"Laser cut frames for a modular gaming board - module design" Topic

Hiho,

the past months I thought about developing a modular gaming table/board that would feature laser cut 1 foot by 1 foot (or 30.48cm x 30.48cm) squares to assure a proper fit. They would then be filled with XPS foam to carve the terrain features. Each side would feature between 2 and 4 magnets, so would the base. So nothing new, but tailored to my personal requirements.

I am still in the experimenting phase and was looking at different materials: 0.9mm Bamboo veneer, 2 or 3mm MDF etc. and even thought about inlays to fancy the whole thing up.

I came up with the following profiles:

As I am still finalizing my designs I would be interested in your opinion in terms of material, design etc. Maybe you have some suggestions how to improve it further. I am very conscious of weight so while the 3mm MDF is cheap and easy to get, it would also be comparatively heavy if I have 16 or 24 tiles to carry arround. I thought of cutting a geometric design in the base to reduce the weight and then back this with thin card. Another factor is visible wood grain. It would surely look very nice to have this and I could stain the wood, but MDF can be painted easily.

I was also thinking of making these available to a wider audience. What do you look for in such tiles? I know Back-to Basix has a similar system, however the tops of the modules are flat.

In any case, I summarized my thought process and experiments on my blog, just click the link below (what version of the html code for a picture link works on the TMP?). Any comments would be appreciated

wp.me/p49oPQ-Bb

Interesting keep us updated

Hmm, home grown GoeHex

Use mdf for the base plate, weight is good there, and use ply for the sides, will varnish up neatly.

I really like this idea! Do you need the large square base? I've built some terrain boards that use pink foam edged in plastic and so far they seem to hold up ok. You may be able to save weight and material by using only interlocking sides.

Best of luck!

@Rapier Miniatures: I like the idea of hybrid materials. Cheap MDf for the abse and nice veneer on the edges. The only visual problem are the visible pegs, but given their position is symmetrical it might be ok.

@Jsears: I was thinking about this, too. Some form of base support would be good, but taking away some of the material in the base, say with a rhomboid pattern cut out of it, might be a good compromise.

It is an interesting idea. 12" squares seem a little small. I'd be more inclined to look at them if they were 18", or even 24".

Love the magnet idea. The thinner the sides, the better.

@Lucius: I was contemplating making the boards bigger, but then transport and storage really becomes an issue for me. ;). That said, there is no reason why I could not extend the design to 18" or 24" (and I might well do so when the 1 foot square ones are finished).

The smaller size affords more variability and I really hope that gaps (that did put me off smaller modules in the past) are a non issue with the added laser precision.

I made some test cuts the other day and it looks really good already. No I have to seal the MDF and then assemble the test pieces and see if the fit could be better etc.

Hi audry,

thank you for the link. I like the idea to have crossabrs, but I think this might not be necessary for the 30 by 30cm modules. Anything bigger will need soem more support.

I made some more test cuts and given making the frames lightweight was one of my goals, I designed two solutions that would reduce the overall weight.

Here are the profiles:

The first idea was to simply cut a geometrical pattern in the base to reduce the weight:

Another option, in my opinion the more elegant one, is to have four separate pieces that form the base:

I think this design for the base is superior as you will get more sections out of a sheet of MDF. The disadvantage could be stability, but I first need to glue the frame together to see how it compares to the other design.

A dry fit looks already promising. The base sections fit together well and with the sides attached the constructions gains stability. This configuration only weights 150 g.

I now will buy some shellac to treat the MDF and then glue the frames together. I will also make a third variant with 1.8mm Bamboo plywood for the sides and MDF base and see how that compares.

Peithetairos, starting about 6 years ago I built my own terrain boards, starting with 6'x2' flat ground and an interconnected ravine and gullies, then moving on to build 2'x2' and 2'x4' river & swamp boards, all of which can be interconnected. When you started posting on this project I was interested enough to follow along but did not expect to see anything particularly new or revolutionary.

But your latest idea above -- re: base pieces that are only narrow lips on the bottom of the foam board -- is kind of amazing, and certainly new to me. I did a ton of research before building my boards years ago, and never saw that concept ever before. The only potential down side I can think of is a greater chance of sustaining serious damage to the board, due to its underside being left unprotected, but that is only a negative possibility, while the positive effect of significantly lightening the weight of the finished terrain board is a certainty, as are the significsnt cost savings in materials.

Thanks for posting about this project, and I look forward to seeing more as it keeps progressing!

@Mad Guru: I was a bit worried about that as well. I thought of using some HIPS sheets that I would put in the bottom as reinforcement.

I could also see black foam baord as a bottom layer and then styrofoam on top. That said I made some Dungeon tiles out of pure XPS and they held up well.

Sure, if you lean on the board it could well break, but then the surface will be hardened, too. I still have a bit of styrospray around and see if I can use it to cover the surface. That should give a nice finish to the pieces.

I like your weight saving the problem I have with MDF is that if it gets damp (humid conditions or left in a damp environment) it warps I have some lovely Realistic Modelling terrain half the bases were ply half MDF due to the space they are normally stored being worked on they were out side under a gazebo for 2 weeks the MDF all warped. It took another month of damping each board in turn and clamping them to a flat surface as they dried to get them straight(ish) again. The ply was fine

@cavalry47: I have similar fears ;). That said, I did treat the cuts with Shellac. I understand this is an excellent protection from environmental humidity (which is important as I am based in New Zealand with up to 100 percent humidity on certain days). That said it does not waterproof the pieces. So if they would be stored in damp conditions (or say the garage with very cold/ very warm conditions) it stands to reason to use acrylic rather than risking to ruin the pieces.

I made test cuts using Bamboo ply which looks beautiful and might also be more resilient to warping. That would be the "old-school" look with visible wood grain on the sides.

I will also make a test cut in 3mm Acrylic. The density of Acrylic is higher than mdf (I think it is something like 0.8g cm3 to 1.18g cm3), but what I gain in weight also adds to its resilience. In addition the price per sheet is higher, but then the material is arguably "better". I could go down to 2mm but then I feel the acrylic sheet won't be entirely straight which could end up making assembly difficult.

I also found that so far my test cuts did fit nicely, but the fit was not tight. I could add 0.1mm to all pegs, but then I might run in anothe rproblem: too tight. When it is all glued together there is no problem, but it might make assembly easier if the pieces fit nice and tight and can just stand on their own without any glue.

I'll experiment further and see what solution is the best one for me. The nice part is that I can use any test modules no matter what, after all the size will not change anymore :).

Anyhow, thank you for your comment. I think these considerations are important to get the best result/ best compromise between weight/pirce/resilience.