I did it my way!

I'm thrilled to be able to post these pics of the final assembly! The only currently remaining tasks on the table are to install the shelf and spruce up the sign holder (I scratched my sign! I'm very very sad - gonna have to buy a new one now *cry*) But setting momentary disappointment aside, I gotta say this bad boy rocks. This turned out far better than I could ever have imagined. I'm so fortunate to have such talented friends and conspirators for this project - we all did good on this one!

Wanna play? Hit me up!

Table view, that race track sure is pretty!

Gonna need to spruce up that sign a bit, expect a new Sign Post when I do (HA! Sign Post)

I can't believe we pulled this off!  I'm very lucky to have such talented friends.

Another view to appreaciate

Table Win

So I've run out of captions, but not pictures, so you just look and don't read okay?

Make it big and see the scratch.  Now go buy something down at the bottom of the page so I can buy a new sign.

My sign is scratched and it is Amazon to the rescue, you click and buy stuff and I get a new sign, it's Austrian school econ at it's finest.  If you don't buy anything then Mr. Hayek will cry, and then Mr. Von Mises will be angry, and you don't want to make Mr. Von Mises to get angry.  If you don't know Hayek you can always Google him, come here for the blackjack and get an education too.

Comin round the mountain charming Betsy

Big news! We got bar stools! All seven of em to boot!  Expect a stool post and a felt post in the next day or so too.

Nothing much to report, first coat of finish is on the betting track, pics will show you some imperfections in the finish that we will fix with a second coat.  Redid the wrist rest with a solid piece of foam instead of pieces of foam and it turned out fantastic.  Pics will show a much more even stracth to the vinyl and a much more finished look - this time I didn't cut the vinyl too deep!  Yay me.

Chip case w00t!

The stools

That's not the same KFC bucket in the fridge that was in there two weeks ago.  OK I lied, it is the same KFC bucket from two weeks ago.  Someone needs to clean out the fridge.

Shot from the comic room

the rest of the room

This time with feeling!  

Even the back staples look better this time

Betting track with finish, view full size to see defects

After the first coat of paint

Look what you made me do

It's shiney even if a bit flawed

More stuff to fix, but it still looks great!

 No Amazon this post, unless I come in and do it later.  Pressed for time and gotta jet!

Remember when I said I felt good? Now I felt better.

The felt is on!  More than a felting.  You make me felt like dancing.  You've lost that loving felting. (Now it's gone gone gone).    I can go on like this for days.

So the felt is on the table and I did a happy dance.  For those of you keeping score at home that doesn't leave a whole lot left for the table.

1) Affix accessories and apply finish to betting tack.
2) ???
3) Profit!!

Bar stools should be shipping out today, and hopefully the snow and Ice will have melted by the time it gets here (Atlanta is in the clutches of GLOBAL WARMING an ice storm).  All in allI couldn't be any more thrilled with how the table is turning out.  I think I will probably redo the padded wrist rest at some point, but for now I am ready to play!

Pics below

Stapling the wet felt

Bunch of excess material to trim

Folding the corner seams so they are neat

Trimming the wet felt down

Another exciting shot of the underside!

After it dried

Some of the accessories on the table

Abbey Road will find a new home, it just doesn't fit with the Vegas theme

Detail shot

Really lucked out how well the felt coordinated with the pedestal upholstery

Logo lookin' sharp

It's 80's movies on bluray!  Hooray!  You buy now!

When I grow up I wanna own a casino.

Yeah, been busy,  don't know about you guys but in my part of town it's the holidays and well they just have a way of distracting you from the important things in life, like build your own black jack table projects.

Don't worry though, we made some progress all the same and I have some pics to prove it.  As you can see the pedestal and base are married (Vegas style baby!  Stay togethor as long as it's fun, but when it's time to go, two bolts and BANG! it's over, except for arguing over who gets the chips on the weekends.)

In other momentous news, got 7 bar stools on the way!  Several of which are gifts, so sincere thanks Mom and Grandma!  The barstools rock, so expect pics of them when they arrive around the 19th of January, which seems like forever from now.  I guess since each seat is wrapped in the rich Corinthian leather it must take a while to even find a '75 Chrysler Cordoba in the first place, not only do the have to find the cars, but then they have to use local trappers to keep the wild clones of the late Ricardo Montalbon away long enough to get the seats out.  I've heard tell that the feral clones will shed their Mr. Roark costumes and mate with the car, unless they are dressed as Kahn in which case they stick a bug in the glove compartment and collect a paycheck and go home.

Pics or it didn't happen you say?  Pish posh.  Pics it is then.

Here is the the assembled piece.  Tops almost ready to go on!

