Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hey,

I'm planning on a simple modular board. I plan on getting three 2'x4' MDF sheets and gluing zuzzy sheets to them. Easy. 3 Questions though.

1) Should I treat the edges to prevent them geting mashed up when they're put in the shed?

2) What's the easiest way to join them on the table other than just sliding them together (which i'm still fine with)

3) What thickness of MDF? My dining table is long enough but about 3' wide, leaving 6 inches hanging off either side. I know MDF warps (another worry for storage - always lay it flat?) but about 8mm wood thickness should be all good right?

Cheers manly-type woodwork dudes, I used to use woodwork as a chance to walk about the school and hang out with the girls in the textiles class. Happy days!

bit of a late response, but 3 weeks isn't really a necro yet, so here goes:

1)it's MDF. it sucks up fluids like... actually I'll leave that out
no really, the 'open' sides (and Ideally any piece of an MDF board) should be sealed somehow. and no, a few layers of acrylic paint won't do the job. Getting some epoxy glues (if you can get polyurethane glues, go for it - they're less viscous which would make your life a lot easier when sealing the sides of a gaming table, believe me! do go for an extra layer with PU glue though. PU is often used for layering glassfiber mats - and for that matter anything used to layer GF matting for car repairs will do this job just fine. if you can actually get some GF mat/tape to stick around those edges good for you - it'll make it a lot more chip-resistant!)

2) meh. if you're not much of a woodworker and don't plan on being such either I wouldn't worry with this too much. having said that I have an idea or two which wouldn't take all that much time/skill/cost to execute:
- get a dremel.
- lay the boards to be joined side by side, bottom up.
- dremel out a couple of **straight** channels across.
- get some metal tubing/rods/whatever with that same diameter as the dremel bit you used.
- glue them in on one end
-...
- profit!
you could also dremel room for some ND block magnets in the boards - my concern would be, however, that you'd have to glue them in rather carefully to prevent them from either tearing loose from the board on their own or worse, tearing little bits of the board off with them.
also the kind of magnets that would make a difference on such a project are both extremely scary in strength as well as in cost
...so maybe just don't.

3) ...oooh dear. that won't do. no, really. 8mm MDF is not something which will even remotely support it's own weight in any way without warping the first time you look at it (or look away for that matter. it really does love some good old-fashioned warping!)
15-19mm-ish is pretty much the thinnest MDF I'd use for something like this.
better still would be to use aforementioned 8mm MDF but build a bracing frame under/around it.
now from your post I take it you have no interest in learning to work the tools to do that neatly but it's really not too much work.

if you're still interested, PM me and I'll draw you a diagram or two