Custom made Counters storage trays Tutorial v1.

Disclaimers:

Please note that this storage solution was great for me. But it may not works for everyone. It is
important to take into account your own dexterity for picking up counters in small compartments.
As well as your ability for manual work. That said making this DIY is not so difficult, you can get
good results even with minor imprecisions. The most important part is actually the planning.

The final assembly is rather resilient and I never had one of my home made trays, fall into pieces in
20 years. But again this may be a problem for some users.

I never injured myself in more than 20 years of crafting trays or other Print and Play stuffs, but I
take no responsibility for your actions.

I. Intro:

The main reason for custom made storage trays is to optimize your storage solutions for specific
needs. It usually allows for a more compact storage, it also works wells if you have to store an
assortment of pieces of different sizes, finally you can tailor your trays to fit perfectly in the game
box, or any other container you want. The downside, is that it requires more works. That said this is
just another possible solution, not the ultimate answer to every storage problems.

For reference, other popular storages include :

- Ziplock bags
- GMT style counter trays. I'll call them GMT tray as they are often referred to nowadays.
- Various storage boxes that you can find in a hardware store, like the popular Plano boxes.

I will often take wargames as examples, because they usually come with large quantity of counters,
but the methods explained here also work well for other boardgames.

Here are some examples:

GMT style counter trays works fine in most case for 1/2 inch counters like here.
Nevertheless for games with an unusually high number of counters, like ASL, it would requires 30
or 40 GMT trays to keep your counters organized. Here the home made solution comprised only 10
trays, which was really handy because I wished my ASL system to be easily transportable, for
tournaments and conventions.

On the other hand GMT trays are not so great for 5/8 inch counters (unless your game has few
counters) as the compartments are 1x2 inches. Here for Combat Commander, I was able to fit the
content of 3 GMT trays into a single home made tray.

It also works well for blocks games, a single tray was perfect for storing all blocks and counters
from EastFront II.

In the case of White Star Rising, the problem was that the box would not close properly with a
GMT tray inside.

You can check more pictures of my home made trays on my Gallery

II. Getting started :

2.1/ I'll describe the process in details for those unfamiliar with this kind of crafting.

I will describe two slightly different methods.

Method A: For a better sturdiness I use Criss-Crossed separation braces, but it requires more work,
as you have to make the notches

Method B: a friend of mine use simple braces of the tray length in one direction, to make a number
of rows then separate those rows with small (around 2 cm) pieces of cardboard to subdivide the
rows into compartments. This is much faster, but less sturdy and less accurate.
You could also mix both methods.

My first advice is to start with something no too complex to get familiar with your equipment, to
develop your confidence and to get used to possible pitfalls and difficulties. Accordingly I
recommend starting with a low counters density game, or for ASL with a tray for Information
Markers. For a first try you can experience with a 6x5 compartments tray, with each compartments
storing 2x4 counters, this will give you 30 compartments, a decent improvement over the 20
compartments of a GMT tray.

2.2/ The first step is to get quality equipment, even if it is a bit pricey, quality will affect the final
work, and pay in the long run. The most important tools are:
- A mechanical pencil, a common 0,5mm is enough.
- A cutting mat, A3 size is a good enough.
- A metallic ruler designed specifically for cutting (not those for drawing), the important points are
to have an anti slip system and some fingers protections, Aluminum rulers are convenient. The anti
slip is important not only to ensure straight drawing and cutting, but most importantly for security,
as it allows you to keep the ruler properly placed with only a gentle pressure, thereby allowing you
to focus your attention on the accuracy.
- A QUALITY cutter, go directly for a professional brand like OLFA or X-Acto. And be sure to get
some spare blades, as they tend to wear out quickly. I generally use two cutter sizes, a larger one for
most works, and a smaller x-acto precision knife for the tricky parts.

