Lead Adventure Forum
Other Stuff => Workbench => Tutorials => Topic started by: Malebolgia on December 19, 2017, 01:35:53 PM
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Okay, here’s a simple tutorial on how to make some cool dice trays. We’ve tried them last week for Warzone Resurrection and King Death Monster and they work well! I can imagine they are less suitable for games where you roll lots of dice together as these might be a bit too small.
What do you need?
(http://www.ikea.com/PIAimages/41788_PE136380_S5.JPG)
(https://images.hema.nl/products/muismat-39602055-pdpmain_twox.jpg)
1. IKEA Ribba picture frames (I chose 15x10cm) (link (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50378448/#/10378445))
2. Cheap mouse mat. You want the simple ones with a foam layer and a thin layer of cloth over it. I found these for €2 a piece (link (https://www.hema.nl/winkel/vrije-tijd-kantoor/school-kantoor/media-computer/elektronica-accessoires/muismat-(39602055)))
3. Metal ruler
4. Sharp knife
5. Superglue
How do you assemble it?
1. Take the shrink wrap from the picture frames and remove the MDF board and clear Perspex. Use pliers to remove the picture stand and the two metal hooks from the board. Be careful to make sure the MDF doesn’t tear a lot.
2. Take the mouse mat and pull off the cloth layer, so you’ll end up with a layer of foam.
3. Place the MDF plate on top of the foam and cut through the foam with the blade around the frame. I used the metal ruler to make sure my cuts were straight. I ended up with a piece of foam that fits the picture frame.
4. Drip some superglue inside the picture frame, on the edges where the MDF plate sits on the frame. Then place the MDF in the frame and let it dry.
5. Take the foam and glue it on top of the MDF plate. Let it dry.
Result
(http://paintoholic.nl/temp/diceroller.jpg)
With one mouse mat I could make two dice trays. A nice simple project that took me around 20 minutes to finish. And they work really well for games. I think I will make two more!
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That's a great idea! 8)
One question; why take the cloth off the mousemat? Wouldn't the end result be nicer with the cloth?
Next time I'm at Ikea, I will remember this and probable take along some of these frames trays! :)
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I use the shallow trays that go under plant pots, but then I use dice cups & do not throw by hand. A simple shake & upturn the cup
onto the tray. They come in different colours & shapes, my favourite is the terracotta square ones (about 8" square). Mine cost about a pound from Wilkinson's. The dice cups are used Pot Noodle type pots (the nice strong blue ones with vertical ribbing. I have some narrow trays (about 2" x 8") from the kitchen section of Sainsbury's. They were on offer at 50p each. The narrow trays are great for laying out the specific dice for what ever game we are playing. Each place setting (one per player) cost £1.50 with no painting or gluing needed.
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Heres another alternative...speaker casings more here
https://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/shed-wars-goes-all-blue-peterreally.html (https://shedwars.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/shed-wars-goes-all-blue-peterreally.html)
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/-_94WRc62gUBWG3ZJAsRZZWn8SwdW92NiBiDuX4_6bp7A8gS11sCpuNLQyCZPmrW7zs21CP2J8zMD6q0rbKxcPmwdhvLRALj6g31LQNvHXOZzSTLYVW_M6EeHD-0PuRezP0Iqg5t=s0-d)
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One question; why take the cloth off the mousemat? Wouldn't the end result be nicer with the cloth?
I am assuming the pic on the cloth wouldnt have been centered after cut or theme appropriate.
Gtimm
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Don't think that's it: he used a plain black one apparently... ???
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That's a great idea! 8)
One question; why take the cloth off the mousemat? Wouldn't the end result be nicer with the cloth?
Next time I'm at Ikea, I will remember this and probable take along some of these frames trays! :)
Because the cloth doesn't stick that well to the foam. If you keep it on during cutting, it gets ugly real fast. Don't forget these mouse mats are dead cheap (hema.nl), so don't expect any high quality cloth. It's not like the gaming mouse mats! If it would have been that kind of quality, then I'd keep on the cloth.
And the rubber is way more bouncy this way! Much cooler effect than with cloth.
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Ah; thanks for the info.
It might be worth it then to up the price a bit and go for a slightly more expensive mouse mat, as I would like that cloth finish... :)
FYI; I already checked the possibility to have a logo printed on a cloth covered mouse mat. It's perfectly possible, if you go with a minimum of 250 pieces... lol
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It's an option. Personally I don't think it's worth the extra cost. Then I think it's cheaper to get some commercially made dice trays.
