I have been playing around with different configurations for a custom table and wanted to note some things I’ve landed on that I really like. A main one thing is having the map mounted so that it can slide around as needed on top of a bigger playing area. My table is 65” x 95” in total with a 5.5” arm rest around the outside and the middle is a recessed neoprene surface. I have the OOB Global map mounted on 1/2” rigid foam with a 1/2” aluminum frame around it. This allows the map to slide up close to whoever’s turn it is, but then be in the middle so both players can roll dice In front of them without disturbing the map and in easy view of the other player. (Plus we like lots of room to roll the bones). This ability to adjust the surface along with a standing height, makes it comfortable for long uses because you can move around more and don’t feel as tied down.
Things I’ve learned and changed from original design - I originally used too big of a frame for the map and mounted it on too high of a foam block (you can see these pictures at the bottom) - it made it hard to see the other player’s dice and the big frame took up too much real estate. My global map is mounted on much thinner foam (the framing is bad, you can see if you look closely) but I also used much thinner aluminum angle for the frame. This gives just enough grip when needing to move the map around (I use furniture slides on the bottom, which glide very nicely on the neoprene) but doesn’t make the whole thing too bulky. Having it an inch or so off the surface keeps the dice off, but isn’t so heigh that you can’t see the other player’s dice rolls. When playing other versions (such as Zombies) the board is much smaller, but it can easily swap in and out on the same table since it can move around where ever it is needed or be pushed aside.
I originally made it normal table height, but found long reaches while sitting were harder and it just felt cramped. Standing height with a bar stool is a great way to have the best of both worlds.
The 5.5” rim around the table itself gives you a nice arm rest that doesn’t interfere with the gaming surface. I’m playing with how to best add some cushion to this part - open to suggestions. Sometimes I just lay a piece of leftover neoprene on it.
Dice bounce nice on the neoprene and stay off the floor. It also feels nice and has enough give to allow things to slide but be picked up easily. Wouldn’t definitely go with neoprene again as a surface covering.
I made the drawers open to the inside of the table so you can stay hunched over the action while accessing and stowing stuff away. 50/50 on whether I would keep this if I were to do it again. If I were doing it again, I might try to build customer drawers form scratch using actual drawer glides, but that was beyond my ability when I first did this, so I just used clear plexiglass boxes with aluminum pulls mounted on them. It’s nice having them clear, and I was happy with how the pulls came out, but without glides they can be a little fussy sliding in and out of their slots.
I originally designed the table so that I could put a cover surface back on top when not in use, but find I don’t really ever do that, so if I were to do it again, I might not mess with that part (I never even finished staining those as you can see in the pictures).
CF362D52-269F-4480-8CBB-08139099138F.jpeg A9E12EA1-66EB-4671-86AC-68C62FD30AD5.jpeg 858DE1F2-030A-4D5A-93E4-70A7D1180ADB.jpeg 8F513EE0-DA37-4BA9-880E-4D5EF7BF431F.jpeg F0188165-757B-4CC1-BF67-5045832283C9.jpeg 2E3CD627-0D31-4121-ACF8-682F9F58A40B.jpeg
Tjoek's 1940 Global Map file and setup charts (Updated May 30th 2018)
-
@Tjoek this is incredible. Printing this out as I type. Now to find a sheet of 36x78in plexiglass…
-
@vodot said in Tjoek's 1940 Global Map file (Updated May 30th 2018):
@Tjoek this is incredible. Printing this out as I type. Now to find a sheet of 36x78in plexiglass…
Thnx @vodot! Please share a picture of your map when it’s printed, I would love to see your result!
-
@vodot said in Tjoek's 1940 Global Map file (Updated May 30th 2018):
@Tjoek this is incredible. Printing this out as I type. Now to find a sheet of 36x78in plexiglass…
In case this info helps, here’s how I obtained the 36" x 96" sheet of plastic that my customized table (which has an extended-width version of the Global 1940 map board) needed. I found a local plastics company whose merchandise lines were described on their website, and I determined that the best option was a material called non-glare Acrylite P-99; the company had various sizes in stock, and one of them was originally sized by the manufacturer at 48" x 96" x 1/16" thickness. The 96" length was already correct, so all the plastics company had to do for me was to cut the sheet to the correct width. They then shipped it to me by delivery truck, rolled up into a tube about two feet in diameter with a sheet of cardboard wrapped around it to protect it. They even included the slice they had removed. They only charged me ten bucks for the custom cutting, and they did a nice job; the sheet went straight onto the table without needing any work on my part, other than my peeling away the manufacturer’s thin temporary film which protects the acrylic from scratching during storage and shipment.
