Proposal Blog Post: Brechin Final Project

 Proposal Statement:

    For my final project, I wanted to make a fantasy gaming board which is the map of a world I am creating for my RPG group. The idea for this board is it will be made of 4 pieces that will attach together, possibly with magnets. The two edge pieces with be the complete terrain for the two major continents and the two middle pieces will be a mix of terrain and something to indicate an ocean. In the center of the board, there will be a hole for a dice box where the player will roll the dice. This dice box will have a magnetic frame and an ocean piece with a tower will cover up the box when it's not in use. 

Advise:

    Since I have been thinking about this project for a while I had already been sketching concept ideas (pictures below), and the two things I was getting stuck on were the size of this board and also how the pieces would come together. 

    In order to start working out how to fix the first problem I explained my concept idea to Mr. Hodges. He suggested starting by looking at a 4-foot by 4-foot piece and then visualizing that size shape to go from there. When looking at how big that size would be I realized that would be too big, so Mr. Hodges showed me a cardboard piece that I can use to visualize a size. The piece itself was a 3ft by 4 ft piece that I liked the size of and could prototype as my board size. (pictures below: size is 28 in wide by 48 in long). The reason the size is smaller on the board is that I am not the shortest person in my group and I was struggling to reach across the length of the cardboard. So I decided to take 4" off either side to make the width shorter but the length still the same size since I liked that size for the amount of area my terrain could work with.

    Something that came up while figuring out the size of my board was there would be no room for a dice tray on the table since the board would take up all of the space. This led to an update in the concept design (previous pictures show this), where the center of the board would have the dice tray included into the board with an ocean terrain piece as a sort of magnetic lid that would cover it when not in use. During this discovery I had two minor problems to solve: 1: what magnets were available to me, 2: how large should the dice tray and surround magnetics holder be, and 3: how deep should the dice tray be. Mr. Hodges, helped me out with the first one, letting me know that there were magnetic strips I could cut and use for this project and also where to find them at. This helped me determine how wide the rim of the dice tray should be, but not how large the dice tray itself should be. For this, I just started prototyping different sizes on the cardboard map, starting with a 12-inch square and then shrinking it down to an 8-inch square with a 1-inch rim. For the last problem I talked to Dr. Terrell and he suggested I looked up what the standard dice tray depth is and use that to help me decide. After some googling, I found out that a dice tray is typically 8"x8"x1.5" so I used these measurements in my prototype design. This also helped me determine that my pieces needed to roughly be 2" tall for the main sections.

    The second major problem I had at the start was how the pieces would come together. The first advice I got was to put magnets along the sides of the sections and that is how they could be easily carried while also sticking together. The second was to use hinges to fold the section almost like a pamphlet or book. I liked the idea of hinges but was worried about the terrain I would be adding to my piece since my original idea was to use the instant-cure glue to attach the terrain to its section on the board. However, Dr. Terrell suggested that I instead use magnets to attach the terrain so I can stack pieces and make them taller, but also so that I can just remove the terrain and then fold up the sections of the board. I really liked this idea for transport and it means I could use the engraver to mark out the sections of the board but also label the terrain pieces that go in their place for each setup.

    While prototyping my project I was thinking about the ocean terrain and what that might look like, and Dr. Terrell suggested the possibility of using blue acrylic. However, after talking to Mr. Hodges I realized that we didn't have enough blue acrylic for the size of my board. So I pitched and brainstormed the idea of doing a resin pour since I already had my own resin I was going to use for a separate project. The only downside to this method is that it would require buffing which would take time, but also to solve the problem of the dice tray. This is something I am still in the process of brainstorming and have yet to settle on a way to solve this problem.

Initial Game Plan:

    I have made a timeline for this project that goes as follows.

                March 31st: Start prototyping the concept for the group to look at. Include the mage's tower in the ocean.

                April 1st: Meet with the group and design the continents and type of terrain of this world. Using rice for random continent shapes and dice rolls for where the terrain will fall on each continent. Submit a proposal for the final project.

               Between April 2nd and April 7th: Start sketching out the continents and where the land features are. Continue brainstorming ways to solve the resin dilemma. Make a mini prototype of the board to concept design.

                Between April 8th and 14th: Model design, measure out 1st section, and decide on attachment type. Engrave that section's design. If time repeats with the second through fourth sections. Include a hole for the dice box. Attach magnetic strips as well in this section.

                Between April 15th and 21st: Finish what wasn't completed in the previous step. Design and cut terrain. 3D print if the z height works, use Shopbot if it doesn't (also can stack pieces). Also, design and make the tower with its' island.

                Between April 22nd- 28th: Finish up the previous step. Put pieces together. Build a dam for resin. Do the method decided to keep resin out of the dice box. Let the resin set. Cut the resin into the square size of the lid for the dice box. Buffer the resin. Add felt to the inside of the dice box. Add a magnetic strip to the base of the lid (if not already there). Polish up design.

                Between April 28 and May 1st: Finish polishing and then paint the edges and the terrain. Turn in the design by May 1st. Ask the professors if they can grade early so that the board is playable over the summer. 

Needs:

    The needs are listed below.

            Materials:

                    4 pieces of 12" wide 28" long by 2" high. Can cut to size if needed.

                    Wood/Filament for the terrain pieces. The amount is to be determined but it must fill 2 sections of the board as well as the connecting edges of the inner sections of the board.

                    Resign/Resin Dye for the oceans. This will be provided by me.

                    Screws

                    Magnets

                    Hinges

                    Felt or something similar for the inside of the dice box. Not needed but if possible appreciated.

                    Acrylic or other material to make the dam for the resin

                    Plywood 6mm for prototype

                    Cardboard for prototype

        Tools:

                    Shopbot or 3D Printer: for the making of the terrain.

                    Laser cutter

                    Power tools

                            Screwdriver

                            Bandsaw/Chopsaw

                            Buffering tool

                    Clamps

                    Pencil

                    Tape measure

                    Ruler

                    Square

                    Utility Knife

                    Scissors

Thank you for reading my proposal! I can wait to show you the process and end results of this project!