The challenge that I set for myself in this design was to make a convertable table in which no parts had to be stowed away when in gaming mode.  The felt top is is housed in quarter sections underneath the perminent top.  The edges of the table pull off and are secured underneath to reveal the betting trays.  The drink holders are deeply cantilevered and lock via rare earth magnets when pulled out.  (I especially like this feature.  Spilled drinks and poker table…Bad)  I used a router and an 1/8 carbide bit to cut the braces out of 3/4 aluminum plate.  That was obnoxious.  The base woods are Honduras mahogany, Black walnut, and Purple heart.  I used book matched, fiddle back veneer over a Baltic birch plywood substrate for the top.  It’s heavy, and a funny thing happened when I assembled it for the first time.  I gave to edge a whack to check the tables stability.  That set off a resonance that shook the table wildly.  I had inadvertently made a big, fancy tuning fork.  Ah oh!  I sat in defeat for a long while, trying to conjure up a solution.  Then it hit me…the center of the pedestal is hollow.  I filled it with a slug of sand.  It absolutely killed the vibration.  Works for lathes, works for tables.          

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