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Great idea - thanks for posting.
I was in Ikea so I picked up a slightly larger RIBBA frame. Lined it with 1mm thick EVA foam sheet.
Excellent
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Well, I went ahead and immediately got me a larger frame at Ikea too. Can't remember what it's called, but its inside dimensions are 23x23cm.
And then I ordered a larger sized mousemat on AliExpress, with my own design on it, for the whopping sum of €2,36. But as you can see from the posting date, it took its time arriving.
The image is very true to the original, and considering the price and medium (cloth mousemat) pretty much perfect!
I simply took the backing plate off the frame, traced it on the mousemat with a technical pencil and then cut the mat using scissors. I then glued the mousemat to the back plate, put that back in the frame and I was done.
And as the (plexi)glass of the frame was removed, the added 2mm thickness of the mat was actually a perfect fit!
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/D1Tray.jpg)
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I use picture frames as well. But I used some faux leather that I wrapped around the frame's backboard and hold down with glue gun. My wife took the original and uses it as a jewelry tray so I had to make another! 😂
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If you really want to dress them up, get some fantasy print mouse pads & cut them to fit.
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Ah; thanks for the info.
It might be worth it then to up the price a bit and go for a slightly more expensive mouse mat, as I would like that cloth finish... :)
FYI; I already checked the possibility to have a logo printed on a cloth covered mouse mat. It's perfectly possible, if you go with a minimum of 250 pieces... lol
If you have a decent image of it, a lot of print shops and even some of the ones in places like walmart can put images on mousepads for a relatively decent price...
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My wife took the original and uses it as a jewelry tray so I had to make another! 😂
Yeah; they tend to do that a lot for some reason... ::)
If you have a decent image of it, a lot of print shops and even some of the ones in places like walmart can put images on mousepads for a relatively decent price...
As you can see; I already managed, and for a more than reasonable price too... ;) :D
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As you can see; I already managed, and for a more than reasonable price too... ;) :D
With a Sam's Club membership, their mousepads with a picture on it come to about $1.50 locally...
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With you mentioning Walmart and prices in $, I'm assuming you're in the US.
Alas; we over here in the Old World do not have those channels, but I'm more than happy with the way (and price) this one turned out regardless... ;)
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Well, I went ahead and immediately got me a larger frame at Ikea too. Can't remember what it's called, but its inside dimensions are 23x23cm.
And then I ordered a larger sized mousemat on AliExpress, with my own design on it, for the whopping sum of €2,36. But as you can see from the posting date, it took its time arriving.
The image is very true to the original, and considering the price and medium (cloth mousemat) pretty much perfect!
I simply took the backing plate off the frame, traced it on the mousemat with a technical pencil and then cut the mat using scissors. I then glued the mousemat to the back plate, put that back in the frame and I was done.
And as the (plexi)glass of the frame was removed, the added 2mm thickness of the mat was actually a perfect fit!
(http://www.d1-games.com/ForumPics/Gaming/D1Tray.jpg)
WOAH!
That is awesome man. And now I had to order those too...
Placed an order for three mouse mats (for 6 trays) for my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles project for Poldercon next year :-*
Thanks Ruben, that was an awesome idea!!
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Cool; glad you like it; it's an evolution of your own idea of course :)
And I'm already curious about your next Poldercon project! Turtles you say eh? :D
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Yeah! Each of the four players controls a Turtle and I will be controlling the Foot Clan. Each of the Turtles has a deck of individual action cards, so they will play differently. Leo will be the Leader and Donnie will be the tech-nerd. A lot is based on the old 8-bit NES-game (although I played it on a PC). So basically full half-shell ninja action on a city board! I'm writing the rules now and it's progressing nicely. Expect mayhem, lots of combos with dice and cards, teamwork, helping each other with cards and tokens, a lot of different Foot Clan miniatures and hopefully a lot of fun!
Now if I can get my hands on a cheap Technodrome toy everything will be more epic...
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Sounds really cool! 8)
Now if I can get my hands on a cheap Technodrome toy everything will be more epic...
I'd say... According to Wikipedia, it has (amongst others) 972 rooms, an entire motorpool, a starfighter deck and an indoor pool and sauna! lol
Perhaps we should suggest a different venue for Poldercon 2019? Like the Amsterdam Arena maybe? ;D
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Sounds really cool! 8)
And now even cooler:
(http://paintoholic.nl/temp/tmnt.jpg)
Ordered three 18x22cm mouse mats through Ali Express. They were custom and I provided them with two designs. Each design contained 2 identical prints, so with 3 mouse mats I had enough to make these 5 dice rollers. I purchased some extra RIBBAs and waited for the mouse mats to arrive. Only 10 days later! Darn fast!
