Easy DIY Gaming Table (no woodworking)

[aco175]

From a functional point of view, I would be concerned about the metal edge. With it appearing to stick over the wooden edge of the table it appears to be something that would hurt when someone bumps it with a body part. Also the corners could scrape or tear clothing and skin. Interested to see how things turn out.

 

[Truename]

From a functional point of view, I would be concerned about the metal edge. With it appearing to stick over the wooden edge of the table it appears to be something that would hurt when someone bumps it with a body part. Also the corners could scrape or tear clothing and skin. Interested to see how things turn out.

That’s a great point. The edge is rounded, so that shouldn’t be a problem. The corners might be, though. I have them coming together in a 45 degree miter cut, which might be sharp.

I’m going to start by ordering a subset of the parts to do a test run. I’ll test that too. Thanks!

Spoiler: Test run parts

For the test run, I want to check the corners, strength of the leg vs lateral loads, and the clamping system. I’m going to order:

• The short edges of the frame (mitered)
• Two legs
• Two corner braces
• One cross beam
• 3 support plates

That’s about half the order and should let me test everything without wasting too much money if I have to make changes.

• I can test the corners with the two short edges, a leg, and two corner braces.
• I can test lateral load with one short edge, two legs, and two corner braces.
• I can test the clamping system with one short edge, the cross beam, the two legs taking the place of the long edges (attached to the cross beam but not attached to the short edge), the three support plates, and my 2’x4’ plywood scrap. The whole assembly will rest on the floor and I’ll be able to walk around/jump on it.

 

[el-remmen]

Cool project! I am interested in all kinds of D&D/gaming DIY projects.

I will follow closely.

One approach others may find useful is a hybrid. I bought a huge dining table at a thrift store for $40. It was dinged up but very sturdy. The dimensions are 44” x 66” but it has two leaves that can extend into about 80” or 94”.

Anyway, buying a thrift table and then deconstructing reconstructing a new top and accessories is one way to go and is my next step after I redo two walls in the game room for a shelf system and more power outlets.

 

[MNblockhead]

But this is a big table and somebody is probably going to stand on it at some point, so I wanted to err on the side of strength.

What kind of games are you running!? I approve!


My collection of different sized fold out banquet and work tables that or select from and arrange depending upon the game and number of people would never survive us standing on them, but I wouldn't be particularly put out if one is broken.

Love these kinds of threads. Looking forward to reading more about how your table comes together!

 

[Truename]

What kind of games are you running!? I approve!


My collection of different sized fold out banquet and work tables that or select from and arrange depending upon the game and number of people would never survive us standing on them, but I wouldn't be particularly put out if one is broken.

Love these kinds of threads. Looking forward to reading more about how your table comes together!

Thanks! I might be paranoid, but I could totally see someone standing on the table to change a lightbulb or something. I don’t plan to play those kinds of games on it, but it seems responsible to account for uses a bit outside the norm.

 

[LordEntrails]

Thanks, this is the sort of feedback I was hoping for when I started this thread.

My drawings on the first page are a bit outdated, but mostly correct (the second set overrides and builds on the first set). I'm using 80/20's 1530-S-Black extrusions, which are 3" wide by 1.5" deep. So the tabletop will be sunk 1.5" and the outer rail will be 3" wide on all sides. The corners will be joined with a 45° mitered edge. The top will be clamped to the outer rail from the bottom by two 1530-S cross members that are also 3" wide by 1.5" deep, along with 4365-Black plates on the sides that are 3" wide by 6" long. (See the second drawing.)



This is my biggest concern. I'm currently using 1530-S-Black extrusions for the legs, with 3" corner braces (80/20's 4336-Black 4-Hole Inside Corner Gusset). I'm not 100% sure how to calculate the load, but I'm treating it like a cantilever, where the floor is the attachment point. The leg is 27.5" long, but with the corner brace I'm treating it like a 24.5" long cantilever. With those assumptions, I get 1" of deflection at 1,011 pounds of lateral force perpendicular to the 3" side of the leg and 1" of deflection at 3,698 pounds of lateral force perpendicular to the 1.5" side.

The yield strength of 80/20's extrusions is 35,000 psi so I'm assuming I'm okay. But I don't really know. Would love a cross-check if you know better.

(The elasticity of 80/20 extrusions is 10,000,000. The moment of intertia for the 1530-S is 0.4957 on the 3" side and 1.8127 on the 1.5" side.)

It's been decades since I've setup or run any of those types of calculations. They all seem pretty good and I would trust your numbers with one exception. instead of setting the fixed end of the cantilever as the floor, use the table joint, use the full length of the leg and calculate the bending moment at the fixed point. You can then turn that bending moment to forces on the gusset at the bolt locations. As long as your bolts can handle the tension due to the bending moment, then you will be fine. And you should be fine as they generally size these thing to all work out like this.

 

[Truename]

The mitered corners are out.

The first quote I got from Teco Technologies (the 80/20 distributor) had the table frame (the four top edges) at $929.16. The reason they gave me is that mitered corners require a "miter connector," and a 1.5"x3" extrusion requires custom machining for that connector. They're happy to do it, but it comes at a steep cost.

I was hoping I could go without the miter connector and just rely on my leg + corner braces to connect the edges of the table together, but I talked to my contact to Teco today and he said that definitely won't work.

So the mitered corners are out. @aco175, no more worries about somebody stabbing themself on the edge of the table.


Instead, the edges are just going to overlap, with the long edges inside the short edges. Here's some ASCII art of the table from above:

Before:

\=================/
| |
| |
| |
/=================\

After:

|=================|
| |
| |
| |
|=================|

The legs will still attach to the bottom of the frame, which gives me flexibility to swap their direction or size if they need to be stronger. The new cost is $547.56, which means my fancy mitered corners would have cost me $381.60 extra. Yow. I liked the idea of the mitered corners, but not that much.