STFU! All the high-class folks keep KFC buckets in the beverage coolers.

The betting track is coming together.

Velvet Elvis watches over us as we play.

It's big!  The dog by the way is Rupert the Wonder Dog.  The cat  above is Stanley Badkat - he was missing for TWO months and then showed back up for Christmas Eve!  How awsome was that?  Longest caption ever, ya but it's sweet.

So after writing the caption about my pets, it made me realize how much of a zoo I really have.  1 dog, 8 Year old chow mix, Rupert the Wonder Dog.  1 cat, 5 year old domestic short hair, Stanley Badkat.  1 Kitten, 9 month old piss and vinegar, Snat!  1 Cockatiel, old, named Fritz and two 8 year (Still baby's) old Double Yellow Head Parrots.  Good times.  Will do a pet thread soon - so there.  But for now, how about links to things my pets want?

Coming into the home stretch...

Got a lot done the last couple of nights, David and I have been busy squeezing in a Monday evening this week to boot!  We got so much done just gonna rattle it all off in list form.

• The top anchor system in place consisting of 4 carriage bolts counter sunk into the play surface with wing nuts.  This way the top is removable and modular!
• The top play surface cut outs have been made for the chip tray, bill collector, and no peek device.
• The Volara closed cell foam is installed and cut.
• Bill box and bill slot are installed
• The betting track / racetrack has had it's second coat of paint and will be getting it's first layer of polyurethane soon.

So really there isn't a whole lot left for the table at this point.  Still need to do the following;

• Install felt play surface and secure discard box, bill collection gasket, no peek device and toke box
• Install shelf in pedestal
• Install lighted blackjack sign, table lighting and powerstrip
• Finish betting track ornamentation and super gloss epoxy coating
• Secure arm rest to betting track.
• Order rules signage and display bracket
• Design and install back trim (maybe - this is kind of optional)
• Source over table lighting and install
• Buy barstools!  Getting a couple of stools for Christmas, but that leaves me needing 5 more - so cut me some slack and buy some stuff already!

And now for the pictures!

Oooh Shiney!  It started off red, but then I had to paint it black.

Bill box and chip tray

From the front

You can make the picture big to see my recently rescued and restored vintage velvet Elvis.  

Any ladies out there attracted to 40 year old guys who collect comic book toys?  Email me, we'll hook up..

Because one picture of a black piece of wood is never enough. 

I'm not satisfied with only two pictures of a black piece of wood, so here is a third.   Am i satisfied yet?  No... I can't get no satisfaction.  Because one Rolling Stones joke is never enough.

Tonights Amazon sales pitch - Things I would like to get on Christmas morning.

The question is, does it match the drapes?

Woo hoo!  Looks like we can stick a fork in the carpet and call it done!  It looks sweet too.  Chris, who you will recall helped with the pedestal upholder, came over and lent his expertise to carpeting the base.  The results are fantastic, especially considering that I didn't order quite enough carpet - but we managed to get some stretch in some of the places and we just barely got it to work.  For the record the carpet is, so far at least, the only thing I haven't ordered enough of, and next time I do something like this I believe I will over order.

We used speaker cabinet carpet, the kind with the thick backing.  The collective wisdom of the internet say's the backed kind can be more difficult to work with, but it is more durable.  Since this was essentially a foot rest I figured durability was the way to go.  The carpet is pretty stiff but we were able to bend it around some very tight turns without any problems, so I think anyone else following along here could use the same.  I ordered mine from parts express - the carpet arrived folded instead of rolled so I let it sit out on the ground to get some of the creases out.  The edge of the carpet looks like it was cut from the roll by hand and was kind of crappy looking, but I wasn't planning on using right up until the edge anyhow.

The carpet we fixed down with the 3M #77 Spray adhesive and staples.  I got some great tips on hiding the seams from this you tube video and I gotta say their advice contributed heavily to the high quality finish on my base.

Cutting the rug as they say

Measure twice cut one, we needed to measure three times maybe :) 

Like a black fuzzy toilet seat

Lookin good

Needs cleaned, but still sharp

Can you spot the seams?  There are two in this picture

From the inside

Again

Seam on this side - on the left front

Two seams here - 1 on the top, the other on the side

Can't see the seam here either.

Lest I be accused of being misogynistic with my headline puns and Amazon selling, I'm including mens grooming products here too.  So the ladies can calm down and crack window dressing jokes too.  Yup something for everyone!   Even have some wax for those who don't want any carpet on their floor -  Is there a tag for a <crash cymbal> ?  There should be.  Anyhoo - Try the veal, I'm here till Tuesday.