Two cupholders are installed! Two more got their third coat last night and are going to be installed today. The grain matching is looking great!

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Two to go!

We had a rainy Sunday due to Hurricane (now Post-Tropical Cyclone?) Hilary and I got to spend it in the shop! The final coat of finish went onto the last two cupholders, and then it was time to start working on the player stations. These consist of a two vertical supports that are split and hinge open, and then the actual tray which becomes part of the top when folded up:

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The tray was already cut when I cut up the tops for the cupholders and corners, so I worked on the split vertical supports. After jointing and planing a board I cut them into 5” tall blocks. Cutting a series of pieces to exact size is easy when you clamp a stop block to your sled:

After a couple of test cuts I found that 18.5° was the ideal angle for the split, so that the tray would be even with the top of the table, and flush with the base when open:

I cut a wedge at that angle and then used it along with another stop on the miter sled to cut the 5” blocks:

Next up was cutting the slot for the hinge. I’m using SR-301 side rail hinges from Brusso, the best of the best! I assembled a jig to hold the two pieces of the support in the open position:

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And then went to the router table and figured out where to place a couple of stops so that the mortise would be just the right size for the hinge:

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After a quick pass back and forth I ended up with a perfect fit:

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Next I needed to drill the holes for the screws. A centering bit does the job here, using the 18.5° wedge to hold the piece flat for the drill press:

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After drilling 48 holes I ended up all of my supports ready to go:

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Next up will be attaching the shorter splits on these pieces to the trays.

I put on the final coat of wax and assembled the last two cupholders!

Next up after the vertical hinged parts are assembled will need to be the tops of the player stations (which rotate open and become the extended play surface). Two hinged verticals connect on either end and allow the station to rotate open. Tonight I fit those pieces to length around the table and picked out which vertical hinge pairs will go with which piece:

After setting them all in place it’s starting to look like a finished table (note the gaps where the two dice towers will eventually go):

I also decided to re-build the drawer sides and backs. Although the piece of douglas fir I picked had beautifully tight rings, it turns out they were hiding a ton of sap. Over the past few weeks it’s been leaking out and now the pieces are pretty gross looking (and weirdly greasy to the touch):

I found a new piece of douglas fir to use instead:

The rings aren’t nearly as tight, but the board itself is much denser, and no visible sap:

I’ve even got an idea on how to highlight that strip of sapwood along the top that’s remarkably consistent along the whole 10’ length of the board…