Working with new components

[amenditman]

The 8 hr test is complete

wiped off no problem, no resistance or residue

Pass

[JLV]

Originally Posted by the1weasel

Did anyone ever answer this? If we jack up our megahexes or cards, will there be opportunity to purchase replacements? I can put the cards in card sleeves and mark on those instead, but dry erase wipes off with a touch and is not the best method for this kind of thing IMHO.

If you're going to put them in sleeves, you could go really "old-school" and use grease pencils to mark them off with; that worked for me 40 years ago for games that had rosters (War of the Ring, for example) you needed to mark off (put the roster in a document protector and use a grease pencil -- voila!). Saves worrying about the cards and the grease pencil always came off, even after weeks of being on...

[Will Douglas]

I have tested the hexes with wet erase markers (Expo Vis a Vis fine point, if you're curious).

After three days I cleaned it off with a paper towel and a bit of water; it came off without any problem.

Haven't tried the cards, though.

[amenditman]

The cards have a residue that is hard to remove from wet erase.
I had to use rubbing alcohol on my test sample after only 5 mins.

I'd say the megahexes are good wet or dry from my tests.
Fighter Cards are not good with wet erase.

[larsdangly]

Good to know!

[JohnPaulB]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

Great; thanks everyone! I'm guessing these surfaces will not hold up to wet erase markers (which is too bad, because dry erase marker doesn't really stick properly to vinyl Chessex mats, so I think I'll need two sets of markers ... which I'll inevitably mix up).

If your wet markers as thin pens and your dry markers as thick (the tip could be thin or thick) then you might have a tactile separation between the two.

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by GamerApe

In the olden days we'd sandwich a cardboard counter between two pieces of box tape. Then you rub both sides with the bowl of a spoon to get the tape on good and tight. Then trim the excess. This helped preserve thin cardboard counters, and made them more robust. Don't know how it would handle makers, though; never tried.

If it's the typical clear 3M packing tape or imitation

• green dry erase will burn in in a matter of hours
• black or red dry erase burns in over days
• Overhead Pens usually erase cleanly.
• Staedtler's "permanent" pens are actually alcohol soluble. They burn in at about 3 weeks...
• More than two layers of tape tends to be notably visible. Two layers, can, sometimes, allow removing the top in case of burn-in.

Similar for the clear "shelf-liner" sold at Wal*mart and Home Depot.

Scotch brand "invisible" tape accepts pencil.

[kommisar]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

Ok, next question on this general subject: The 'Adventures' all come with custom markers, which we presumably are supposed to transform into hard copy in some fashion or another. The path of least resistance is to just print them and cut them out as thin paper pieces, but I suspect the craftier of the people here will take a more ambitious approach and get them mounted on firm cardboard with a weight and texture similar to our die cut pieces. Does anyone here have specific materials and methods they'd like to share, to help the less talented of us make good quality components?

For counters, I buy vinyl flooring tile from a home improvement store (~ 64 cents / 12" x 12" tile), print out counter pdfs on glossy photo paper, stick the glossy photo paper on to the flooring tile adhesive, score the resulting composite with a rotary cutter, and then snap the counters apart on a kitchen counter edge. Makes really nice weighted counters. They are single sided however so you will have to make separate dead body counters.

[RVA_Grandpa]

When I can't find my preferred material which is artist illustration board, I pickup a few extra drink coasters from the local steak house. I print my counters and paste them to the coasters and then cut them out. Cheap and effective.

[Tom H.]

Originally Posted by amenditman

I have tested the Megahexes and Fighter Cards with wet erase markers.

MH - wipe clean in tests of 5, 15, and 30 mins. exposure.
FC - failed to wipe clean after 5 mins. Had to use rubbing alcohol to clean the mess.

My simple experience with the fighter cards confirmed:

The wet-erase markers left a ghostly stain when cleaned with just water.

My dry-erase markers almost rubbed off too easily when in contact with other cards.