I used a supersharp exacto to cut the mats. Turns out this works better than scissors. Then glue the designs in place and I now have 4 dice rollers for all players and 1 dice roller for me...as leader of the Foot Clan!
Yesterday I saw Customeeple now also does custom etched dice at good prices. Oh dear...this project is getting out of hand...
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Great stuff! 8) Your Turtles game is promising to be quite the experience already :D
I have some plans for a batch of these trays myself. But I'm on a deadline and the previous order I sent took its time arriving (about a month). Did you use the expedited service, or the regular one?
Can you please share the AliExpress store you used? Perhaps it's a better/faster one than the one I used, as I really need to receive them within two weeks... ::)
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This is the one:
https://www.aliexpress.com/snapshot/0.html?spm=a2g0s.9042647.6.2.1d5f4c4dkoPL67&orderId=91832327247538&productId=32735259243
And paid for regular shipping. Went really fast too!
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Thanks; I'll give them a go... 8)
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You were right; they were fast; mats were in-country within 10 days. Too bad PostNL screwed up (again)... ::)
I wanted to give each member of my gaming group a tray on my birthday party (on Saturday the 16th), with a design specific to us as a group, with each mat individualized with the name of each player.
Track and Trace reported the mats had been handed off to the local carrier (PostNL), and on the specified day, I did receive a package (on Thursday 14th), but it was another item I had ordered from AliExpress on the same day. But no mats.
Then the delivery day was moved up daily, with the status remaining 'At the Sorting Center'. So on Wednesday 20th I called them, and they told me it had been lost/misplaced at the sorting center and the sender should file a complaint. Now; AliExpress states they will refund after 60 days, but PostNL has a set period of 45 days to place a complaint, or they will not accept it.
See where that was going?
But to be safe, I did send the seller a message, even though they had done everything right on their side. Luckily, on Thursday 21st, my wife messaged me that the mats had arrived! The track and trace app still said it was at the sorting center though.
And because our regular gaming nights are on Thursdays, I had to rush to get them all finished and wrapped up in time, but I made it, and everyone was elated to receive theirs. Mission accomplished, even though I would have liked it better to have been able to hand them out during my party. But they were put to use immediately, and they work a treat; no more dice careening off the table, getting lost under the couch or other scary places, and they all loved the fact each individual tray was subtly different.
As a bonus, because I only needed 7, I made an extra one for my daughter as well, although this one had a fairy tale theme (obviously lol ) and she was so thrilled by it, she took it to bed with her the first night...
I had no time to take pictures of them all together, but I will take some of mine tonight, so you'll get the idea... :)
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And here it is.
Each highlighted name is in white, the other names in a dark grey (GDPR-ed into blurs). The logo in the middle is a referral to one of our RPG house rules (we play a D10 system), where a triple 8 result always means an automatic , near godlike succes.
This particular type of frame (Ikea's Hovsta) has a small plastic frame allowing you to display your pictures 'deep', instead of flush with the (plexi)glass. These were white, so I had to prime them and then spray them black.
I then used the plexiglass from the frame as a template for tracing where to cut the mousemat. I simply drew a diagonal cross on it, corner to corner to establish the exact center and since my design also has a clearly defined center, I could slide the plexiglass exactly into position before tracing.
Then I used a sharp X-Acto blade and metal ruler, just like you did, to cut the mat out; way sharper (and straighter) than scissors btw.
After that, it was a simple case of glueing the mousemat onto the original frame's back, which is an MDF like material. I first did pry off the hooks and stands from it though, and as the back is black, I touched up the holes with some black acrylic paint.
I did contemplate flipping the back over, but then I would have had to smoothen the broken up surface of the black side, as not doing that meant having lumps under the mousemat. So I didn't do it, and as a result, the bottom surface is less than perfect, but as we rarely will see it anyway, I'm willing to overlook the imperfection.
Then it's replacing the backplate back into the frame, and bending the metal clips back down to secure it into place, and the dice tray is ready for action... :)
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Awesome mate! Great to see this design and execution, really professional result 8)
And urrrrrrggh about the Postnl treatment, that sucked hairy balls man. So annoying if it gets clucked up like that. But good they finally appeared and everybody loved them 8)