Tables and Tech -- What do I want vs What do I need

Oh, wait... I am here on this table topic STILL? Yeah. New considerations to ponder. 

New consideration #1 - I cannot work at the same pace I used to because I managed to take the tip of my thumb off while using a table saw. So, do I still do a table BUILD or am I back at looking at a table BUY? And if it's still a build, does it use materials other than wood? 

Which transitions to consideration #2 - A few YouTube vids have people using 8020 extruded aluminum. And looking at (say) a Rhino or Yakima rack made from ExAl and pondering something like that as a base frame (nicer eased edges than just stock ExAl) combined with a plywood or jointed panel deck might make for some portability options I hadn't considered. And then almost any craigslist table could serve as a pedestal for such a deck. And while on the topic of craigslist tables, a lot of Dining Tables already have some of the toughest parts of the build done and all that needs to be done is work on the top deck and the vault...

So then there is consideration #3 - I already own two dining tables made by my grandfather (so not getting rid of them) and am going to inherit a 3rd (also made by him so also not getting rid of) so I do not have space to add a FOURTH table... do I build a stowable topper for an existing table? Do I take the one of the three with a good vault frame, but otherwise in the worst shape and evolve it? Do I start to think about folding, drop leaf, etc... options to make something much less space consuming?

In light of all three of these, there is a folding table, ExAl framed, vaulted table now out there in patreonland that looks like something I would /could use, is affordable, and addressed ALL of these considerations is a way that seems viable.

I think my LONG term plan is evolving to do the folded solution from patreon and also adapting one of the three Grandpa Niday tables with some patience and diligence.  Of course, that Niday table MIGHT be headed to Virginia, so the Craigslist (or Restore) modded table might still be in the background as an option. 

I have discarded the "build from scratch" idea. Can't justify expense, time, use, and space...

Two years of musing - nothing yet

 Let me tell you how time passes when you have that weird combo of being busy and not and only having the funds to do about half of what you think you want to do and never when you actually have the free time...

There has been no progress on the gaming table. No tangible progress. But man o man has there been cognitive progress. 

There are soooooo many YouTube DIY gaming table builds. I mused on this before. Most of them are built by people who are clearly NOT furniture or cabinet makers by any measure of training, but are instead (at best) DIY remodelers. The giveaway isn't that they use fir 2x4s. I get that if you are being cost-conscious, you will not leap out and get maple or walnut or something. I get that most do not have planers or jointers. But, when you use 4x4 and 2x4 and 2x6 AS IS to frame a thing that is ostensibly a gaming table, realize you are building something you could probably park your car on. It's so much overkill. Now there are a couple of DIY vids out there that are cool 3/4" ply and glue and finish nails and put WAY more features and dohickeys into way less weight and ... are on the right track, I guess? But they are also cringe for other reasons and I don't want to dwell on it. SO...

So what about the PRO Built tables out there? Some of those vendors have YouTube channels that show a lot of their process... is there something to be leaned from them? Wyrmwood (oh boy, the BTS trainwreck that is that company is something) has a VERY big tooled up shop, and can mill and joint pretty much anything. Investing in several thousand worth of tools to then use several hundred in materials and time to build a single table seems to almost make just paying top dollar for something like a WW table worth it. To be clear, it would NEVER be a WW table from the current version of the company, but the aren't the only folks who craft tables. Rathskellers has some nice stuff, as do others. Etsy has a bunch of plan sellers, and some of the actual wood workers on YouTube sell plans, too. 

But most of the plan sellers are selling the 2x4/2x6 hobbyist level stuff.  Whatever is a guy to do?

I have most of a plan worked up that fuses a rathskellers top with a fix this build that base... But it's still a lot of altering of cuts and joints from what the original folks did.  

One day. And when it happens, I promise photos!

Continuing to Muse about a Gaming Table

 I don't know when I will have time or space or sanity, but jeezum crow, there are a lot of people who want to build gaming tables upon which they could change out the transmission from a WWII era tank. I start a video on you tube and the first thing I see are 4x6s and ... then after skipping ahead, see they have ZERO INTENTION of cutting those down to something smaller...

How does a person own $700 worth of major tools and use none of them as intended? How do they simultaneously design with no regard to clean joints AND commit to use stains? Anyway. Someday a table will emerge. It will be sturdy without being built to loft road building machinery. It will be clean without needing 400 cuts for a two panel junction. So far, though, those are the only versions out there that seem to exist.

Streaming D&D Gig!

 I'm playing in a Dungeons and Dragons game that streams.

Head over to Twitch for a look at the Actions & Consequences campaign, using the 5e rules and set in the vintage Greyhawk campaign setting.

We are using D&D Beyond for our characters, Roll20 as our virtual tabletop and Zoom as our video platform, then I think (I'll check with the production team) putting things through an OBS framing set up and we go live every Sunday at 12n E (9a P) for about three hours a week.

Side Gig - Consulting

 In light of Rudy Guiliani having the audacity to ask for $20k a day for legal work for Trump, I've decided I am at least as qualified to do some kind of consulting work as he is to do that...

So, while I am not expecting a single client ever, I promise I will use my brain for you and say words to you about that use. My areas of interest are education, theater, theater education, table top role playing games, home improvement, and online work spaces.

Since Rudy thinks he should earn more in 4 days than I've even made in an entire year.... I reverse engineered his rates using a calculation based on the cost of his education and then factoring in his years of experience to get to a formula that justifies $20k a day. Then used the same math (rounded to the nearest $1k) to calculate MY daily fee.

Rudy went to Manhattan College and to NYU Law. At today's prices, his tuition (only, not other costs), would be just north of $338k. He graduated in 1968, so has 52 years of experience.  If I multiply the cost of his education by his years of experience, and divided that total by 20000 and to learn the Rudy Integer (RI) -- the number that when applied to his ed and exp, makes $20k. So I decided that is a legit calculation. Right? Sure. I went to Wesleyan and SOU. Again, at today's prices: $261k. I've been working for 30 years. Multiplying tuition by experience and dividing by the arbitrary RI value of 875, I get a daily fee of $9k. I can live with that.

PS: when you do your Tuition x Experience multiplication, you MIGHT get 0, because either you've never worked OR you never went to college. That's OK. You can add $120 to the final number and THAT is your daily rate (that's $15 an hour for an 8 hour day). Which, when rounding to the nearest $1000, is still $0

Gaming Table Build - Considerations

 There are a lot of things going into the specs side of this planning phase:

ONLY a gaming table? Do I want it to do double duty as an eating surface? If so, how to I mitigate spill issues vis a vis the vault? Spills in general? If I do cup holders cut into the table, I wreck the dining room aesthetic. Do I engineer magnet or slotted (or both) add-ons? More on that below...

The Vault, you say? Yes. Key to this whole thing is a recessed space that can contain scenic elements and dice rolls. The first limiting factor there: My LED Ribbon light only spans 16'. That will limit the dimension of the vault.

How many at the table? I am thinking I usually want 4 or 5 at the table. If it can support two on each side and one on each end, then I can have 5 PCs in a group. 

Usable surface: Do players get a wide ledge? An undershelf? Side mounted auxiliary surfaces? From the get go, or built to accept them later.

Video? I mean... maybe?

Is this going to be a cabinetry level woodworking project? Or a DiY carpentry project... my tool rig and shop space is up for the latter, but needs some upgrades for the former. My skills need some upgrades for the former, too.

File under : Stuff I found

 This is pretty cool:

D&D Char Sheet