RPTools.net

We use an Dell monitor with an IPS panel for more than a year. We play every 2 weeks for 6-8 hour sessions. We’ve tried normal lcd monitors but there is a viewing angle problem from the bottom site and the colors tend to turn negative. IPS type panels have a superb viewing angle and the colors stay the same.
We just lay it on the table, no extra vents or whatsoever. Works like a charm. Only downside is the price of IPS panels  so that’s why we still have a 21 inch.

So, I said I'd post pictures when I was all done and its finally done. Doing heat build up tests right now, hoping for the best.

One last question to Mahhand...do you have glass or plexiglass over your TV? If plexiglass, how thick did you go? I went with 1/8 but I'm starting to wonder if I should have gone thicker...guess I can swap that out if it proves to be a problem down the road.

Anyway, on to pictures. Couple of things to note. One of the requirements for the table was the ability to "drop" the TV down, put the cutout of the table back and in and then be able to use the table as a "normal" table again. So the TV actually rests of braces that can be lowered/raised from below.

TV : 47"
Table length : 66"
Table width : 42"

I would have gone with a slightly smaller TV...but the DM bought it before I could get in my 2 cents. And I would have gone with a bigger table...but those were the space restrictions at the house we play at. Such is life!!!





The bracket system I mentioned...first was going to go with metal but geez, expensive. So, nice sturdy oak project boards...with a 12 inch steel mending plate attached to the back (attached after pictures).





First test run with the TV in place...





The fan rig to keep things cool underneath...



Couple of coats of pain, some ploy, and a sheet of plexiglass...voila!





In the end, Mahhand table blows me away more. The finished wood, the cupholders (didn't have enough room for those, dangit!)...its very slick. But I'm pretty happy with how this came out.

First play session is this sunday, I will update to the outcome of that!

Thank you for all of the pictures!

I think this is a very respectable game table! I think the smaller size makes it something that can be used across a wide variety of space constraints and yet it's still very functional. And looks good, too!

My only concern about using acrylic sheet would be how prone it is to scratching and scuffing. But it's probably the best choice given that glass is too heavy and/or fragile. There is some new polycarbonate stuff that's only been on the market less than a year (I found out about it when I stopped at a local plastics supply shop back in December). It's supposed to be super-strong and very resistant to scratches, but it's way too expensive for a home project. I bought a 4'x8' sheet of regular stuff for ~$60 and this new stuff was almost three times that price for just a 2'x4' piece!! (Apparently the inventor is having production problems in the fabrication process so the supply is low and the demand is high...)

At least that's the easiest thing to swap out. If down the road we determine we need something stronger than the plexi, we can always make the investment.

I thought about glass but I knew I wanted to drill some holes to allow heat to escape in it and drilling in glass makes me nervous...one wrong move and you need a new sheet of glass!

But I'm thinking that at some point, I might want to upgrade from the 1/8 plexi to the 1/4 sheet...ugh though, those are like $100. I got this sheet at a local store, cut to size, for $50.

We used the table for almost 7 hours yesterday...great success! It was a lot of fun actually begin able to play a game where distances could be extreme (an archer actually getting to shoot something out at medium/long range, what a concept!). We ended up not using physical minis, instead going with digitial tokens. I'm hoping we'll continue down that road.

Heat build up wasn't an issue, fan rig (4 blowing, 2 sucking) seemed to do the trick.

The only issue was that the plexiglass slowly sagged as the game went on. I think I can remedy this but actually bolting the corners/sides of the plexi through the table edge. In theory, if the corners can't "curl up", the middle shouldn't sag as much...its a theory anyway!

But, great fun! Even some of the skeptics (old school pen-and-paper types) really enjoyed the game through maptool and 2 of the people who GM other games were already asking questions about how easy/hard it is to create maps in MapTool. So more new users are probably on the way!

You may find it necessary to put a sheet of plexi over the entire top of the table to prevent sag. As a bonus, it would be easier to clean and protect the monitor much more.

Yeah, I think he's going to need to play with it a bit.