For the materials I mostly use 3mm or 3.5mm foamcore. Also called foam cardboard , foamboard or
kadapak. To be clear, this is a polystyrene foam core sandwiched between to cardstock sheet. Check
those links for examples :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foamcore
https://store.qualityart.biz/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=517_516

I also use 1mm or 2mm cardstock for the bottom of the trays, or for lids when there is need for. The
main advantage of foamcore is that it is easy to cut (no elbow strain) and it is a flexible and
lightweight material. But you can consider other cardboards too. For the glue I use White vynilic
glue. Don't use glue for plastic models, as it might burn the polystyrene. Use glue for cardboard and
paper.

III. Planning:

3.1/ Whether you want to make general purpose trays or trays optimized for a specific game, you
should make some planning first.
I'll take some times here, as proper planning is probably the most important thing, for a successful
result.

Do you intend to put it in the game box or some other containers?

Do you need to frequently access the counters during play, or only during setup?
How many compartments do you need for the organization system you have in mind? This might
require to count the different types of counter in your game. And to consider which ones can be
stored in the same compartment, here storing different type of counters of clearly different colors
can help reduce the compartments count.
You should also consider possible future expansions for the game.

3.2/ Obviously you want to know the real size of your counter(s). I line up several counters in a row,
measure all of them and then divide the value by the number of counters, to get an averaged result.
Round any value UPWARD. Be careful to measures both the length and width, in case their are
different. Nowadays cutting has improved, but check to see if counters size are even. Measure the
height of the counters if need be.

I clip my counters, this is not a prerequisite, but if your counters are not properly cut or trimmed,
make you compartments larger accordingly.

Then, you have to think about how many counters you want to put in each compartment. For 1/2
counters, 3x2 arrangement seems to be the minimum reasonable. 2x2 compartments, make the
picking difficult. 4x2 or 3x3 works well too. For 5/8 counters or larger, arranging counters in a
single line works well, I like 1x3, but two lines is also good.
I also like 1 column for wooden blocks, especially the larger Columbia's one. For the smaller GMT
blocks 2 columns seems good. As I store the blocks vertically, I leave more free space lengthwise,
to be able to read the block. alternatively, I lay the first block of each compartments horizontally for
easier identification.

3.3/ Once you know how much counters you want per compartment in each direction, compute the
compartment size. Leaving 2 extra mm in addition to the counters size is usually good enough, but
for your first try, you might want to leave 4 mm or more. Once I was familiar with the whole
manufacturing process I also had good results with leaving only 1mm of extra space. Yet, this was
directed by cases where every mm was important. There is no reason to gamble you whole work if
you can store all the counters you want with a greater safety margin.
Take into account that I use a ruler graduated in mm, so compared to rulers in inches, I already
make a small upward rounding. For example for standard ½ counters I use the value of 1.3mm .

It is a good idea to leave more room in at least one of the directions, usually it's better to leave more
extra room in the longer direction of the compartments, otherwise picking counter will be difficult.
2mm horizontally and 4mm vertically seems a good starting point. Be sure to adapt this to your
dexterity. I have no difficulty picking up my counters with my fingers, sometime I use one of the
counter as a small lever to pick up those stored at the bottom of the compartment.

It could be a good idea, to cut a single bar of cardboard of the desired height, cut it in four small
pieces. To make a single compartment for experimenting various sizes.
Then, Measure the size of the box or container where you intend to put your tray. Subtract 2 to 4
mm to this value.

Once you have:

- Box Width: Usable box Width (i.e. minus the extra mm).
- Cardboard Width: the width of your cardboard
- compartment Size Horizontal: (Number of counters per compartment Horizontally) x (Counter
Size Horizontally) + extra mm.

You'll have to make some simple maths to find how many rows and columns you can make per tray.

NCol= (BoxWidth - 1 x CardboardWidth) / (compartmentSizeHorizontal + CardboardLength)

NRow= (BoxLength - 1 x CardboardWidth) / (compartmentSizeVertical + CardboardLength)

Usually the numbers won't match perfectly with a integer value. So try various compartments
arrangements. Once you have found rows and columns values that suit your plan. You should find a
way to distribute the leftover mm. You can either distribute them more or less evenly on every
compartments or try to see if you should make one or more larger compartments. So your final
result might look like this:

BoxWidth = (1 x CardboardWidth) + (n x 2 counters compartment) + (m x 3 counters

compartment)

Yet, in general, I do my best to have all compartments in one direction to have the same size. Well,
this is rather a question of aesthetic preferences.
This is the basic concept, but you can also do more complex designs, with compartments of many
different sizes
If you mix pieces of different weight in the same tray, like wooden blocks and cardboard counters,
try to distribute the weight evenly.

