DIY Billiard Table: Drawings, Materials, Assembly Procedure

2023 Author: Philip Bishop | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 07:54

• Where to begin
• Materials
• List of materials:
• Beginning of work
• Having dealt with the theory, we proceed to practice
• Decorative part
• Strength test or moment of truth

Billiards is one of the most popular games in many countries around the world. To this day, playing with friends is a great pleasure. But, unfortunately, the cost of one hour is quite high, and it is much more interesting to play at home than to go somewhere. And it often happens that in a small town there is no billiard room at all. But what to do for an inveterate player who has already been in this wonderful atmosphere more than once and felt all the passion of the process, pocketing another ball. There is a way out. A do-it-yourself billiard table can be made as easy as a wardrobe or bedside table.

Only here you will have to put a little more effort and perseverance, because it is essentially a luxury item and should look appropriate. But you shouldn't count on 100% achievement of the result the first time. After all, the creation of billiard tables has become not just a craft for many, but an art that can be mastered only by spending a lot of time in practice and having created more than one such table. And every time it will turn out better and more beautiful.

Where to begin

In order to make a good do-it-yourself billiard table, it is not necessary to draw up the drawings yourself. You can find a lot of them on the Internet, from familiar craftsmen, or, in the end, turn to an experienced carpenter for help. He will certainly tell and show you how to start correctly, how to calculate the stiffeners.

After all, a billiard table should be as strong and heavy as possible so that when playing it does not vibrate and does not warp when leaning on it. Therefore, many people immediately have the first question of how to make a billiard table with their own hands so that it is strong, durable, of the correct geometric parameters and as functional as possible.

The gambling table is also an element of the interior, therefore it must be performed in the style of the room design. It also happens that the room is very small, and not only a billiard table, but also auxiliary furniture should fit in it, then it should be designed collapsible.

In general, according to the room and spatial possibilities. Likewise, its overall dimensions. The optimal height is 80 cm, length 2 m and width 1 m. And if you get 0.83 × 190 × 90, then I am sure that you will not feel the difference from the original.

Materials

In order to make a billiard table with your own hands, you will need, respectively, high-quality materials. Previously, only high-quality solid wood of noble species, for example, oak or beech, were used as them. Cheaper models used more accessible and easier to handle species, such as pine. Moreover, the table was completely made of it, from the legs to the table top. Today, it will be cheaper and much easier to use chipboard with a thickness of at least 18 mm as a countertop. It can be thicker, it will be even more reliable, but the table will be much heavier.

List of materials:

• solid wood (slats and decorative strips from it) for the boards;
• Chipboard (table top, support structure and legs);
• metal staples for pockets;
• lining and decorative fabric;
• hardware;
• pocket net;
• rubber for striking edge;
• adjustable legs.

The list may not contain all materials, so be ready to buy something.

Beginning of work

How to make a billiard table with your own hands drawings of where to find the most suitable ones. I repeat once again that the sizes may differ, so it would be more correct to develop them yourself. But also all the technical documentation for a billiard table can be found in large quantities on the Internet, including on this site.

Having dealt with the theory, we proceed to practice

At the first stage, we cut out the chipboard, this can be done in the same organization where it was bought. This service is not that expensive, so it is quite possible to use it. Moreover, on professional equipment, you are guaranteed 100% compliance with the geometry.

Further, making a billiard table with your own hands goes into the stage of assembling the entire structure. As a rule, one standard chipboard sheet is just enough for the covering and supporting structure with sidewalls. In this case, the tabletop can have dimensions of 2.18 × 1.18 m, and the elements of the supporting structure from the remaining part are just 13.5 cm each.

Many at this stage ask the questions "how to make a supporting structure to make a strong billiard table, how to fix all the elements correctly so that the structure does not play?" And the answer is quite simple.

The main thing is that the supporting structure has at least 3 stiffening ribs, that is, it can be made in the form of a lattice, and all elements should be fastened together with ties with glued ends. Then it is imperative to strengthen the structure with small metal corners with wooden blocks. Not visible from below.

Sturdy and thick solid wood elements should be used as legs. These can be bars with a thickness of at least 100 × 100 cm in my opinion. They can be carved or sheathed with the same laminated chipboard with subsequent edge finishing.

Decorative part

So that repairing a billiard table with your own hands does not take you by surprise at the time of the game, then all actions must be performed as efficiently and conscientiously as possible, because you are doing yourself.

The board of a gambling table is a decorative part and, as a rule, consists of many elements:

• sides;
• external decorative strip;
• visible decorative strip with glued rubber bumper and covered with green fabric;
• from the bottom there are overlay strips made of the same chipboard, to increase the rigidity of the entire structure during impacts.

If you make a billiard table with your own hands, the photos presented on the site will help you in difficult times. Because they depict all the most important points with the necessary details.

Before starting the installation of the boards in the tabletop, it is necessary to make slots for the pockets using a jigsaw. Typically they are 90 mm wide with 60.3 mm balls. Corner pockets are made with a slight extension towards the edges. This will allow 100% of the ball to hit it when it hits the inner walls. Then it is necessary to glue the lining fabric on the playing field, while the decorative fabric should be pulled and fastened with staples to the table top.

When the actions with the lid are completed, you should proceed to wrapping the sides and processing the decorative strips. The board, as you know from the article, consists of bump rubber, a decorative strip and a profile strip on which this very rubber is glued. One of the most expensive materials is this very rubber.

To achieve 100% compliance with professional billiards, you must purchase an original one. But since it is very expensive, you can use a belt from a tractor. If you cut it in half lengthwise, then it will be enough for the entire perimeter. It sticks naturally to high-quality glue, for example, a moment. Before covering, the resulting structure must be sanded with sandpaper. The fabric on the billiard table is constantly exposed to mechanical stress. Therefore, fasten the sides with self-tapping screws or through bolts. Then hauling the billiard room independently, if necessary, will not be difficult.

After fixing the sides, you can start installing metal brackets and pockets. The staples are reputedly prettier in a leather sheath. Plus, it will soften the balls hitting the braces themselves. At the same stage, a pocket net is attached, which you can also weave yourself, or you can buy something like that in a store. There is no sense in special strength here, the main thing is that the balls do not fall to the floor.

If you are making a billiard table with your own hands, the video will become an integral assistant, because the article sets out only general principles.

Strength test or moment of truth

A properly designed and properly assembled billiard table should not sag under load, vibrate and resonate when heavy balls fall on the surface.

The table should be leveled; for this, the legs should be endowed with this feature. You can also make them yourself; for this, durable castors on the bracket are purchased from the store. As a rule, they have a stud that must be screwed into a nut or clip. It can be made from a piece of metal bent into a profile and a welded nut.

Correctly selected rubber does not allow the ball to bounce far from the bead and the bead does not deteriorate.