The 1/4" will obviously sag less. And if it's easy to remove, then flipping it over periodically might help.

The other option is to run some type of support under the acrylic. I'm not so confident of this, though. Would it help to run piano wire from one side to the opposite side and tension it so that the wire itself can't sag? The tensioning supports need to be sturdy enough that they don't cause bowing, since that would make the acrylic sag even more (since the opposing sides would be pulled together).

I'm thinking that acrylic is probably not a good long-term solution, though. This application really calls for glass.

It probably would be better all around.

The chances of it shattering would be pretty low with a thicker pane. Cleaning would be a lot easier and there would be no sag for a space that small, certainly none if it was over the whole table.

Hey Xavram! Really nice pics and work. Sry I was afk for so long on this post, didn't thing you had updated it. I used a 3/16" thick piece of plexiglass and it has worked well for out 40" tv. I would go with a thicker piece then 1/8" for sure. Of course the plexiglas is warping because of the trapped heat rising from the LCD. I have found the need for vent holes cut all the way around the edge of the plexiglas glass is needed to allow the heat to escape. Also raising the plexiglas glass barley off of the LCD tv bezel is required to allow the hot air to escape. Clear soft rubber bumper dots used for cabinets works good for this.

Again, great work, and even in the freezing snow no less! Your DM should be proud! Or at least a little loose with the treasure.


P.S. I am beginning work on Game table 2 now. I will update this thread as the work in done.

Well, been a long time since I updated this post here with game table 2.0. This build I wanted to be more portable so I cut a siblge 4x8 maple topped plywood sheet into 4 pieces so it would all fit into my car. The under support frame is made from pine 2x3’s with bolts and threaded inserts. The top have 5 bolts a piece and they are countersunk into the boards so they don’t catch on things.

The drinking cup holders are from the first table, and this time I put in 4 desktop metal grommets so peoples wires are out of site for a nice clean look. The 50” lcd 4K TV is covered with 3/16th thick clear acrylic plexiglass cut at a local Tap Plastics.

I am able to cool this TV from below with just 2 120mm fans which run silent but get the job done with the heat. I might move up too a touch screen overlay as they have dropped in price lately but that is for down the line.

Been awhile since I have used RPtools but it looks like still one of the best map choices around so might have to revisit it. Any question feel free to post them here, Enjoy


https://youtu.be/zK747fQoA50

That looks great. Plus I am always jealous of people who get to game face to face

Nice job! Any chance on getting some pics/video of the assembly/underneath? Wood worker here and created my own table a couple years back so always find these fascinating!

And if you find a good source for touch overlays, let us know? I haven't looked in a year or so but it was looking like it was still around 600$ or so for the size I needed so a little excessive...

Regarding heat, did you ever have an issue? I've never cooled mine nor had an issue. it never gets over 95F really. I have a 3/8 tempered glass over it, and sealed it in this year (I was constantly getting dust/crumbs in there somehow. So I used black silicone between the tv bezel and table. And more black silicone in the small gap between the glass and table).

Oh and which 4k TV did you use? I have a 50" 1080p TV that I sort of wish would now die on me so I could replace it lol. How nice is the upgrade in graphics? It's nice to know which TV's are suitable for this application. Not all like to be laid flat and not all have great viewing angles from all for sides...)

Also, I've been meaning to add a flip/rotate function in MT. Something that could be called via macro so on initiative MT rotates 90/180/270 for that person and invert the mouse. Right now, it's a real PITA for anyone other than the one side of the table to use...

JamzTheMan wrote: Also, I've been meaning to add a flip/rotate function in MT. Something that could be called via macro so on initiative MT rotates 90/180/270 for that person and invert the mouse. Right now, it's a real PITA for anyone other than the one side of the table to use...

I was having similar thoughts, but was thinking about rotating individual windows. Just because with the framework we currently use, you would only need to rotate individual character sheets.

Yea, wasn't sure if we needed to rotate the whole app or not. But frankly it may be easier to just rotate MTFrame. You need init, campaign, selected, and global at the min to cover macro uses. So why not flip everything?