Note that in the above formulas, there is one more cardboard width, than the number of columns. As
obviously, you'll need 6 separators if you want to make 5 columns.

However, Know that you can also glue your separators directly to the bottom of your game box,
thereby saving, 2 cardboard width in both directions, and a few millimeters in height. It works, if
the box is not too deep. Nevertheless, I don't recommend this approach, unless you really need the
extra millimeters, as you will loose a lot in flexibility, or if you later change your mind, as how to
sore the counters.
For an example, zoom in the above picture of the Beyond Valor box holding ASL 5/8 counters, the
last tray (USA and Frenchs) is glued directly to the bottom of the box.

Check your calculations again. It's a good idea to make a top down sketch on paper or with a
drawing software or a spreadsheet.

3.4/ Warning!!! compartments height: One very important point is, the smaller are your
compartments the shorter their height should be. Otherwise retrieving the counters will be a pain.
For 1/2 counters arranged in a 3x 2 pattern (which is the smallest compartment I do), I usually make
a usable height of 1.3mm or 1,4mm. If you make deeper compartments, be sure to make them
larger, like 3x3 or 3x4 arrangements.

Height could also be dictated by the number of trays you want to fit in a given box. Be sure to take
into account the thickness of the cardboard used for the bottom of the trays, and any lids.
IV. Drawing the element on the cardboard sheet:

4.1/ Once you know how many rows and columns you want, carefully count how many separators
of each size you will need. Here be careful that the 2 external separators in one of the directions
should be larger than the others by 2 cardboard widths. I prefer to make those 2 larger separators for
the direction that have the more separators. The reason is, that toward the end of your build, you'll
have to glue the external borders of the tray, and the less contact points there are to glue at once,
the easier it will be. Actually gluing the final external separators is the trickiest part of the
construction.

Suppose I plan to make 4 columns lengthwise and 10 rows in width. I will make 5 long separators
of the same size, but for the width I'll need 9 separators, plus 2 that are a bit longer.

4.2/ Then draw all separators on your cardboard sheet. When drawing apply only a gentle pressure
with your pencil. Try to optimize the sheet surface, and think you might want to make additional
trays later.
Start making marks on one side of the sheet, spacing them by the desired height of your
compartments. Your ruler might be shorter than the length of the cardboard sheet, so you will have
to draw a line parallel to the first edge. Make this line as far as your ruler can reach, this will help
making your perpendicular lines more parallel.

4.3/ Then, on each separators, you should draw marks were the perpendicular separators are
supposed to intersect. You will save time by making this now directly on the sheet, rather than later
when the separators are cut.

Before proceeding to cutting it's a good idea to write an ID on each separators in case you
inadvertently mix them during cutting, it also helps identify their respective faces. During drawing
and cutting there are many opportunities for small bias to appear, so keeping your separators
ordered is generally useful. I usually use L1, L2, L3... and W1, W2... in the other direction. Also
write any specific properties, like longer external ones, on individual separators if need be.
4.4/ If you use Method B, you can start cutting you separator now, but for Method A, you must first
draw the notches. You have two options here. You can either limit the notches to the inner part of
the tray, that way, the external borders of your tray will be perfectly neat. The other possibility is to
also make notches on the external separators, your trays won't look as nice, but this gives a more
accurate assembly, Especially when you have a lots of separators in one direction. As I have already
said gluing the external parts of the tray could be troublesome. I use either options routinely.

Simply draw a line that in the middle of the height of each separator. No need to draw the full line,
just draw were it intersect the marks showing the location of the perpendicular separators.
If your separator's height is an odd number, like 1.3cm, you can draw the mark between the two mm
division of your ruler. A 0.5mm precision is usually good enough, especially with foamcore which
is flexible.
Alternatively for more accuracy, you can offset the line to fit exactly on a mm division. You will
have a different height for the notch in one direction and the other, in the above example, this will
give 6mm notches in one direction, and 7mm notches in the other. It works well but here writing ID
on each pieces is even more important.