-
@Tjoek It looks awesome. I have access to fancy plotters at work, and I did this on a 36" roll of heavyweight photo paper with a satin finish on maximum quality. It took half an hour, and it is a thing of beauty. I’ll try to get some pics at home.
@CWO-Marc said in Tjoek's 1940 Global Map file (Updated May 30th 2018):
@vodot said in Tjoek's 1940 Global Map file (Updated May 30th 2018):
@Tjoek this is incredible. Printing this out as I type. Now to find a sheet of 36x78in plexiglass…
In case this info helps, here’s how I obtained the 36" x 96" sheet of plastic that my customized table (which has an extended-width version of the Global 1940 map board) needed. I found a local plastics company whose merchandise lines were described on their website, and I determined that the best option was a material called non-glare Acrylite P-99; the company had various sizes in stock, and one of them was originally sized by the manufacturer at 48" x 96" x 1/16" thickness. The 96" length was already correct, so all the plastics company had to do for me was to cut the sheet to the correct width. They then shipped it to me by delivery truck, rolled up into a tube about two feet in diameter with a sheet of cardboard wrapped around it to protect it. They even included the slice they had removed. They only charged me ten bucks for the custom cutting, and they did a nice job; the sheet went straight onto the table without needing any work on my part, other than my peeling away the manufacturer’s thin temporary film which protects the acrylic from scratching during storage and shipment.
Thanks for the tip @CWO-Marc- I actually have 48x48" polycarbonate sheets available to me as well (#engineeringrocks), so I’ll probably pop a couple sheets on the bandsaw and call it good. I’m ok with a physical seam at the Europe/Pacific divide :) I have a teak table that should work as a platform; now I just need a big plywood sheet to set the map on. Maybe one day I’ll have a table to rival some of you crazies with bunkers?
-
@vodot said in Tjoek's 1940 Global Map file (Updated May 30th 2018):
It looks awesome. I have access to fancy plotters at work, and I did this on a 36" roll of heavyweight photo paper with a satin finish on maximum quality. It took half an hour, and it is a thing of beauty. I’ll try to get some pics at home.
Just out of curiousity, did you manage to take some pictures? From what you describe it might be very high quality.
-
I mean, the pictures are not going to look as nice as the print, and I don’t have a surface yet or the plexiglass cut to size to cover it. I’ll try to get something out in the next few days, though.
-
@vodot said in Tjoek's 1940 Global Map file (Updated May 30th 2018):
I mean, the pictures are not going to look as nice as the print, and I don’t have a surface yet or the plexiglass cut to size to cover it. I’ll try to get something out in the next few days, though.
No hurry, I am just curious how you material looks
-
@Tjoek Some pics below. They’ve been through Google photos compression and aren’t the raws, but the map still looks great. It is virtually impossible to overstate how clean it is in person. I decided to kill two birds with one stone and also demo some of my custom 3D printed pieces on the map as well- please forgive the shameless cross-promotion :) As I mentioned above, I did this on a 36" HP T850 plotter on heavyweight satin photo paper, on maximum quality, at a feed speed of about 3"/min.
-
@vodot thanks! Your print quality is really astonishing. I wish I had a printer with this quality at work. Let alone the high quality 3D prints! Well done
-
Congrats for your work!
-
Hi @Tjoek, I hope you don’t mind but I’d like to use your map for this 1940 tracker I’m building. I can see how long you’ve spent cleaning this up, so I would like to add you to the credits if that’s okay.
I think I might have taken some of the tokens you cleaned up already while bulding my prototype. I think they popped up in google image searches, I hope you don’t mind. I plan on sharing freely with the community in a seperate thread once it’s more polished.
Here’s a link with a picture of the board : https://storage.googleapis.com/aa-calkit4me/index.html
And here’s a preview with you image :
As you can see, I’ll need to insert the IPC tracker at the top again (I think it adds a nice touch) and realign a few icons, but you get the gist. I think it would look much nicer.
Thanks in advance,
Kev
Suggested Topics
