went to Lowe's and bought a sheet of 5/8" very smooth sided material. Had them cut the 4 x 8 sheet to set on top of the table. Covered the board with left over batting and cut a durable white fabric (also out of my general use fabric) to use as a cover and stapled it on. Used a piece of non skid shelf lining material so it didn't skid when I laid it on the folding table. (The only drawback is that it's really too big to haul to a retreat, so the old one will still travel.) Plugged in the iron and it works great for me. The major expense was the sheet of material which cost about $30. Since it will be covered, I really believe any piece of plywood that doesn't bend would work fine. Look for left over material from another project to make the size you want. Since the rest of the materials came from my stash I don't count that in the cost. I have no idea how long I had the cover material in my box, but it finally got used. If you had an old sheet or similiar that would work great.