V. Cutting the individual pieces:

5.1/ Start by cutting the pieces in their longer direction first. Note that it is usually easier to start at a
precise spot, in contrast it's harder to stop the blade with precision. So, for each piece start from the
middle of the sheet moving toward the outside of the sheet, this will help to avoid damaging your
sheet if you plan to use for other works it in the future. Hold your cutter roughly at 40° from the
work surface, so that the forward edge of the cutting blade make an angle of 90° with the cardboard
sheet. You should not apply heavy pressure on your cutter and try to cut in one go, but rather repeat
the same movement several times and make gentle and slow moves. In particular with foamcore, it's
a good practice to make one or two passes to lightly mark the slick surface, then apply a little more
pressure, and with good blades, you'll cut through the foam in only one pass. Then make a final pass
to finish the cutting. This is one of the best thing with foamcore, whereas with thicker cardboard
you sometime need to make numerous passes. The cut across the foam should be straight, if the
foam start to fluff or make pellet, it's time to change your blade.

Then separate the pieces apart from the main sheet, by cutting in the other direction. proceed slowly
here, as the individual pieces tend to slip easily when separated from the main body.

If you use Methods B, You will have a few long separators and many small pieces to close the
individual compartments.

VI. Cutting the notches:

6.1/ This is easier than it may seem, but be patient as it take time. First with your larger cutter make
the two cuts in the long direction of the notch.
If you put a single separator under the ruler, it tend to slip. Usually I put other separators under the
ruler to stabilize it.
Yet, now I prefer to leave the ruler and to hold the piece firmly in place by putting one finger on
each side of the notch, but be careful to put your finger as far away as possible from the cutting. If
you are not confident use the ruler . Proceed slowly as described above, making several slow
passes. Here it is really important to start cutting with a 90° angle.
6.2/ Once you have done this for all the notches on one piece, take your precision knife to cut the
final small part of the notch, hold it vertically, with the back of the blade perpendicular to the notch
limit. Then gently press it down across the cardboard to cut the right limit of the notch, rotate your
knife and repeat this on the left side of the notch. Once you have marked the two limits gently saw
along those points. Do this for all notches then flip the piece and repeat this on the back side, using
the marks leaved by the knife as a reference.
Once you have repeated the process on both sides, the notches should comes out easily.

You might have to clean the cuts, to remove any excess parts left after the cutting. The gluing will
be more efficient on cleanly cut parts.
At this point, I'll take a rubber and gently erase the extra drawing made to cut the notches, however
leave any informations necessary for further assembling.

VII. Gluing the separators together:

7.1/ Before gluing you can make a dry fit with some separators, and experiment with your counters,
to see if it suits your needs.

Put an old cardboard sheet, or some old newspapers, to protect your working surface. In particular,
don't glue directly over your cutting mat. Have some kitchen paper at hands
My glue come in one 1kg bottle, so I use an small, old worn out paintbrush, as an applicator.
Smaller glue tube usually come with an applicator, put if the tip is not of a proper shape, you should
rather unscrew the cap, to pick the glue directly in the bottle. I use the back of the brush to put the
glue, make sure your applicator is small enough to go into the notches. You will frequently lay your
applicator aside to press the joins until they dry, so you should have something ready to lay your
applicator down on your table in a way that the part with glue don't come into contact with your
working surface.

For Method A:

7.2/ First, make sure you have all your pieces sorted in order of assembly.
The best way to proceed is to have the least contact points to glue at once during each step of
assembling. So I usually start by taking the separators who have the most notches lay them on the
working surface, and glue perpendicular separators (with less notches) one by one. A bit like adding
bars to a ladder. Check Method A, picture in II.1 above

Put a little drop on both parts of the join, spread the glue evenly with your applicator,removing any
excess glue. Repeat for all notches corresponding to the part your are adding. And add it to the
build. Press it to the bottom of the notches. Then hold it firmly in place until it dry. Actually it is not
necessary to wait until the FULL drying. Drying time is usually specified on the bottle.
Then remove any excess glue seeping from the join, with kitchen paper. Different glue types may
have different operating modes.

