Speacial thanks to all mechanics on AZ!

[budonahog]

I will try to make this a short story.

I purchased an A.E. Schmidt table for a pretty good price and then saved until I could afford Simonis cloth. Fridge went without food for a couple weeks.

I truly wanted to have the table set up proffesionally but there was no room in the budget and that is when all the research came into play.

Let me just say, there is no way I could have done this set up without all the information that you mechanics have put on here. Make no mistake, I will not be trying to take any work from any of you. After having done this I have the utmost respect for the talent you posess.

I used a couple of ideas from a couple different peeps including RKC. My only regret was not having a machinist level to use. I asked everyone I thought that might have one and everyone they thought might have one. I borrowed a couple of Stabil spirit levels that are made in Germany and just took my time.

Here are a couple of pics of the finished product and am pretty pleased with how the table plays.

Once again, thank you to all that share their hard earned secrets!

 

[Dartman]

Looks good based on the pics.
Save up $175 and a new set of pockets will trick it out.

 

[ROB.M]

table

You had to do some heavy duty research on this site to get the results you got' how much time did you have into research on this site to collect the info you needed to get your table done?
-
Rob.M

 

[budonahog]

I honestly don't know how many, but it was hours. I did watch some videos from youtube, but for the most part (maybe 95%) came from right here in AZ. I am pretty handy and work in the trades, so working with my hands come pretty natural for me.

I read a lot of post in the ask the mechanic section and just did the search function for each section.

I leveled the base first

Put my slates on with the middle first and shimmed the slates with wood shims from home depot

Leveled the slates with the spirit levels (2ft. and a 6ft) at all the various points on RKC's post

I used the crazy glue between the slates with the paper (thin card board)

I had purchased the wax but after reading on here decided to go with Bondo because I am close to railroad tracks

cleaned my slate and put the cloth with factory edge on my backing boards

Started stapling at the side pockets using RKC's measurements on one of his posts (actually think it might have been someone elses post but he commented on it. Seems to be some tension in here sometimes)

Streched out the cloth and had my girlfriend help by stapling while I stretched as hard as I could

cut the corners and the side pockets (side pockets are definately a pain in the ....)

Used the trick of the pipe hanger material to form the bottom of the pockets (beautiful trick by the way:thumbup

cut my holes for the rails using the carriage bolt in my drill (thanks again RKC! Think I owe him a couple of drinks if he is ever in my neighborhood)

Installed the rails and used my 4 ft. level to make sure they were straight (I didnt recover the rails, thats why they are a little darker. Will do these eventually, but was excited to finally get to play.)

And the pictures are the end result. Plays great and am very happy with it. Now I will be doing more searches for drills to improve my game.:grin: