfaces from laying against each other in card table mode.
Lastly, there are 6 accessory shelves that are attached by a T track in the underside of the chip rail. These can be customized for any use and add a bit more functionality for playing board games or D&D. The shelves can be attached anywhere around the perimeter of the table.
I don't know the first thing about playing craps, but throwing the dice did have a great feel and I would love the opportunity to make another.
#pokertable #poker #craps #gamingtable #boardgames #dnd #redoak #cardtable #diningtable
Really changes the feel with all the chips and dice! I don't know anything about playing craps, but tossing the dice felt real nice, plenty of space to throw, the bumpers have plenty of room to throw against.
The custom felts are well worth it, a wonderful durable material. I did some tests on scraps and stains come out easy. Cards slide nice and are easy to pick up.
You can see one of the accessory shelves in the bottom right, there are 6 total but they can be made to fit any purpose.
Here you can see how the arm rests index the top when in table mode, and the T-tracks where the accessory shelves fit
I started by making the bending form for the ends of the craps well. I faced the form with two layers of bending ply before clamping the actual parts.
Two layers of bending ply (wacky wood) laminated together make for a very rigid assembly with little to no spring back. You just need a lot of clamps!
To cut the ends of the bent lamination I made the simple jig
Screwed the part to it..
And cut with with it clamped to the crosscut sled
Finished lamination
The parts were splined together with 1/4" Baltic birch splines
Figuring the sizes and where everything meets
Finished assembly
Don't build your boat out of Red Oak!
Leg blanks. These were two layers of 8/4 glued up.
Cutting the corner off the end where the leg gets bolted to the table. Very easy with a V block and the band saw.
Test fit
Assembling the chip rail. The frame here is mortise and tenoned together
Detail of the corner joint for the detachable legs
Leg attached and bolted. The corner block sits on the top of the cutout in the leg, I think you could dance on this table with no issues.
Really need a bigger router. Taking light passes I got it done with no drama. Used the plunge base and an edge guide. Shoutout to WhiteSide for making amazing cutters.
Test fit, I did have to do two passes on the width to open it slightly to fit the chips.
Running flutes for the chip holders. Huge mess even with dust collection attached
Finished chip holders, I went through with a custom made scraper to clean up any of the burn marks
Corner pieces for the chip rail. I eventually made these in two pieces instead of one as the ends were far too brittle and I was unhappy with the transition between the corner blocks and the rails
Shallow mortises for the corner blocks
The two piece corner blocks fit. The grain direction now makes the narrow ends much stronger and I could make a smooth transition without them breaking.
Chip Rail glued to the base
New knives in the planer, shiny!
Mortise and tenon for the frame of the top. The center panel is plywood. A domino would have been amazing here, but I didn't have one and I really do love running my Greenlee No. 227 Mortiser. I also thing there is way more glue surface here than a domino can provide. The top is unsupported so I was concerned about its durability, especially because it would have to get moved around a lot.
Test fitting the frame
Nice tight joints
A lot of area to sand
Test fitting the chip rail in the panel to make sure the arm rests would eventually fit around it
Cup holders added and counterbores for the FastCap panel clips that hold the armrests securly on
Test fitting the accessory shelves. The bolt is temporary, I eventually made custom knobs
the strip on the apron is not just a visual detail (although it is nice) It also prevents the shelved from breaking due to be lifted up, and provides a bit more support to down pressure as well. Because of how much the table top overhangs, the shelves had to be very long. So I needed to come up with a very strong but versatile design.
Testing the table height with the chairs
Success! Making the craps table more playable meant tradeoffs with the table modes. The solution was a wider overhang so that you would have space for your legs without having to fit under the apron. but I did want the chairs to be able to be slid all the way in. It was a tricky thing to balance, but in the end the table is very comfortable.
The rubber bumpers for the craps well. These were applied with contact adhesive. The felts were applied with 3M Super 77 which had enough hold but will also allow the felts to be replaced if needed. The craps table was lined with a vinyl underlayment under the felt to give the dice a better feel as well.