Getting the chip well and drink holder cut-outs made was probably the single biggest pain in the butt of the whole process. I spent a quite a bit of time and effort figuring out how big the openings should be and where they should go, and in the end I screwed it up anyways.
I cut the 1x8 into 8 30" segments and marked onto each the layout below with 5 1/2" x 12" chip well and the cup holder 3 1/2" in diameter. Here's where things started to not work out; my plan was to drill holes at each "corner" of the well with a 7/8" spade bit and then cut the straight edges with a router table. First, the router table wasn't powerful enough to outright cut the opening. Then, after rough cutting the openings with a jigsaw, the table wasn't big enough for the job (the fence wouldn't adjust far enough).
In then end I built a template/frame out of scrap wood into which I'd clamp the 1x8 segments and run the router around the inside of the template. It worked very well in the end, but one or two of the segments ended up slightly different as I "tuned in" the template.
With the 1x8 segments done, I turned to the trim and drop skirt. The 1x2 was going to be joined onto the outer edge of the 1x8, have the bull-nose profile routed into it, then the drop skirt was going to sit underneath the 1x8 butted up to the inside of the 1x2. Now, I discovered my second mistake/problem. In laying out the 1x8, I hadn't left enough material on the outside edge for the thickness of the drop skirt. As it was laid out, the drop skirt would impinge on the chip well. Since I had made the 1x8 layout asymmetric with extra thickness on the inside to balance the trim thickness, my solution was to flip the 1x8 around and put the cup holder on the left and the thicker edge of the 1x8 on the outside.
Humorous story interlude:Right around this stage of the table construction, I was having my kitchen remodeled. I'm eating breakfast and notice a piece of scrap sitting out on my deck from the remodeling and I think, "That could come in handy for the poker table." I head downstairs to put it with my other scrap and discover I only have 15' of 1x2 instead of 20'. The remodelers mistook my 1x2 for the stuff they had bought to help mount the cabinets.
Back to construction:After cutting the 1x2 into 30" pieces to match the 1x8, each pair of 1x2 and 1x8 was joined with 5 #10 biscuits and copious glue. After letting the glue dry overnight, the right end (chip well end) was cut off at a 22 1/2 degree angle, 24" measured along the trim side, and the miter cut made at the left (cup holder) end.
Time for the biscuit joiner again. Two slots for #10 biscuits cut into each end of the 1x8. I broke out the miter clamping system I mentioned earlier (actually 2 of them) and over the course of 4 days first glued two sides into quadrants (2 pairs of sides into 2 quadrants over 2 days) , then two pairs of quadrants into 2 half octagons, and finally the two halves into the full ring.
Now we come to screw up #3. Between warpage, dimensional variation in the wood, and just my level of (in)competance, the trim wasn't even all the way around. It'd step up and/or down 1/16" from board to board, so I needed to even it out before routing the bull-nose profile. After contemplating the problem, I decided that sanding or planing it even would take too long, so I'd clamp a guide block onto my router and use a straight bit to trim it even. Well, let's just say the guide block slipped and I left a couple big divots before I gave up on that technique. Scribing a level line around the skirt and using the hand plane took a whopping 5 minutes.
The divots were filled in the with some wood putty and left to dry. After sanding to remove excess putty and finish levelling both the top and bottom of the trim, a 1/2" roundover bit run along the top and bottom of the trim gave me the bull-nose profile I wanted.
For the drop skirt, the remaining 1x4 boards were cut into 24" boards, mainly to make fitting easier. I started by flipping the ring over and clamping a small scrap block of 1x4 with a 22.5 degree miter one one end into place at one corner of the octagon. I then made my way around the octagon, fitting each side individually. Cut one end, fit it tightly up against the previous side, carefully mark the other end, double check, cut, recheck for fit and trim if necessary. Clamp the new piece in place and move to the next. Obviously, remove the scrap block to do the eighth side.
When all the pieces were cut, they were marked along with the ring to indicate which piece went where. Each piece of the skirt then had three pilot holes drilled for screws 3/8" from the top; two 2" from each end and a third in the center. Once the pilot holes were drilled and countersunk, biscuit slots (#10) were cut in each end.
Now the tricky part, assembling the skirt and getting it in place. I have to concur with Pete (the author of http://www.peterod.com), if you can get an extra set of hands to help, do. After a dry-fit test run I dove in. I started with an arbitrary side, glued in the biscuits and applied glue to the sides of the skirt as well as the bottom of the ring and inside of the trim. I clamped into place that first side and then did a "lather-rinse-repeat" all the way around. In order to get the last side in, I left the penultimate side canted up and then forced both down into place simultaneously. After the skirt pieces were in place, I ran a band (web) clamp around the outside, clamped the whole skirt down tight, and put in all the wood screws.
Here's what it looked like when it was all together:
and a closeup of one side:
