Saskatoon TechWorks Forum

People talking about making white boards at the meeting got me thinking I should have a whiteboard in my workroom. Some quick online research suggests that any smooth plastic or ceramic will work with dry erase. The trick seems to be that the harder and smoother the better. In fact even a ziplock bag around a piece of cardboard will work in a pinch. The issues seem to be: rougher material don't come as clean and softer materials seem to stain over time.

So I have decided to test a few common material to find out what I should use to make a large wall white board. Should have pictures in the next day or so. Also investigating cost, with a goal of 3'x4' or loarger.

Materials:

• Whiteboard: $51.88 for 3'x4' from Quartet (http://canada.ibuyofficesupply.com/Prod ... 32347.aspx)
• Paint on products like http://www.rustoleum.com/cbgproduct.asp?pid=128 for ~$5.25/sqft.
• Corrugated Plastic/Plaskolite: $22.02/4'x8' sheet - Untested
• Acrylic/Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/Plexiglas: $91.5/3'x6' - Stains instantly (tested with "Plexiglas" other formulas may be better.)
• Polycarbonate: $130/3'x6' - Untested

Other materials, usable for smaller sizes:

• Ziploc Bag ~$0.1/sqft (can make quick cheap small whteboards) - !!!Works surprisingly well!!!
• Glass: $5/pair of 20"x16" (found some cheap picture frames, should be good to put on the back of doors etc.) - Also works incredibly well but is not cheap in large sizes.

Edit: Thanks to Bergo for finding the quartet boards.

Quick google search turned up the following:
http://canada.ibuyofficesupply.com/Prod ... 32347.aspx

Quartet White Board 48" x 36" - Anodized Aluminum Frame - White $51.88 each, free shipping on orders over $97.

Well that certainly changes the picture when it comes to price.

yea, its pretty easy to find them cheap, in my experience anyway. I've bought a few off of kijiji for even cheaper than that as well.

Well I had a few things lying around so I went ahead and tested Expo Dry Erase Markers on: Glass, Ziplocs and plexiglass. So far the Glass and Ziplocs are working amazingly well. The Plexiglass I cannot get clean. Really surprised how well the ziploc bag worked.

... Just had a thought. What about plastic film... I wonder how well a plastic film would work? And if you could get it to adhere to the wall or a thin board well? Not sure I want to order a 4' wide 100' long roll just to test. If anyone has some acetate or other film lying around let me know. I want to test some markers on it.

What about just painting a wall white (or sheets of stuff) with automotive(oil) or a latex based paint? as long as we can make it smooth it should be able to come off. possible put a highgloss clear coat on it?

ADDandy wrote:What about just painting a wall white (or sheets of stuff) with automotive(oil) or a latex based paint? as long as we can make it smooth it should be able to come off. possible put a highgloss clear coat on it?

Test it and prove that it works! I just tried Expo markers on a oil painted scrap radio case. All three (red, green and blue) Expo markers stained the case. Red mostly came up, green had to have a white eraser taken to it to get it to come off at all and the blue is pretty well stained. If you you find a oil pain that doesn't stain I will be impressed.

I have a feeling that latex based paints will be too porous without a thick clear coat and that spray on clear coat may not actually be smooth enough. But I have some extra latex paint and spray on clear coat at home, so I will try that later.

Also it has to be cheaper than ~$50/4'x8' otherwise a board is cheaper. Some of the film rolls I have seen are like $40+shipping for 100' roll 4' wide. $10/100sqft would be awesome if I could get the right plastic. And some even come with an adhesive side.

New plan, build this! : http://hackaday.com/2011/01/27/conways- ... -emporium/

lets you draw on the surface with dry erase markers while Conway’s game of life plays out underneath.

Diffused acrylic

so not plexiglas but another type of acrylic... Very interesting. I think I will find and call a plastics place tomorrow. Try to find some adhesive backed diffused acrylic film.

Oh and leaving the marker on the Ziploc for 48 hours is a pain to get glean again.

Bergo wrote:New plan, build this! : http://hackaday.com/2011/01/27/conways- ... -emporium/

lets you draw on the surface with dry erase markers while Conway’s game of life plays out underneath.

I assume glass works well? Just today I bough new windows for my entire house. There are two large panes from the living room and a bunch of smaller panes from four other windows (sliding, so 4 panes x 4 windows).

I was thinking how fun it would be to smash them all, but would the space like them donated instead?