How to Make Your Own Regulation Size Ping Pong Table

Ping pong, also known as table tennis, is a fun, recreational sport. While most play as a hobby, ping pong is also an Olympic sport, played with a regulation-sized table. You can create a ping pong table, saving money over the purchase of a commercial table.

Things You'll Need

  • 2-inch-thick masonite
  • Cutting table
  • Tape measure
  • Saw
  • Green enamel paint
  • Paint sprayer
  • Masking tape
  • Newspaper
  • White enamel paint
  • Three sets interlocking table legs, screw-mounted
  • Screws
  • Screwdriver
  • Two ping pong net-mounting clamps
  • Ping pong net
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Instructions

    • 1

      Cut the Masonite, a form of timber with a smooth finishing coat, to 9 feet by 5 feet. Lay the masonite flat on the cutting table, and use the saw to cut the board to size. You can utilize a hand saw or a power saw at your preference.

    • 2

      Spray the Masonite green. Fill a paint sprayer with green paint and apply two separate layers, allowing the paint to dry for at least an hour after each layer. Spray the surface with horizontal passes, and never change direction while over the surface, as it will lead to pooling.

    • 3

      Mask off the entire surface of the table, except for a 3/4-inch-wide border, and a 3/4-inch-wide line running the 9-foot length of the table, centered across the 5-foot width, using the masking tape and newspaper. Mark off the border of the covered area by laying straight pieces of tape, then fill in the interior of the area masked off by laying newspaper down and taping it in place. Ensure that only the border and center line are not covered with tape or paper.

    • 4

      Spray the table trim white. Clean the sprayer of green paint and fill with white paint. Spray across the width of the of the table with each pass, and leave to dry for an hour. Apply a second layer if needed for a rich, white appearance, before removing the mask.

    • 5

      Screw a pair of table legs to the underside of the table in each corner, running along the 9-foot sides of the table. Each set of interlocking legs will have two pairs of legs, one slightly narrower than the other allowing them to fold down over each other. Apply the wider pair of legs to the same 9-foot side with each pair.

    • 6

      Screw on the final set of legs, as in Step 5, installing the wider pair of legs on the 9-foot side that had the narrower pairs installed in its corners in Step 5. You will end up with one side having narrow legs at its ends, and wider legs in its center, and the opposite side having wider legs at its ends, and narrow legs in its center.

    • 7

      Mount the net clamps, one on each 9-foot side, centered down the length.

    • 8

      Slide the net over the clamps so that it stretches across the center of the table.