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× Painting Minis, Print & Play and Other Creative Type Stuff.

mount your map

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14 Oct 2009 10:55 #44687 by Hatchling
mount your map was created by Hatchling
Some of you have seen this this already at BGG, but I thought I'd cross post it here since it's recent.

HOW TO MOUNT YOUR MAP



Here is what I did to mount my map and provide it with a protective shell. Though this was a bit stressful to do (one mistake ruins an expensive and beautiful game), everything worked out well and I am happy with the results. Now I don't need to worry about plexiglass and so on.

Tools:
-sharp knife. I use a rotary blade (like a sharp pizza cutter) because it makes a smoother cut. But a box cutter or exacto blade will work just fine if you go carefully. I changed my blade 3 times to ensure precision.
-self-healing mat to protect your table from cuts.
-a good straight edge ruler

Materials:
-book binding tape (aka librarian's tape). A flexible but strong cloth tape that librarians use to bind books. This is what you will need to make hinges that hold the board pieces together.
-Illustration board, medium or heavy thickness. I bought two pieces 30 x 40", medium thickness (2mm).

Sprays:
-3M Super 77 spray glue. This is a must. Other glues will wrinkle the map.
-Krylon Low Odour Clear Gloss. This is optional. It gives the board a protective shell. It's acrylic.
-Krylon Matte Finish. This takes the shine off the glossy shell if you put that on.

Method:

1. Cut the map into 4 equal pieces along the fold lines. Take your time and be exact. Cut down the middle lengthwise, then down the middle across. Since the map folds in eight, each of the 4 pieces will have a crease across the middle. I will now refer to these pieces as map quadrants.

2. Cut the illustration board into 8 pieces that are exactly the same size as a map quadrant folded in half. That is, each piece of illustration board should be exactly half the size of the 4 quadrants.

3. With the bookbinding tape, tape two board pieces together to correspond to each map quadrant. Now you should have four pieces of board matching the size of the 4 map quadrants. The tape acts as a hinge that gives extra support.

4. Glue the 4 map quadrants onto the 4 board pieces with the tape hinge facing the underside of the map. You want the board to fold so that the map sides face each other. Here is some extra detail on how to do this with precision. For each map and board piece:
-open the board on a work table, hinge side facing up.
-place the map quadrant on top and line up the edges exactly.
-clamp one side/half of the map & board together with paper clamps.
-fold the un-clamped half of the map over the clamped half. This will reveal the illustration board beneath, half the hinge, and the underside of half the map quadrant.
-spray glue onto the illustration board and the exposed half of the hinge. Don't worry if a bit of spray gets onto the exposed underside of the map.
-fold the map down onto the illustration board and smooth it out using a clean piece of cardboard or something equivalent.
-Wait a few minutes, unclamp the second side, fold that second side over the first and spray-glue it like you did to the first side. The result should be an exactly mounted map quadrant that folds in half

5 (optional): On each mounted map quadrant, spray 3 coats of the acrylic, wait 30 minutes (no less!) and spray a couple of coats (at 5 minute intervals) of the matte finish.

6. With the bookbinding tape, make a hinge on the back of the boards between the bottom map quadrants and the top map quadrants (that is, hinge the bottom left to the top left, and hinge the bottom right to the top right). Finally, make a hinge on the back between the top left and the top right quadrants. Make sure that that you tape the pieces flush together...you don't want gaps in your map when you're playing. The result should be the same as mine.

Here it is opened up. The lines are minimal, just like a professionally mounted board:

[img size=medium] images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic580047_md.jpg [/img]

Here is a photo of the mounted map whem folded. The dice are there to give you a sense of scale:

[img size=medium] images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic580050_md.jpg [/img]

Finally, here is a photo of how everything fits in the box. The map is beneath the other components:

[img size=medium] images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic580051_md.jpg [/img]

Let me know if you have any questions.

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14 Oct 2009 11:45 #44698 by sydo
Replied by sydo on topic Re:mount your map
Thank you very much! I want to have my Pax Romana and HellGame maps mounted so this guide will come handy. But for the firs try, I will train on a Dune board which I can download. Don't wanna mess the Pax map.

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14 Oct 2009 12:46 #44703 by jeb
Replied by jeb on topic Re:mount your map
This needs to be stickied in the DIY forum.

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14 Oct 2009 13:04 #44705 by Jason Lutes
Replied by Jason Lutes on topic Re:mount your map
Nice work! I just mounted the map for my pulp adventure game last week, and encountered a few problems. Your tips will help me do it right next time.

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14 Oct 2009 13:19 - 14 Oct 2009 13:20 #44708 by metalface13
Replied by metalface13 on topic Re:mount your map
Oh, this topic is TOTALLY not what I thought it was … I guess I won't post the photos I took last night.
Last edit: 14 Oct 2009 13:20 by metalface13. Reason: for humor

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14 Oct 2009 14:44 #44716 by Hatchling
Replied by Hatchling on topic Re:mount your map
metalface13 wrote:

Oh, this topic is TOTALLY not what I thought it was … I guess I won't post the photos I took last night.


haha. Finally someone caught my pun.

