An air hockey surface is the most tiresome and difficult part of making an air hockey table. This is due to the fact that you need to drill over a thousand holes in the table. Other than drilling holes you also must add support to it so that it doesn’t collapse. The support is made of tiny wood blocks that must be sawed to the exact measurements or else the table will collapse when putting force onto it. An air hockey surface relates to engineering because of all the support and air flow that must be put into it, to make it function. This cannot be done without engineering knowledge, and if attempted you will fail in making it. That is how it relates to an air hockey table.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRYL953jmSU
http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Air-Hockey-Table-1/