| Project by GaryK | posted 881 days ago | 42492 views | 18 times favorited | 30 comments | ![]() |
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Here is a 16 foot shuffleboard table, which was one of the first projects I made in my new shop.
I thought that I needed a break from making furniture so this was just the thing. If you would like to see it under construction check out the following link: http://www.arealnice.com/shuffleboard
Usually the play surface is made from 3” thick solid hard maple. Way too heavy and expensive for me so I decided on a different approach. I made the entire thing from 4-5 sheets of 4’x8’ sheets of plywood, 2 boxes of bamboo flooring and some mahogany for the trim.
For those interested I have also inculded in the link above a AutoCAD drawing that I created to work out the details, and the part layout on the plywood. This drawing is not really complete but it should give you 99% of the details for building one yourself. That along with the pictures, you should be able do it with no problems.
The bamboo flooring (Lowes) was modified out ot the box since there is a small radius where the boards meet up. I ran all of them through the table saw taking just enough material off to get rid if it. I used bamboo becuare it is a hard and light colored surface. Plus there was about 1/8” of bamboo to allow for sanding.
I mounted the bamboo flooring to a plywood frame that allowed me to level it every 15 or so inches, since the bamboo is nowhere as rigid as solid maple. Check the link for details.
Everything else is made from plywood except for the mahogany trim around the edge.
The pattern allows two kinds of scoring. The lines for the standard game, and the circles for the scoring used in curling (played on ice). The curling scoring is great. I used felt tipped pens for marking them. The finish is an oil poly for durability.
The carpet came from Lowes which worked perfectly for lining the case. It’s just a standard floor runner. No glue to hold it in, just jamming it in worked fine.
There are probably more things that I forgot to mention so if you have any questions just ask.
-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.































30 comments so far
Bill
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2561 posts in 1055 days
posted 881 days ago
Great job Gary. I think this is the first shuffleboard table I have ever seen. Most unique.
-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com
john
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1190 posts in 1275 days
posted 881 days ago
Beautiful job Gary
I used to watch my father build a few shuffleboard tables for the local bars years ago.
I really enjoy playing it too.
-- John in Belgrave ,(Slideshow http://cid-69bce320c6d8b119.spaces.live.com/ (Website) http://www.extremebirdhouse.com
MsDebbieP
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14156 posts in 1054 days
posted 881 days ago
wow… Bravo.
-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)
Napaman
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3486 posts in 971 days
posted 881 days ago
looks fun…makes me want to come over for a cold one and a match…but it would be a long drive…
-- Matt, Napa, CA...fun is beautiful...just trying to have some fun...
RJones
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239 posts in 1049 days
posted 881 days ago
dude you are the man!! I was just talking to a freind about builind on e of these the other day in addition this would make a great project to put on my free plan site if you wouldn’t mind??
RJ
-- http://rjoneswoodworks.com/
woodspar
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705 posts in 993 days
posted 881 days ago
Great job. Gary, I am sending you a PM. Please let me know if you do not get it.
-- John
Bob Babcock
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1808 posts in 980 days
posted 881 days ago
Did you make the pool table and turn the cues as well? Amazing work Gary…Amazing mahogany highboy, a unique beautiful chessboard, and now this…cool.
I just went through all the pictures and opened the Autocad drawing. Everything you need to build your own…very, very cool. And you did this to take a break?....Wow!
-- Bob, Carver Massachusetts, Sawdust Maker http://www.capecodbaychallenge.org
TomFran
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2513 posts in 888 days
posted 881 days ago
Norm Abrams look out – Gary could be giving you some stiff competition!
Gary – thanks for posting your creations and for being so nice as to even provide drawings for others to use.
You really are providing a lot of things to promote “humility” in many of your fellow woodworkers (me for sure!).
-- Tom, Surfside Beach, SC - Romans 8:28
Don
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2590 posts in 1071 days
posted 881 days ago
”You really are providing a lot of things to promote “humility” in many of your fellow woodworkers (me for sure!).”
May I echo these words, Tom?
-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.hilsbiblechurch.org/
Karson
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25793 posts in 1294 days
posted 881 days ago
Great project Can you hinge the ends to fit in a 12’ room and then lay it out flat through the doorway when you want to play.
Great job and interesting choice of materials. Did you leave the original surface on the Bamboo or did you sand it off. Because you mentioned that you had 1/8” of bamboo on the planks from big blue.
-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †
mot
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4901 posts in 930 days
posted 881 days ago
That’s a great project, Gary! I used to love shuffle board. I can’t remember playing it since I was a little kid, but I think the neighbor had a table. That brought back some nice memories. Thanks!
-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)
GaryK
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9521 posts in 882 days
posted 881 days ago
Thanks for all the comments!
Karson – If you build it, you can do whatever you like. Make it 12’, 10’ or whatever you need to do. Yes, I did sand off the factory finish there is no way to glue up the flooring to be perfectly level and flat. The outside frame is two pieces joined in the middle with splines. I didn’t do that to the playing surface though. If I ever need to I will cut that in half also and use a router to cut slots for splines. As is stands it weighs only about 100 pounds. It’s not that big a project. It took about 1 week to finish.