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14 Oct 2009 15:26 - 14 Oct 2009 15:36 #44720 by Sagrilarus
Replied by Sagrilarus on topic Re:mount your map
What's the longest you've gone with a map mounted this way? I'm curious to know what it will look like in the long-term.

WofG is a game I may own for 20+ years and I'm curious to know what the long-term prognosis is.

Sag.
Last edit: 14 Oct 2009 15:36 by Sagrilarus.

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14 Oct 2009 15:35 #44721 by Hatchling
Replied by Hatchling on topic Re:mount your map
I'm unable to answer that question, Sag. I've only been into boardgames for a couple of years. My Dead of Night boards are about that old and they're still perfect.

The text on the acrylic spray can describes it as a "permanent protective coating" for art, crafts and valuables, including for photography, painted surfaces, watercolour. The text matte finish can describes it as moisture-resistant, non-yellowing and permanent.

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14 Oct 2009 15:39 #44722 by Sagrilarus
Replied by Sagrilarus on topic Re:mount your map
Thanks for the reply. It sounds as if the weakest component in the mix may be the map itself.

Sag.

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14 Oct 2009 17:17 #44729 by metalface13
Replied by metalface13 on topic Re:mount your map
Sagrilarus wrote:

What's the longest you've gone with a map mounted this way? I'm curious to know what it will look like in the long-term.


*Snicker*

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14 Oct 2009 17:47 #44730 by Shellhead
Replied by Shellhead on topic Re:mount your map
I wish that I had seen this years ago, when I paid some money to Kinko's to laminate one of my favorite maps. It immediately created a storage hassle where I couldn't keep the map in the box anymore.

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14 Oct 2009 17:58 #44732 by jur
Replied by jur on topic Re:mount your map
practical things first: how long does it take you to make it, and what do the materials cost?

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14 Oct 2009 20:52 #44742 by Hatchling
Replied by Hatchling on topic Re:mount your map
Jur wrote:

practical things first: how long does it take you to make it, and what do the materials cost?


Time
Since rule number one with projects like this is to go slowly, I would guess that it took me at most 5 hours to do everything (cutting, gluing, taping, spraying).

Cost (in Canadian dollars, all prices from Curry's Art Store):
Krylon low odour acrylic spray: $6.50
Krylon matte finish: $6.50
3M Super 77 spray adhesive: $10
Book repair tape: $23
Rotary cutter: $14
Replacement blades for rotary knife: $8
self-healing mat (12x18): $6.50
stadler 12" steel ruler with cork backing: $6.35
illustration boards (30x40): 7$ each = $14 for two

total: $94.85

That's a lot of money (almost as much as Space Hulk, I'm now realizing...). But except for the illustration board I had everything on hand already from previous projects when I decided to pimp my WofG map. The start-up cost for DIY projects is pretty high.

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15 Oct 2009 08:00 #44774 by jur
Replied by jur on topic Re:mount your map
Hatchling wrote:

Jur wrote:

practical things first: how long does it take you to make it, and what do the materials cost?


Time
Since rule number one with projects like this is to go slowly, I would guess that it took me at most 5 hours to do everything (cutting, gluing, taping, spraying).

Cost (in Canadian dollars, all prices from Curry's Art Store):
Krylon low odour acrylic spray: $6.50
Krylon matte finish: $6.50
3M Super 77 spray adhesive: $10
Book repair tape: $23
Rotary cutter: $14
Replacement blades for rotary knife: $8
self-healing mat (12x18): $6.50
stadler 12" steel ruler with cork backing: $6.35
illustration boards (30x40): 7$ each = $14 for two

total: $94.85

That's a lot of money (almost as much as Space Hulk, I'm now realizing...). But except for the illustration board I had everything on hand already from previous projects when I decided to pimp my WofG map. The start-up cost for DIY projects is pretty high.


Just to put those fixed costs in perspective: If you would do five or ten maps, what would be the price per map? Presuming that the mat, cutter, blades and ruler are one off, that the Krylon and tape last 5 maps, the cost for 5 maps would be $150? So $30 per map?

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15 Oct 2009 10:13 - 15 Oct 2009 10:14 #44784 by Hatchling
Replied by Hatchling on topic Re:mount your map
My guess is that the sprays are good for about 10 maps. The tape will last longer. Let's also assume that we're using a normal box cutter/exacto knife (which are cheap and which allow you to break off the end of the blade instead of replacing it entirely) instead of the very expensive alterative of a rotary blade. That way we can assume our knife expenses are fixed at ~$22.

On these assumptions, and factoring in some sales tax, it should cost roughly $25 CAD per map (so yep $30 is a good upper limit guess) if you are mounting 10 maps and if you want to completely account for the cost of the tools. If you use the tools for other purposes that would have to be factored in to the costing too, I'd imagine.
Last edit: 15 Oct 2009 10:14 by Hatchling.

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