# What makes a permanent grid on white board? Help needed with homemade "tac-tiles"



## d12 (Jul 10, 2008)

I have wanted some tac-tiles for a while now but the company seems to have stopped making them.  For those of you who don't know, they are interlocking squares with a grid that you can use for a battlemat.  

Now an office supply company has produced interlocking 8 in. x 8 in. white-board pieces for home and office use.  They require the same white-board markers used in classrooms and conference rooms.  They are perfect, except there is no grid.  I can draw a uniform grid on them easily enough but everything I draw with wipes off - pencil, pen, sharpie, you name it.  I need something that I can use to produce a permanent grid, that doesn't wipe away when I erase the dry-erase marker.  I have thought about using a razor to cut into the board but I would rather try anything else first.  

Sorry if this is the wrong forum.  It didn't seem to fit anywhere else.


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## Derro (Jul 10, 2008)

We use paint pens. They seem more enduring than permanent marker. They are kind of messy though when drawing big, bold lines. I'd suggest just putting a dot where lines intersect. That way squares are implied but you've got a lot less potential for mess.


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## chriton227 (Jul 10, 2008)

You could use black tape, office supply stores sell 1/16" wide black tape for a few dollars a roll, and you can find narrower widths in specialty art stores.  I found lots by Google searching for _black 1/16 tape_ and _black 1/32 tape_.

Can you provide some more info on the tiles you've found?  I haven't found anything similar in the stores near where I live.


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## The Lost Muse (Jul 10, 2008)

Use a utility knife, score the grid out, and then if it's too light, a fine-tipped marker along the lines should do the trick.


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## d12 (Jul 10, 2008)

Company is Venture Products (they only sell to retailers)
Purchased at Target
Product name is "Wipe Works Message Boards"


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## Scribble (Jul 10, 2008)

When I go home tonight I'll get the name of the markers my fiance uses in her lab. 

Apparently they're more permanent then permanent markers, in that they're designed not to be disolved by the various chemicals used ina  lab setting.

So... be very careful with them, as they don't really come off.


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## Foxen (Jul 10, 2008)

Here's an alternative idea for a battlegrid...especially if you're into 1" squares.

You can purchase an "easel" pad worth of paper pre-marked with 1" square for probably around $10 or so.  Disposable, 50 sheets at a time, etc.

I actually made my own grids with 1.25" (since the onset of the slightly larger bases by Privateer Press, MageKnight, Heroscape, etc.) by purchasing a newsprint pad (for about $10 for 50 sheets) and using a T-Square and ruler, making several sheets then taping it together.

I also purchase some colored cardstock (67lb, although I normally use 110lb white cardstock)...and printed out 1.25" grids using tables in Microsoft Word...then cut them out to make piecemeal tiles that I could use for dungeons etc.

And lastly, for a huge dragon battle, I took a paper bag from the grocery store, and gridded it up (again at 1.25") using colored pencil for additional effect....looks cool enough.  Wanted to add some diversity and texture to the grid.

Wasn't quite what you asked for, but I thought I'd share some ideas for folks who wanted to make their grids.

Fox


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## Altamont Ravenard (Jul 10, 2008)

Timmundo said:


> Use a utility knife, score the grid out, and then if it's too light, a fine-tipped marker along the lines should do the trick.




I've use an exacto knife to grid a featureless whiteboard. Went pretty well (make sure to use a metal ruler of some kind as a guide). Dry erase "residue" accumulates pretty fast in the grooves and the grid darkens as it is used.

AR


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## Remathilis (Jul 10, 2008)

Try a steady hand, a ruler, and an X-acto Knife...


GAAAH! Ninja'd!


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## Thunderfoot (Jul 11, 2008)

If you have a very steady hand there is also a paint that leaves a raised residue on the surface.  I can't for the life of me remember the name of the product but we used it to make a grid board for the military on a white board. 

The stuff came in little bottles with an applicator and was available in a variety of colors including black, different shades of gray and even light blue (to match graph paper).


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## d12 (Jul 11, 2008)

Thunderfoot said:


> If you have a very steady hand there is also a paint that leaves a raised residue on the surface.  I can't for the life of me remember the name of the product but we used it to make a grid board for the military on a white board.
> 
> The stuff came in little bottles with an applicator and was available in a variety of colors including black, different shades of gray and even light blue (to match graph paper).




If anyone knows what this paint is called, please chime in. It sounds like it might be the thing I need.


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## chriton227 (Jul 11, 2008)

d12 said:


> If anyone knows what this paint is called, please chime in. It sounds like it might be the thing I need.




That sounds almost like Liquid Leading, a specialty paint used to make faux stained glass.  It comes in black, silver, and gold, and leaves a distinct bead to simulate the leading you would find in real stained glass.  But I've never seen it in blue


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## Kzach (Jul 11, 2008)

Assuming this is a cardboard product with a plastic overcoat on a white paper background, I'd recommend a ball point pen, preferably one with no ink left.

It has to be a thick line ball point pen so that it doesn't cut into the product even if you press hard.

With a nice straight-edge (metal rulers are best), score the cardboard deeply (but not deep enough to actually cut through the thin plastic coating). Then use a whiteboard marker and go over the lines.

