The Magnetic Hex Board V2

I'm super excited to finally share this with everyone in detail.

The Magnetic Hex Board V2:

Before I get into the details, just look at how many variations and test prints I went through to dial in the design (there were over a hundred different versions):

I first thought about updating the magnetic openlock hex board in January of this year. The design for the original openlock hex board, unsurprisingly, was based around the fact that I had already designed a magnetic openlock clip. While there is a lot to like about the original, in the back of my head I was wondering what the design could have been, had I made it from the ground up. What’s the best version of a magnetic hex board I could design?

As is normal for me, I thought, "This should be a quick and easy project." And then BAM! now it's October. Even working on this off and on in between other projects, I didn't think it would take this long to get the design to where I would be happy with it. That said I'm pretty proud of how it turned out. I should have known this would have been a more ambitious undertaking given the design requirements I had in mind.

Here are the design requirements I set out to achieve:

As with the original openlock clips version, I wanted the magnetic connections to be polarity independent, so there is no need to align the hexes in any specific orientation.

The new hexes are in the back, with the original openlock hexes in the front. They both use magnets which rotate to lock in place with the other hexes. In the case of the V2 hex, it exclusively uses 3mm spherical magnets, where as the openlock clips could use barrel and sphere magnets. This helps make the new hexes much thinner which saves space and confers some other benefits detailed later.

The new hexes are strongly connected and allow the board to be easily moved around and even picked up and moved:

The hexes consist of separate pieces that snapped together. Bonus points for the two halves being the same file as opposed to two different files.

In order for the openlock hex board to be dual color, it required a filament swap to done halfway through printing. This required programming the swap or pausing the print at the right time. It also limited which filaments could be used as both would require the same settings. Printing two separate pieces that are then combined makes the whole thing easier. 

Here are half-hexes printed in three colors. The pieces rotate and snap into each other. This makes it easy to print different colors and create whatever combinations you want.

Flippable hexes: I wanted the hex to be able to flip. This makes it easier to layout different board variations. Bonus points for making it so the hexes could be flipped even when surrounded by other tiles.

While having two separate colors on each side of a hex makes it easy to set up different board configurations, I wanted to make it so you could easily access hexes in the middle of the board and flip or remove them. For example this could be used to play the new "Ragnarocks" game, where rather than adding rune stones, you simply flipped the hex to the other color. This could also make removing hexes easy in a game like "Hey, That's My Fish." To achieve this the corners of each hex are indented to provide a spot to grab the hex (this also provides some other cool features that I'll get into later). They also have a small lip in the corners that make them easier to flip.

For those with larger fingers, a pen or pencil can be used or you can use this custom hex flipper:

Be magnetically stackable: Something I wanted for this design was that the magnets could sit close enough to the top of the hex that the tiles could be stacked. This makes storage easier and allows for some cool game play possibilities. This was not possible for the original openlock hex tiles as the height required for the clips separated the magnets too much.

This is one of the coolest properties of the new design and makes them just a fun fidget toy.

A center magnet that allows pieces to magnetically connect to the central area of each tile. This would allow for pawns to be magnetically connected to the hexes while allowing other hexes to stand up on their edge.

There is a space in the center of each hex that allows for the placement of a magnet. This lets you stand other hexes up on their edge and allows for pawns and other tokens to magnetically connect to the center of the tile.

Most importantly, it needed to be well-optimized for 3D printing: This meant clean filament paths and ideally no support material. The original openlock hexes required supports.

Without a doubt, this took the longest to get right. Designing for 3D printing requires taking into account the unique aspects of how 3D printers work. This is doubly important for something where dimensional accuracy is key to it's function (i.e. two pieces snapping together). While not perfect just look at how clean these print paths are!

The Magnetic pawn:

To compliment the hexes, I also designed some pawns.

I really love how these turned out. They are elegant with some hidden functionality. There is a cavity that allows for a magnet to be placed during printing letting the pawns to stick to the hexes.

Additionally, the top of the pawns fits into the corners of the hexes.

This next bit is still a work in progress, but I designed some walls and doors that allow the hexes to work for RPGs and other skirmish-type games.

The stackability of the hexes also allows for verticality:

All of the files can be found in the Singularity Games Patron Drive.
Patron Drive (https://www.patreon.com/posts/huge-thanks-link-28259219)-> Singularity Boards -> Magnetic Hex Board V2 

For the hexes, you will find tight-fit and loose-fit versions. I prefer and recommend the tight-fit version as it helps ensure the two halves don't separate, however if your printer can't quite print with high enough tolerance, you may find the loose fit version easier to snap together.

As many test-prints and variations as I went through, it was all done with my Ender 3 and a limited variation in filament which means I could only test things so much. If you encounter any issues, let me know. As far as the magnets themselves, they are certainly the most expensive part. However, for the hexes themselves, a bit of prying with a straight edge gets them apart easily enough and the magnets can be retrieved and repurposed down the road. I've purchased them from a variety of sources depending on their price, so just go with whatever is the cheapest you can find. That said, here are some that should work (although they are a bit on the pricier side): https://www.buyneomagnets.com/p/3mm-dia-n35-neodymium-sphere-magnets-ndfeb-rare-earth-magnetic-diy-buckyballs/ 

Hope you like it! and please share any pictures of the board in use.

Here is a look at everything in action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSQtVNvxjhc