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Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table

author-gravatar WickedCreekWoodworks Jun 28, 2021

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

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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.

Photo of Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table

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. 

Photo of Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table
Photo of Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table
Photo of Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table
Photo of Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table

Here you can see how the arm rests index the top when in table mode, and the T-tracks where the accessory shelves fit

Photo of Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table
Photo of Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table

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.

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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! 

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To cut the ends of the bent lamination I made the simple jig

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Screwed the part to it..

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And cut with with it clamped to the crosscut sled

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Finished lamination

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The parts were splined together with 1/4" Baltic birch splines

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Figuring the sizes and where everything meets

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Finished assembly

Photo of Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table

Don't build your boat out of Red Oak!

Photo of Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table

Leg blanks. These were two layers of 8/4 glued up. 

Photo of Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table

Cutting the corner off the end where the leg gets bolted to the table. Very easy with a V block and the band saw. 

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Photo of Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table

Test fit

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Assembling the chip rail. The frame here is mortise and tenoned together

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Detail of the corner joint for the detachable legs

Photo of Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table

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. 

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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. 

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Test fit, I did have to do two passes on the width to open it slightly to fit the chips. 

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Running flutes for the chip holders. Huge mess even with dust collection attached

Photo of Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table

Finished chip holders, I went through with a custom made scraper to clean up any of the burn marks

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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

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Shallow mortises for the corner blocks

Photo of Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table

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. 

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Chip Rail glued to the base

Photo of Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table
Photo of Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table

New knives in the planer, shiny!

Photo of Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table

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.

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Test fitting the frame

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Nice tight joints

Photo of Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table

A lot of area to sand

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Test fitting the chip rail in the panel to make sure the arm rests would eventually fit around it

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Cup holders added and counterbores for the FastCap panel clips that hold the armrests securly on

Photo of Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table
Photo of Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table
Photo of Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table
Photo of Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table

Test fitting the accessory shelves. The bolt is temporary, I eventually made custom knobs

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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.

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Testing the table height with the chairs

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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. 

Photo of Convertable Dining / Card / Gaming / Craps Table

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.

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