Topic: Building a Tornado clone

[man caveman]

one of the things  i learned here and on other sites is how important side wall thickness is. I would think  1-1/4" minimum for the rods and 1" for the goals maybe using hpl with a thick mdf playing surface?

[kgstewar]

Baltic birch plywood is good stuff but alas it too can warp. Problems arise most often when one side of the sheet is exposed to different humidity or temperature than the other. Best way to minimize this is to seal each side and all edges with a waterproof finish.

[johnwallan]

re split bearing:
Tornadoes have a great split bearing system for use in public venues on its tp coin and cyclone models, it provides a reasonable compromise for security against theft (about $50 per bar including men) but it often requires removal of a man and the handle to access and change a damaged figure.  For home use, likely not much of a problem but annoying in the heat of competition.  For commercial use it makes total sense.

The fireball design allows the handle to pass through and up and the men to remain in place to change an entire loaded rod.   I noticed some the the fireball men have closer spacing and shorter rod length to allow the bar to pass out of the wall, this is a slight compromise if you wish to maintain tornado feel.  The warrior has a lift out system which requires a wall cut out and bearing mount.

Sounds like Jim has set you up already, and using tornado parts is a sure bet.  However, I think the space required for a Foosball table is a major consideration if you plan to sell these.  If it can double as a bar counter or side table, it becomes much more accessible.

I'm curious in your estimate how much the total assembly of the parts and materials is costing?  Too bad you missed that coin for sale in Squamish last week!

[kgstewar]

Just to clarify, the Tornado coin-op rods can be removed from the cabinet if you only remove the handle and the bearings. No need to remove any men. Of course, if your broken man is in the middle of the rod, you will then have to remove the outer men to slide on the new man.

[chanmanpokertables]

Thanks for all of the tips everyone.  I'm not entirely sure how it's all going to be put together to make the rods removable.  I should be receiving the parts soon and will then get a better idea of how I'll assemble it.

Regardless of what material I'm going to use, I'm going to be making the walls 1.5" thick and protect it with a polyurethane finish inside and out. 

[chanmanpokertables]

Let the fun begin.



I decided to go with MDF for this build.  The main reason is because I know MDF will be straight.  I fear the using plywood or even solid wood would not be straight and true and I don't have a planer.  I'm going to coat the whole thing in polyurethane to make sure it's sealed.  I will use plywood for the legs.

[kgstewar]

Love seeing piles of new parts, thanks for posting photos of your project!

MDF is a good choice for the reasons you stated. One thing about MDF is that it is not very pretty. It does take paint well and also laminate. There are many cool laminate designs out there or you could come up with an attractive paint scheme. Polyurethane over plain MDF might be sub-beautiful...

[chanmanpokertables]

Making some progress.  I've made my first cuts and now I'm on to the gluing up of the parts.









I have to redo the side walls though where the bars go.  The guide I followed said to use 1" holes for the bearings and rods, but because I got the split bearings I have to make the holes bigger which I didn't realize.  Good thing I have leftover material.

[john in nc]

You are making me feel very good about my $250 T3000 pick up at an auction a couple weeks back.  I also checked craigs list for foosball in my whole state. Entered foosball and got like 200 hits. Entered tornado foosball, zip... Good luck with your project.

[kgstewar]

Very cool project! Thanks for posting the pictures. Is that a CNC machine?

[chanmanpokertables]

Thanks for the GL. 

Yes, that is a CNC machine.

[benzter68]

Will you be posting your plans? I'd love to do the same thing with my cnc.

[chanmanpokertables]

Unfortunately I don't think I will be since I may decide to sell them (the tables) in the future.  To be honest though, drawing the plans was not difficult.  None of the shapes are overly complex and all of the info on dimensions is available online.

[chanmanpokertables]

The base


Playing field


Top gluing up sitting on the base

[kgstewar]

Coming together very nicely. Have you decided how you are going to finish it?