Building the main table top starting with the sides!

The main table top to our gaming table is made up of four side pieces and a base.  The four side pieces will be from 5/4 stock that will be 1" thick instead of the 1.5" seen in Geek Chic tables.  1.5" thick stock or 8/4 stock at 8 foot long is pretty darn expensive and I want to keep this project under a certain budget or what's the point!  So, we have our [2] 8' long board that are 1" thick and we are going to cut them down to size.


Here are the actual board measurements for the four sides.

To make these cuts you're going to need a decent Table Saw!  I'm using a 12" Delta Cabinet saw but any normal table saw will do.  You can also make these cuts with a Miter saw, Radial Arm Saw or a Skill saw but it will take longer and require more skill to get nice accurate cuts.    I also use a Joiner and a Planer to get a nice clean edge after the rip cut but you don't have to do this if you don't have access to a planer.  The nice thing about a using a joiner first is you get a perfectly flat edge on one side that you can run through a table say or planer.

You then use a planer is when you make a long rip cut on a thick stock it tends to get small burn marks from the saw blade "if not clean" and a planer can remove these and make each board edge exactly the same thickness and height.

So, if you DO have a planner like me, these are the steps I will be taking to make these four pieces.

1.  Take the two 1" x 8' long boards and cross-cut them so you cut each of the four pieces "two pieces per board" but make sure the boards are at least 1 or 2 inches longer than actual final sizes.  The reason for this is you give yourself some breathing room to make perfect 90 degree cuts on each end!

Example:  The board lengths are 48" and 41" respectively and when you cut them out make sure you cut them initially to a length of 51" and 43" at least so you have extra to make your final clean end cuts.

2.  Now rip cut them to a width of just over 6 - 1/4" to 6 - 1/2".  This will allow you plane them all down exactly to the required 6".   Again, if you don't have a planner then just rip-cut them to the exact 6" width!

NOTE:  All lumber has one good clean edge and the other edge rough and uneven.  Make sure you use the nice clean edge when making your rip-cuts or you pieces will not be an exact 6" width from end to end!

 3.  After the four pieces have been rip-cut to the 6" width, you'll need to make the final cross-cuts to give you the final 48" and 41" measurements. 

CRITICAL:  Always, and I mean ALWAYS, cross-cut both ends of your material so you have perfect 90 degree edges on both ends.  Never trust that one edge of the board is at 90 degrees when you go to cut your final measurement because the board could have been trimmed down with a fast cross cut by the lumber yard.  It's never fun to prepare you boards for a corner joint and find out the edge is less than 90 degrees and sticks out past your other board edge; plus you now have to cut it shorter to clean up the edges, ALL you measurements are off and all measurements need to be recalculated!! 

4.  Make your first Cross-cut on one edge of each of the four boards so they have one perfect 90 degree end.  You only need to trim off a little bit of material so it give you a clean 90 degree edge. 

NOTE: With some lumber you will find splits or cracks due to drying so make sure you know where the splits/cracks are and trim them off before you start measuring your boards.

5.  Measure out the required 41" on two of the boards and then the 48" on the other two boards.

CRITICAL:  Make sure you have these measurements correct and measure them twice before you cut them to guarantee they are correct.

6.   After you've double checked your measurements,"verify" on the boards before you make your final cross cuts to the required measurements of 41" and 48".

NOTE: The boards should already be 1" thick but if they are a little thicker you can plane them down to the required 1" thickness!  If you can't plane them down you will have to adjust your measurements on the drawings to make them fit.

Here are some photos of the initial measurements and cuts of the four side pieces.

1. Here are the four boards cut from the main board stock before final end cuts.

2.  Here I'm putting a clean 90 degree edge on one end of each of the four pieces.

3.  Here I've just ripped down and planned each board to 6 inches wide exactly.

4.  Now I'm making the final measurements on both boards: 41" and 48"

CRITICAL:  Again, double check these measurements before you make your final cuts!

5.  Here are all four boards finished and ready for the next step!

In the next blog I will cover joining the corners of each board using a biscuit joiner.  You can use a router if you don't have a biscuit joiner and I will show some examples of that process later so you will be able to continue the project using this process.

In the next steps you will do the following:

1.  Finish the corners using a biscuit joiner
2.  Route a groove along the inside of the table side pieces to allow for the inner 1/2" Birch Plywood table base.
3.  "At the end" Routing a groove along the length of the outside table edge "similar to the Geek Chic" tables so you can hang drinks or dice towers off the edge.
4. Align and glue everything together!

See you soon...