Inserts WTF

I’ve been thinking of a good way to organize Elder Sign and expansions, so I sought out plans for inserts and was amazed to find people selling dozens of different types.

Some of this shit cost over a hundred bucks.

Insanity!

I ended up cutting up two of my old STF prototype boards and spent under two hours on it. Like, simple shit, no planning. Design goals were to make a system that I could pop in and out of the box easily and not have a pain to set up every time.

Literally ghetto built this with hot glue and foam core... and a bit of pilfered ribbon.

Saved at least 30$.

That looks really good. How many expansions do you have in there?

Nice! Glued and pinned foam core is ace for custom made inserts. For my copy of Cthulhu Wars I made some that were able to fit the following in the core box: the minis for all 8 factions (minus the High Priests), the plastic gates and the HP Lovecraft first player marker.

hotseatgames wrote: That looks really good. How many expansions do you have in there?

Just Unseen Forces as that’s the only one I have that isn’t a “replacement” (Gates). Gates will have its own in its box.

Oh, wow nice! Could you show us some more pictures or some more of the design or how you glued everything down? I'm trying to build an organizer for Cosmic Encounter but I haven't found a way to get good results yet.

Sure. I’m playing tonight so I’ll post then.

100% of the glue is hot glue.

SuperflyTNT wrote: Sure. I’m playing tonight so I’ll post then.

100% of the glue is hot glue.

Closer ups

Hey

Just glued each mating surface with hot glue. Because I used my Italian ruler (TM) and didnt measure shit except relative to the card depths and heights using the stacks as they sat, I had to add that little leg at the back.

The flat piece glued into the box holds the small card tray so it doesn’t flop about, and the stantions behind hold up the back tray so it’s supported on both sides.

I wanted to make it like monopoly banks, so it is easy to get the cards out.

Tools used:
Stanley Fat Max 25mm utility knife
Cutting Board
High temp hot glue and cheap dollar store gun
2 12x18 sheets of foam core board
Carpentry Speed Square

This is the one I did for Cosmic a few years ago. All foamcore, no glue.



I sort of scratched out an idea of how I wanted things to fit (power cards, decks along the outside), then cut overlaps to hold the dividers and to hold the structure together. You can see them in the "pieces well", which I emptied to show the construction.

A few more expansions have come out since then, so I'd probably do the card wells differently (Flares are already tight here), but you get the gist. I measured the box, measured the cards, thought about the overlaps a bit and started cutting. The box corners have the same half/half cuts as the cross pieces so they don't wobble.

Exacto, cutting mat, steel ruler, foamcore.


Here's a little more detail of the center cross, where both pieces are full length to give it some stability, you can see the over/under thing. That also keeps things from popping up, as the one running between the cards is held down by the outside ring.

I’ve done a lot of those. Way cheaper than Plano’s.

I used to do the cross-cut slots so pieces interlock but I found that if you don’t put at least a few dots of glue between the bottom of the box and the bottom of the insert, cards will slide beneath the trays which defeats the purpose. So, now everything is glued to the bottom or glued to a bottom tray piece to stop that from happening.

I also find that pre-measuring and cutting isn’t as good or as fast as laying things out in the box using strips of foam core as spacer guides. I made a slick ass one once that was awesome and then I found that the cards were so snug they frayed after repeated in and out action. Had to scrap it and restart.

At some point I’m going to get a 3D printer just for inserts because the only drawback to foam core is the 1/4” breadth of the walls, and that can eat as much as an inch with densely packed square wells.

I love making inserts. I also use foamcore but I use Elmer’s wood glue rather than hot glue. Sometimes I only make a partial insert to hold certain components.
 
Star Trek Ascendancy - removable trays for the space lanes and system discs. Still working on the card holder.
 

 
Chaos in the Old World - includes Horned Rat expansion
 

 
Battlestar Galactica - includes Pegasus and Exodus expansions
 

 
Caracassone Big Box - The original box is a colossal waste of space, so I made a mock up of a smaller box that I had planned to make out of wood at a later date. I am still hoping to. I have since realized that separating expansions is unnecessary since we always play with all of them anyway. I’ll be able to make it even smaller.
 



 
Arkham Horror - card holders born out of the necessity of the sleeved decks getting too big to stand on their own. These obviously don’t fit in the box, but with all the expansions, it’s spread out over multiple boxes anyway. I hope to make a complete box for everything
 

I use hot glue solely because it cures instantly and because I don’t measure and use the cards as a guide I dont want to end up gluing a card

Speaking of hot glue, I made a foam core window insert for my office door that I filled with random junk from my shelves, like a Gundam dude and a resin-cast Shakespearean Predator figure. In the process, I learned that my fancy new glue gun heats the glue much hotter than the disposable glue guns of my wasted youth.





I'd still like to get an industrial glue gun for "permanent" jobs.

My cuts look really rough, however. I'm not sure if it's because I used a monster utility knife with a dull blade, or if it's the dollar store foam core boards I used.




You can't really see from the picture. I used my laptop to take it, which creates all sorts of problems. You think they could put a better camera in the Macbook.




Note the water bottle hoarding in the background.

Fun fact: In high school I took an aptitude test and was told I should be a cardboard box designer.

Another fun fact: There was a packaging company in SLC that burned down a few years ago. I feel like I dodged a bullet.