What happens is that the ink from the whiteboard marker fills in the deep grooves and only comes off if you really get into it and scrub out the grooves. And even then, the grooves are deep enough to see even in low light.


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## JVisgaitis (Jul 11, 2008)

I think tact tiles were actually screen printed. Not sure if you would want to go that far though...


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## fenzer (Jul 11, 2008)

Altamont Ravenard said:


> I've use an exacto knife to grid a featureless whiteboard. Went pretty well (make sure to use a metal ruler of some kind as a guide). Dry erase "residue" accumulates pretty fast in the grooves and the grid darkens as it is used.
> 
> AR




Ditto.  This is exactly what we did and it works very well.  The residue negates any further need to mark the lines.  Clean, crisp, permanent grid.


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## TarionzCousin (Jul 11, 2008)

I just used permanent marker.





Spoiler



It didn't work well in the long run; it eventually got erased.


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## Kzach (Jul 11, 2008)

This is the closest I've been able to find doing a search online for this product. This is really frustrating 'cause this is as close to Tac-Tiles as we're likely to get and I'd really like to get a bunch of these.

Wipe Works


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## Kzach (Jul 11, 2008)

Multi-post.


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## fba827 (Jul 11, 2008)

Another vote for using thin tape (black or even masking tape).  Measure it out and tape it down.  Works fine. 

While I have never used it for a D&D prop, we actually used this method for a work schedule and tally grid at the office for several years.  So it went through lots of wipe-downs every week without a problem.


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## Nyaricus (Jul 11, 2008)

I'll chime in for using a knife and cutting in the lines on the whiteboard. works PERFECTLY - and so long as you have a decently steady hand, no mess! 

----------------
Now playing: Amon Amarth - Annihilation of Hammerfest


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## Aristotle (Jul 11, 2008)

I wonder if my hand is steady enough for this. I got some Alea Tools counters (arriving soon I hope) and was thinking of doing a sheet metal backer for my battlemat. Then I found "magentic receptive" materials at a few different sites that have wet-erase-friendly vynil surfaces. If someone would put a water-resistant grid on them, they'd be about perfect.


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## Job (Jul 11, 2008)

I would suggest marking the lines on the whiteboard with permanent marker and covering it with clear laminate. The clear laminate has the benefit of being able to be used with both wet and dry erase markers.

I used inexpensive foamboard as the backing (instead of whiteboard), drew lines on the foamboard using permanent marker, and then laminated each board. Our group loves them!

Job.


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## Scribble (Jul 11, 2008)

The markers my fiance uses are called aptly enough: "lab writers..."

They aren't alchohal soluble so they won't come off of plastic. They can even apparently write on wet glass.


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## Kzach (Jul 15, 2008)

Any chance someone in America could use the following link to determine just who makes the Wipe Works products so that I can chase down a supplier in Australia?

http://ucanhealth.com/local/?cz=36201&type=Merchandise&term=Wipe+Works+Dry+Erase+Interlocking#


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## smootrk (Jul 15, 2008)

I have used the large easel style paper with grid pre-printed on it, followed up with a fairly large sheet of clear plastic placed on top of it.

cheap, easy, reusable, and easily replaced if a true mishap occurred.


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## Brown Jenkin (Jul 15, 2008)

Here is what we use. http://www.magnatag.com/page/TP/supply/whiteboard-chart-tape.asp

It is 1/16 Tape. We use it on our large whiteboard to form a grid pattern we use for both HERO System Speeds and D&D initiative and to keep track of rounds. We can write in effects and durations for however long effects last then just wipe them off after each combat with the grid remaining intact.


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## Brown Jenkin (Jul 15, 2008)

d12 said:


> I have wanted some tac-tiles for a while now but the company seems to have stopped making them.  For those of you who don't know, they are interlocking squares with a grid that you can use for a battlemat.
> 
> Now an office supply company has produced interlocking 8 in. x 8 in. white-board pieces for home and office use.  They require the same white-board markers used in classrooms and conference rooms.




Do you have a link or name of this product, I am interested as well.


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## Fedifensor (Jul 16, 2008)

You'd think with all the people trying to recreate "tac-tiles", the company that made them would have done better.  Maybe another company will try to fill the void...


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## Kzach (Jul 16, 2008)

Fedifensor said:


> You'd think with all the people trying to recreate "tac-tiles", the company that made them would have done better.  Maybe another company will try to fill the void...




The void has been filled by Wipe Works. They make interlocking 12"x12" or 5"x5" dry erase squares sold in packets of 6 each.

But finding them has proven to be next to impossible on the net. The only place I can find that has them on the net is Big Lots but their website is all messed up and the crappy picture they have of the product is too small to see who manufactures them.

Once again: http://ucanhealth.com/local/?cz=36201&type=Merchandise&term=Wipe+Works+Dry+Erase+Interlocking#


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## Fedifensor (Jul 16, 2008)

Kzach said:


> The void has been filled by Wipe Works. They make interlocking 12"x12" or 5"x5" dry erase squares sold in packets of 6 each.



Do they have the grid on them?  If not, then it's not filling the void.  Not everyone has the time, creativity, and steady hands to put their own grid on the product...plus, messing up can get expensive.



> But finding them has proven to be next to impossible on the net.



Again, if you can't find it to purchase it, the product is not filling the void.


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