Author Archives: Chris Holden

Laser cutting? That’s right! We’re not laser etching here, we’re laser cutting!We took our PCB design and using Inkscape converted all the strokes into paths. Then, joined all the paths together using the union tool (it took about 45 seconds for the co… Continue reading →

Having tried a non-pcb based board, and found it too fiddly, we’re now re-visiting the idea of a pcb-based module for our board game. But we need to address some of the issues that made us think abandoning it was the right approach.The first thing is t… Continue reading →

Having decided to scrap making modules and a pcb-based board game, at one of the open nights at BuildBrighton we managed to put together a simple test piece for our game. It’s still a 7-hex module whereas the final board will be 12 by 24 or something, … Continue reading →

Although our buttons aren’t soldered up yet and are only held in place with tape, we found out last night that the height of the button head is quite important for our board game to work.We dropped the hex playing squares into place, and some buttons c… Continue reading →

A quick trip to Brighton Plastics on Boundary Road in Portslade (for some clear 3mm acrylic), 20 minutes drawing shapes in Inkscape and 10 minutes on the laser and we’ve a new prototype to try out! (this is the base layer – with holes for the butt… Continue reading →

Funky foam is nice and soft and squidgy and quite flexible. But cut it into thin shapes, and the laser makes it go quite brittle and hard.Plus it’s only soft when you push it in one spot. When I mounted a hex onto this foam and tried to depress the ent… Continue reading →

It’s been a while but we gave the old laser cutter a dusting down this evening and set it to work, trying out some ideas for our Dreadball board game.Funky foam is a great spongy material for supporting our playing squares – only when it’s cut on the l… Continue reading →

A few weeks ago, at one of our Thursday BuildBrighton meetings, Matt suggested another cnc machine idea.   We’ve already completed one – a pcb drilling machine – and while the mechanics and software side of things were pretty good (for a £30+ cnc… Continue reading →

The postie dropped off an interesting looking parcel at Nerd Towers this morning – and on opening, there appeared to be two rather chunky DVD-style boxes inside. It turned out to be our Dreadball teams!First impressions where “not bad”. But then we ope… Continue reading →

We’re stripping back our clever idea for a digital board game and concentrating more on the board element, rather than the digital side of things for a change. Our board is going to have a base of either hardboard or thin mdf. The exact material won’t … Continue reading →