i need to make many hex tiles not unlike scrabble tiles, but for a different purpose. i have tried wood and card but getting hex perfect is not easy. i need something that i make once and then maybe cast ? ideas guys?
hex size 20mm point to point
how to make a hex peice - plastic?
Mon, 05/23/2005 - 01:21
Mon, 05/23/2005 - 09:56
#1
Re: how to make a hex peice - plastic?
pyrox wrote:
i need to make many hex tiles not unlike scrabble tiles, but for a different purpose. i have tried wood and card but getting hex perfect is not easy. i need something that i make once and then maybe cast ? ideas guys?
hex size 20mm point to point
You can get paper hexes here (look under Counter und Spielpläne / Counters and Game boards). Maybe you could laminate one and use it as a master.
Alternative, I've been in contact with Sarah at SarahHeidtPhotoCraft.com. She manufactures acrylic "mosaic tiles". These are generally irregular geometric bits, but she has told me that they could make uniform casts. She's due to get back to me with information on minimum order sizes. If enough peoeple are interested, we might be able to do a bulk order and get a discount. I'll keep you posted.
K.
Mon, 05/23/2005 - 11:01
#2
How about ceramic
I know they ceramic tile in 1" hexes with a 3/16 inch space between. The only problem is getting them off of the mesh backing.
To get the hexes just right all you need to do is some math and some careful measuring. Plus there will be lots of waste, I'd say about 50%. I can work up a template if you would like. If I remember correctly, the point to point distance equals the side to side distance times SQRT(3).
Mike DeSanto
mdesanto@enter.net
www.enter.net/~mdesanto
Mon, 05/23/2005 - 12:07
#3
OK, easy hex creation method.
First, decide how wide you want the hexes to be (side to side). This distance will be referred to as X. Cut strips X wide. For the example I used 1" hexes.
Next, mark every 0.6 * X inches. (for 1" hexes 5/8" works tolerably well).
Starting at the left, draw an "X" using the first two sets of marks. Move to the next pair and make another X. You should end up with someting looking like this:
X X X X
Just cut along the "X" lines, and you have hexes. If you need perfect hexes, you will need to do your own math and measure very carefully. I hope this helps.
Mon, 05/23/2005 - 12:43
#4
how to make a hex peice - plastic?
Nice, Mike ... thanks for that. With that "x 0.6" math involved, it seems like a good time to use metric. :)
-Bryk
Mon, 05/23/2005 - 12:56
#5
how to make a hex peice - plastic?
I've seen plastic hexes that are very, very close to that size (maybe a bit bigger, 25mm) at education supply stores here locally. Couldn't find them on the net, but I've seen them.
If you want a sheet to print out for prototyping purposes, just drop a note here and someone (like me) will whip out a sheet (in PDF form) for you. Specify paper size and whether you'd like them adjacent (more hexes per page) or offset (easier to cut out, but fewer per page).
-- Matthew
Mon, 05/23/2005 - 20:02
#6
how to make a hex peice - plastic?
For what it's worth, the multiplier for Mike's scheme is actually ~ 0.57735.
The little bit of trig involved in case anyone's interested:
As for the original question, if you can't buy them, you could cast them. There was a discussion on here a while ago about resin casting with RTV molds, which a couple of us have played with. It takes no special equipment and could work well for this---you make a couple masters, make a mold, and crank them out.
Tue, 05/24/2005 - 09:46
#8
how to make a hex peice - plastic?
Pyrox, what exactly are you asking?
You need to make a pattern on a computer, because measuring it by hand is going to cause too much error to bank a lot of pieces on. You can use the math above to do that exactly as you want, or use the hex-shape tool most art programs have to get close to the dimensions you want.
Then you need to make several masters. I would think you want to do this out of wood, as it'll be the easiest to cut exactly. Importantly, you need to seal the wood with a lacquer so that the mold you'll be making doesn't work its way into pores of the piece. You just need some balsa wood, an x-acto knife, and some sandpaper to do this. If you want to put things on the piece, like a letter or what not, you'll need an awe with which to etch the piece. If you ask about this in a hobby shop they'll try to sell you a Dremel tool which is probably overkill.
Then you need to make a mold. There's a lot of different stuff you can use in terms of the mold and the casting material. Any art store will have a bunch of different types. I use alumilite, which produces nice plastic pieces.
Of course, this all assumes you're talking about prototypes and not a real production run.
There's a number of discussions about this kind of casting on this forum, e.g. http://bgdf.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=1893&highlight=resin+casting, and there are lots of good articles on the web if you search. Amusingly, there's even a thread here that you started half a year ago that talks about casting hex pieces. What exactly are you trying to find out? It's not clear to me what questions you have that aren't being answered, so hopefully you can explain them a little more.
Mon, 08/08/2005 - 19:58
#10
how to make a hex peice - plastic?
Heh, I'm looking for the same thing so I thought I'd ressurect this thread. I don't think I'd have the time/space/patience for the resin (or any type of) casting, so I'm looking for pre-made pieces I can put stickers on that aren't too expensive as I'd need around 60-80 per game (I think... still working on the game).
On thing I found that I will hopefully look into is using minature stands. You know, stands for little minatures? They have quite a few in hex shape. Here's a link to one UK site I found that has them in many sizes with multiple materials available. The 3mm ones sound like they might work for you. They aren't that cheap, but might be good for prototyping.
http://www.litkoaero.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=LAI&Category_Code=HB_20mmS
Hope that helps, and if anyone finds something like this cheaper or in plastic let us know :)
thankyou all for your assistance with the hexes, but what i actually need help with is making 20mm (sorry those who aren't metric, im not amaerican...) maybe bigger hex tiles similar to scrabble tiles in construction. making the first tile seems difficult as the tiles are very small and i have little to no experience with powertools and such. and for the game to work right i have to have perfect hexagons(or very near perfect). once i have one, then i should be able to cast the rest out of something relatively inexpensive from a latex mould or something (ideas?)
But the game idea does involve a lot of these tilesand they have to be hexes, paper wont get the effect that i am looking for, the only alternative i can think of is to get some high density foam and get that cut at the foam store or cut it myself perhaps.
ideas are welcome, experience with making mold and casting copies would be great, if anyone knows what materials would be best to use please say...
thanx again all!
pyrox of australia