-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.
Karson
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25793 posts in 1294 days
posted 881 days ago
Thanks for the additional info.
-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †
scottb
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3402 posts in 1221 days
posted 881 days ago
Woodworking (fun) meets fun for the whole family. Nice. I’d get a little intimidated by how perfect the playing surface has to be, and caught up in all those little details. Someday perhaps,...
Great job!
-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://blanchardcreative.etsy.com -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/
jockmike2
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7302 posts in 1140 days
posted 881 days ago
That sure does’nt look like a workshop to me. So where did you build it.? dNice gaming table. jockmike
-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com
oscorner
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4572 posts in 1204 days
posted 880 days ago
Very nice!
I’d hate to think how heavy it is with the 4-5 sheets of 4’x8’ sheets of plywood, 2 boxes of bamboo flooring and some mahogany for the trim.
-- Jesus is Lord!
BlueStingrayBoots
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465 posts in 896 days
posted 880 days ago
I’ll tade you for some Ebony? Yea, the whole shuffleboard! I like that game.
BlueStingrayBoots
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465 posts in 896 days
posted 879 days ago
Gary, after seeing the construction pictures, I think I want to build one out og mesquite. I would certainly have a problem with it being flat/level though. Could you shed a little light on how to try and make it flat to perfection. I think I would run it through a planer, just need to find one big enough. I’m defenatly gonna check into making one. Thanks for sharing Gary.
GaryK
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9521 posts in 882 days
posted 878 days ago
It’s not that hard of a project. To flatten the top I just ran it through my drum sander. If you can find someplace with a wide belt sander you have it made. I don’t think I would risk chipout on a planer. Not after all that work. Transporting it in one piece might be a problem. I would make it in two pieces with a spline across the entire end and put then it together dry for running through the sander. That way you would have a seamless joint.
Good luck, and I expect to see it finished here.
-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.
BlueStingrayBoots
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465 posts in 896 days
posted 877 days ago
Drum sander?, I’m going to try and get one in July at a auction. I will look for plans for a smaller size table. The full scale is the real deal but I have limited space. I have a 15” planer. I dont get chip-out when blades are sharp,$21 to sharpen here, But thats a worthy investment for this project. If I win the sander, I will most definatly post a finished mesquite product. Gary, you just made this project so easy for me. Thanks
GaryK
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9521 posts in 882 days
posted 877 days ago
Actually this is a smaller table than the regulation one. That’s 22 feet. At 16 feet mine is a medium large one.
You could scale down the plans I posted. Just cut out the middle section and make it narrower to fit your planer if you go that route.
Plans will cost you about $30 on Ebay or about $50 for a book with plans.
Good luck and don’t forget to post it when it’s done.
-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.
Ryan Corrigan
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59 posts in 977 days
posted 651 days ago
Gary,
Nice job! They are fun to build. Check out mine. http://lumberjocks.com/projects/858
-- Ryan Corrigan Sadieville, KY http://www.CelticCrossWood.com
mikesols
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1 post in 417 days
posted 417 days ago
is the auto cad link the one that says shuffleboard.dwg ? when i click that all i get are a page full of weird symbols?
-- mike, massachusetts
GaryK
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9521 posts in 882 days
posted 417 days ago
It’s an AutoCAD file. You need something to read it.
Here is the offical AutoCAD version for free.
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?id=6703438%26siteID=123112
I just tried it and something is wrong. I had to right click and do a save target as. Then before I click save I had to change the file extension to DWG from HTM.
I just switched servers so I’ll have to look into it.
-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.
GaryK
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9521 posts in 882 days
posted 347 days ago
Just to let everyone know, I have fixes the drawing file problem.
It’s now in a zipped file in the link above.
-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.
Maseman
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1 post in 316 days
posted 316 days ago
Now that football season is wrapping up, my buddy and I have decided to build a shuffleboard table to occupy that void left from football. Can’t wait to get started, thanks for posting instructions. Hopefully we can make ours look somewhat close to what you have made. Nice work, and thanks again for the post.
BlueStingrayBoots
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465 posts in 896 days
posted 268 days ago
Not as easy as 123 for me Gary.
laurasautographs
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4 posts in 260 days
posted 260 days ago
This is really cool! Where did you find some cheap pucks, and is that surface pretty slippery? Maybe you could make some pucks , but how would you make them slide? Shuffleboard pucks are about $10 a piece that I have found. Or could you use regular hockey pucks, but again, I don’t know how to make them slide. Any help would be appreciated.
GaryK
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9521 posts in 882 days
posted 260 days ago
I bought mine at http://www.zieglerworld.com
$10 each sounds about right. The size you get is determined by the size of table you have.
I wouldn’t try to make them. They are steel and weighted very heavy.
They also sell a powdered wax that you sprinkle in the table to make things slide VERY easily.
Hope this helps.
-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.
bluchz
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143 posts in 267 days
posted 228 days ago
Pool Table? Shuffle board? how do you find time for woodworking. I would spend all my time goofing off…..of course this is what my wife tells me i’m doing while i’m woodworking. Nice table.