One of the first things I designed when I got my Glowforge in August 2019 was a crib board. I was quite pleased with it overall, but I struggled with how to finish the edges. I tried applying a laminate edging, but that was just a disaster. It buckled in places and ended up looking awful. Now I sand the edges smooth and paint them before I varnish.
I have also added magnets to keep the lid on. I use 6mm magnets and while the ones on the underside of the lid do not sit flush with the surface, they do nest perfectly into the holes on the body of the crib board when the lid is in place. It works perfectly and they are strong enough to hold the cards and pegs in place if the board is inverted.
This particular board will be a Christmas gift for my cousin from his wife. I used photos of their actual RPod trailer for the engraving and for the custom-printed playing cards.
The finished dimensions are 11.5" x 7" x 1". It is made with 8 layers of 1/8" Baltic birch that are glued together. Cut time for all 8 pieces and engraving is just over one hour. Total time to complete is about 2.5 hours, though that includes the varnishing, which happens over a couple of days.
Thank you, @gordonjones11. I think that the painted edges are the way to go with this project. I’ve been using a metallic chocolate brown, but folks can request any colour.
Beautiful board! I have a few boards in my head, but I’m to lazy to place the peg holes manually, and fried my brain one day trying to figure out how to procedurally generate them in custom shapes evenly - haven’t given up, but it’s on the back burner for now.
Yep! It was about 7 straight hours of work to set up all the holes manually in Inkscape. It was kind of nuts! LOL But I was going to make a crib board or die trying. I have other designs in mind with different shapes, but every time I go to start creating the templates, I remember all those hours and I suddenly think to myself that an oval shape is good enough. One of these days!
I want to make a couple of boards for Christmas, so I’ve got to get my act together eventually. If I get the procedurally generated route figured out then I can do any shape. Think I’ll work on figuring it out today, at least a little more!
