So after lurking in these forums the last 1-2 million years I thought I should say Hi now that I am finally (intentionally) burning things. My Pro unit arrived a couple weeks ago and after the effortless setup I have been doing all the random material tests, jig setups, honeycomb hold downs and other clever stuff I have been itching to steal from the people here who are so much smarter than I am about this stuff
Eventually we all have to do our first project though, so I thought I would start with something simple. I am a board game junky so one of the key reasons I got the GF was to overhaul my collection with organizers and other stuff that scratches my OCD itch. Recently I have been knee deep with my crew playing Gloomhaven (an excellent game if you have never seen it, I kickstarted it a while back but you can now find it on Amazon) and while very well packaged it has a billion little pieces that need to be rifled through each time. After a quick search on Thingiverse I found an awesome pattern for a 5 tray organization system HERE.
I had to do some do some adjustment because the OP had a much larger print bed than we do with GF, but that was some good experience for me setting up my own SVGs with the settings I wanted (never worked with anything like this before). All in all I am happy with how it turned out, though I will be re-attacking my files for a v2 that fixes a lot of stuff I learned the hard way after assembly (unrequired double cuts, engrave settings that took a billion years, etc.) and includes some more polish (i.e. it’s a laser engraver, so why didn’t I add some art to the original design that shows what pieces go in which trays?). Luckily I have another friend who bought the game so I have an excuse to overhaul everything and gift him a set for… the sheer joy of making another one?
If anyone is a fellow player and wants a copy of the files once I am happy with them just let me know and I will be happy to post them into the Free Designs area. I will also be doing more games going forward so let me know if there is interest here and I will gladly share my other projects (Splendor is next on my list). I am setting everything up on medium proofgrade draftboard because the material is essentially perfect for this application.
I need something similar for my Arkham Horror bits. I actually use hardware store tiny parts bins for the tokens and small cards, but there are eight hundred thousand decks of full-size cards that I need to manage, too.
If anyone is a fellow player and wants a copy of the files once I am happy with them just let me know and I will be happy to post them into the Free Designs area
Yes please!
I’m also (slowly) working on Gloomhaven, and pulling inspiration from a handful of other organizers I’ve seen. Anything you would change if you were doing it again?
How does the whole thing fit together into the box?
That is great. I’d love a share. I am a Superbacker of games on Kickstarter and making organizers is one of the projects I’m looking forward to when my GF arrives. Have some designs in the wings and stacks of birch and draftboard waiting.
Exactly this, I’ve made it a goal to create trays for all my board games. My current strategy is to make trays for each game as we play them. As an added benefit, we’ve been playing many games that have been buried in the closet for years
Very nice! As a fellow gamer, I’m looking to create various “containers” for my games as well. Splendor is a favorite of ours, so please share once you create that one!
I’m currently figuring out Duel (awesome 2 player game based on 7 Wonders) as we play it a LOT and would love to do something cool for it. Of course a Dominion case (I have 5 sets that need 1 home, not 5 boxes!), and about 50+ decks of playing cards in a basket. Would love a better organizer for that. All in good time, but I’ll share too once done!
Very nice. I’ve done a few game inserts too and the glowforge is a Godsend! I’ve already got the Broken Token insert, but mainly because I wanted to save time and just start playing, heh.
Yeah, Arkham Horror is on my to do list as well. I am still thinking of a good multi-deck system for games like it and Dominion that just have so many cards to work with.
On the whole the trays work well and fit cleanly in the box fully closed with no missing bits, but I find the big challenge remains the map tiles, they are just so large and oddly shaped there doesn’t seem to be a great way to stack them without leaving a ton of wasted space. My other idea was to try and split out a top tray similar to what this did for the player bits (all four active players are in a top tray together for easy access) that does a scenario, that way at the end of the night we could load up all the bits for the next session in the top for easy pull and play since for us there are always a few stragglers at the end of a game night who would be happy to help and its way better to do it then than delay play at the beginning hunting for my Bandit Archer card that has always magically disappeared
Please do, Dominion is a big one for me as well. I have had very little luck thinking up a good multi-deck system that didn’t involve a zillion snap cases or tuck boxes.
Oh yes, please do share the file! I haven’t started Gloomhaven with the family yet - we’re planning on starting when the kids are out of school for the summer.
Gloomhaven player here!
Happy to see that insert worked out, i was going to cut that myself… however… i bought a 3D printer and have been blinging out all the map pieces so it might be of limited use for me now!
These have been airbrush undercoated in preparation for painting
I will confess at the outset that I only played board games back in the 60’s, and never since.
Risk was the game of choice for squaddies in Malaysia at the time !
But I just wondered if the acquisition of your will leave you less game playing time and more creating time ?
Having over 350 games in my collection, I will have to be selective about my design ambitions, but I want to do similarly as you.
On the other hand, I would pay for plans were companies like Broken Token to sell them. The wood game organization sets I’ve purchased have been fine, but I particularly want to make sets for favored games using acrylic.
will leave you less game playing time and more creating time ?
