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Now it's time to glue the foam to the top of the rail. JoAnn's didn't have foam in one piece that was large enough to cover my entire rail, so I went to a specialty foam/fabric store in Houston (called A.A.S.R. - 2219 McKinney Street, Houston, Texas 77003, 713-223-4474). I got them to cut me a piece of high density foam 1" thick x 108" long x 54" wide (cost ~$29).
Lay the foam down, and then place the rail on top of it (upside down). |
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| Cut off the excess foam, but remember to leave yourself enough foam to wrap around the outside and inside edges of the rail. |
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| Another view of the rail (upside down) on top of the 1" thick high-density foam. |
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Measure your foam to leave enough room for it to wrap around the rail. The inside edge is 3/4" h, and the outside edge is 1.5" h.
I left myself those measurements exactly (3/4" on the inside and 1.5" on the outside), but I wish I had left myself an extra 1/4" on each side, because you lose some of the reach when you bend the foam around the rail (ie it won't quite reach the bottom of the rail). If you leave yourself an extra 1/4" on each side (making the actual cuts 1" for the inside and 1 3/4" on the outside, you'll have enough foam to adequately reach the bottom of the rail when you wrap it with vinyl. It really doesn't matter though, because of a lot of casino tables don't even have foam on the outside/inside edge of the rails.
Of course, any excess can be trimmed at any time. |
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| I used my corner scraps to quickly measure and draw a line 1.5" around the outside of the rail (those are two corner scraps screwed togerther making the total width exactly 1.5"). But remember that 1.5" around the outside will not quite get you to the bottom when you wrap the foam around (because you lose a little reach). In hindsight, I should've added about 1/4" to my measurements. |
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| Here is the foam after it's been cut and trimmed. Note that I did not glue the foam to the sides of the rail (only the top). The side will simply be bent around the rail when I wrap it with vinyl. |
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Here is the foam cut to form around the rail. Once this is ready, it's time to glue the foam to the rail. I turned the rail over (face up) and set it on a work surface.
Then I used 3M spray adhesive to spray the entire surface of the top of the rail. Then carefully lay the foam down on top (a little bit at a time). The adhesive dries quickly so make sure you get that foam aligned right the first time. Hint, you can test the placement/measurement by using your hand to wrap the foam around the rail to make sure it reaches the bottom (or is close). |
