Project:TAC

ProjectInfoBox "TAC" Boardgame
Status:	final tweaks & documentation
Release Date:	(mainly) summer 2018
Initiator:	Flo
Team:	Daniel, Lukas
Materials Used:	glued laminated timber (Eucalyptus diversicolor/"Karri" for 4 players, spruce/fir for 6); TAC cards & marbles, (optional) felt, olive oil
Tools Used:	CNC router, table saw, router table, rotary tool, sandpaper
Software Used:	Fusion 360
Approx. Cost:	40 €

One of Lukas' colleagues kept talking about the game TAC whose inventors offered really nice & expensive deluxe boards but also sets of everything except the board, so we started to make some boards of our own.

Caution - design flaw: if I were to maker another 4-player board, I would rotate the inner part 45° so that each marble depot (circle) has that player's start and finish right in front of it. The original design is confusing in this respect or needs (ugly) auxiliary lines connecting depots and starts.

intended mainly as a rough inspiration page for now, but please ask if you have any questions that are not yet answered below!

Major Steps

You should find more details on these in the gallery below:

• designing the board layouts (4 and 6-player versions) in Fusion 360, based on photos & downloadable instructions
• buying the necessary end mills and router bits
• preparing the stock material to fit on the WorkBee
• CNC routing the boards
• cutting & trimming the boards "manually" with table saw and router
  • could have been omitted if we had bought a longer end mill for the outer contour
• (optional) rounding or chamfering the top edges
• cleaning up rough routing paths with knives and sandpaper
  • tedious, but easy to do while watching a movie ;-)
  • need for this could be decreased by using other end mills and/or different CAM settings
• (optional) oiling or otherwise finishing the wood
• playing the game!

Gallery

• 
  preparing to cut a practice piece from one of our stock boards
• 
  design of the practice piece with all the needed shapes in Fusion 360
• 
  (partially) failed practice piece: one of the tool changes caused the CNC router to move along the X axis - always home after a tool change!
• 
  on to the full game - design in Fusion 360
• 
  partially routed 6-player board on the WorkBee
• 
  we took care to remove the sawdust in between routing passes to avoid overheating the end mill (dust extraction was still a work in progress at the time)
• 
  back to pictures of the 4-player game: undecorated version completely routed
• 
  the decorated version required some manual corrections with a rotary tool because the warped board was not engraved evenly by the CNC router
• 
  since our end mills were too short to cut all the way through the workpiece at the edges, the rough shape was cut out on the table saw...
• 
  ...and trimmed to the partial-depth outline with a flush-cut router bit
• 
  after the outline was finished, the edges of the 4-player board were prettified with a roundover router bit
• 
  4-player board ready to leave the workshop with only minor steps left
• 
  a chamfer bit was used to finalize the edges of the 6-player board on the router table
• 
  chamfering the edges of the 6-player board on the router table
• 
  chamfered edge of the 6-player board (before sanding)
• 
  the soft spruce/fir wood was best cleaned up with sandpaper after routing
• 
  completely sanded area of the 6-player board
• 
  finally, the 6-player board (spruce/fir) was finished with olive oil
• 
  since the 4-player board's hardwood fibers were easily cut by a knife, sanding and the resulting brightening of the Eukalyptus wood could be largely avoided during the cleanup process
• 
  partially cleaned up area of the 4-player board - without sanding marks because a knife could be used on this wood
• 
  cleaned up area of the 4-player board
• 
  the center of the 4-player board ("card pit"?) was covered in green felt for a nice look
• 
  Alleskleber was used to stick the felt to the board
• 
  for nice and even adhesion in a round cutout, it works well to apply pressure with something round (like a CD)
• 
  finished 4-player board
• 
  finished 6-player board in use

Next Steps

• make a card holder
• make a nice rulebook
• improvement idea: add lines connecting "pools" and start positions on the 4-player version

Other Versions

An American who stumbled across this project page made a double-sided laser cut version and kindly sent us some photos!

• 
  four-player side
• 
  six-player side