Making a ping-pong table

[D.M. Procida]

It doesn't *look* too difficult, at least for one not requiring weatherproofing:

• a 9' x 5' sheet of suitable material

• a set of adjustable legs to make the table-top height 30"

• castors (locking) if required

• some blackboard paint for the surface

Obviously the top mustn't sag under its own weight.

What's a good material, one that will keep a good shape over time?

It would be good if it can be easily dismantled and stored - maybe it should be in two sections, on trestles (but then the two halves will need some kind of mechanism to lock them together).

Daniele

[Adrian]

Dad made one of these when I was growing up....

It sat on a couple of flat-topped workbenches (think they were ex-school-cookery-room).

It was nothing more than a couple of sheets of blockboard (plywood outer surfaces and timber strips in the middle) - must have been about 1" thick overall).

The two pieces were joined together by wooden dowels - holes in one half were a tight fit and in the other half they were loose enough to separate the table easily. You could also use hinges - but then the thing becomes a bit heavy to move about in one piece.

Not sure about blackboard paint - there's probably a 'correct' paint to give the right 'grip'....

For dismantling / easy storage, how about a couple of workmate-type trestles ??

Adrian

[dennis]

"D.M. Procida" wrote in message news:1iwkxyb.8hd0je4lyz0oN% [e-mail]...

MDF, its very stable and flat.

[The Medway Handyman]

That might be a problem, you may have to go to a specialist board supplier.

[Bob Minchin]

Use a 'torsion box' construction this will stay flat and be very light.

Bob

[Bob Minchin]

10' x 5' is a standard size from trade suppliers

[Frank Erskine]

I got some 10' x 4' WBP from a local sawmill once, but they had to order it specially - it took a few days to arrive.

[Matty F]

Whatever you choose, I'd recommend that it be thin (e.g. 10mm) and have 40x15mm timber bracing around the edges several across the middle. You'll be happier with a lightweight table that anyone could move. MDF would give a better surface than plywood.

[The Medway Handyman]

Elucidate? :-)

[Dave Plowman (News)]

My guess is you won't be able to make one for anywhere near the cost of a ready made one from the likes of Lidl or Aldi. In exactly the same way as you can't make basic flat pack furniture etc for less than it costs to buy. Unless you already have the materials.

[D.M. Procida]

I didn't think that would be possible at first, but other people's remarks about how to construct the top (i.e. don't just use a sheet of material, but use a sandwich construction for lightness and rigidity) make me wonder whether it's as easy as I first imagined.

Are manufactured tables made in that way too?

Daniele

[Rob G]

The sandwich construction has all sorts of advantages in terms of strength and stiffness to weight ratio, but is not too easy to implement unless you've got some way of creating a press for the gluing. You could I suppose pin the surface to the frame and then fill the holes, but the mind boggles a bit at the labour of that.

Rob

Rob

[Peter Scott]

Dredging my memory I am sure that there is a standard for bounce on a table. Obviously you don't have to follow it but it would make sense to practice on a table like those you will find in a competition. The ball, when dropped from a certain height that I think was 30 cm, has to rebound to another certain height, probably 80% of the 30cm. The numbers might be wrong, but it might mean that the lightweight construction suggested above might not do. Any table tennis experts out there who can advise?

Peter Scott

[Matty F]

How about buying two honeycomb doors 4' 6" wide? But a proper table might be cheaper!

[Jules]

Y'know, I wonder if an old whiteboard cast-off from a school might work? Places seem to be dumping them these days in favour of those interactive ones. They're light and the surface is of course flat and free of imperfections, but I'm not sure if it'd have the right "bounce factor" compared to something made from wood.

(personally I really want a DIY air hockey table, but I really don't fancy drilling millions of tiny holes in a sheet of anything :-)

cheers

Jules

[Huge]

At £189 for a ready-made one, it hardly seems worth the effort;

I suppose £1.2M for a house big enough to have a games room to keep it in might be excessive... :o)

[D.M. Procida]

I think that something like a ping-pong table will get a vast amount of play, whereas an air-hockey table won't (maybe I'm wrong, maybe air-hockey won't quickly pall as an entertainment).

In that case, you need to get as much fun out of the air-hockey table as possible, and building it seems like a good way.

Daniele

[Bruce]

It must be possible to buy a sheet of whatever, ready pierced ...?

I somehow doubt that every single Chinese sweatshop that makes air hockey tables does all its own drilling. ;-)

[Frank Erskine]

Woodworm. That would solve your problem.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Given the weight and construction of a ping pong ball it's hard to see any flex in the table mattering. The surface might - but unless you did something stupid like felt can't see that mattering much either.