7.3/ Once you have finished the central framework, you must add the external borders. It can be a
bit difficult if you have many compartments in one direction, unless you made notches on the
external borders as well. Joining to pieces together, presents no difficulty, but gluing ten points or so
at once is troublesome as some points tend to unstick, or to slip, while you are holding the other
until they dry. An extra pair of hands could be helpful here.
Nevertheless don't despair, If you take a look at my tray for Combat Commander, you'll notice that I
had to glue 12 points at once lengthwise. I use piles of books to hold the framework vertically. You
could also use removable adhesive to fix some parts in place. Just relax it might not work perfectly
the first time, but you can glue some loose parts afterward.

Finally close the tray by gluing the last two external separators that are a bit longer (see IV.1 above).

Let the whole framework dry thoroughly.

For Method B:

The order is somewhat reversed, you must first assemble the main framework, made of the long
separators and the closing borders. Wait until this is completely dry. Then glue one by one the
smaller dividers, taking advantage of the flexibility of foamcore, insert them vertically, to fit the
marks you draw on your separators. Your final build will be stronger if you put dividers at the same
coordinate on both side of the separator. Yet, you could take advantage of this method, to put the
divider wherever you fancy.
Check Method B, picture in II.1 above

VIII. Adding the bottom and the lid :

8.1/ For the bottom I use 1 or 2 mm cardstock or cardboard, no reason to use foamcore here.
Experiment with your separators framework to find an efficient way to use the whole cardstock
sheet, in case you would make other trays in the future. If you use your sheet thoughtlessly, you
might waste a lot of space.

Check both faces of your framework to inspect which side seems the most even. You can trim or
sand major unevenness. Then glue this side to the bottom. If you are making trays for wooden
blocks, you can also consider the opposite, and put the nicer side upward, as block are unlikely to
infiltrate through interstices at the bottom.

8.2/ At first, I used to cut a part of the sheet to the proper dimensions for the bottom. But now, I
don't worry about it, I simply glue directly my framework in a corner of the whole sheet. Let it dry
completely, and then cut along the external edges of the framework. You might have to cut again
irregularities with your precision knife. This is simpler, and save times and troubles.

If you want to add a lid to your tray, reverse your framework and use it as a template to cut a lid in
similar way . Of course don't glue it!

IX. Final touches :

9.1/ First to soften the corner, I gently cut them at 45°. Not the whole corner the last 1 or 2 mm.
This help remove inaccuracies in the assembly, and also help laying the tray into the box.

Then, gently sand your tray with very fine sandpaper. First at the joints between the bottom and the
edges, then round the corners a little.

Optionally you can strengthen the tray, by adding adhesive tape to secure the bottom to the edge,
and to reinforce the corners. This is a good idea if you intend on putting blocks or heavy things into
your tray.
9.2/ About lids
You could either build your trays in a way that a number of trays fits precisely in the box height, in
that case there is no need to add lids.
However, in any other cases lids are necessary. To fasten the lid I usually use a pair of elastic bands.
You can consider using adhesive on one edge , or more elaborate devices, to tie up the lid, but you
might appreciate the possibility to remove the lid completely during play.

That's it, the work is over.

X. Transport :

The trays thus constructed are fairly resistant. Nevertheless you should take some precautions if you
intend to travel with your game box.
For travel I make sure the box is completely filled to the lid, eventually adding some bubble wrap
sheets to fill the empty space. Then put one or two large rubber bands around to keep the box lid
firmly in place. I wrap the box in another sheet of bubble wrap, for an extra protection. and put
everything in a plastic bag, to hold everything together. If I plan to travel with this game frequently,
I usually laminate the box to protect the artwork.

As I had no camera at hand, I made the pictures in 3D with Blender 2.6, and GIMP 2.8

Alec Clair 2012