Thursday 14 November 2019

Solving a Hexagonal Dilemma

A Plastic Quilting Hexagon Template. The bold lines feature a hole on each angle to mark the material with a pen.

After the success of my brainwave of adding a square grid to half a Games Workshop gaming mat my thoughts turned naturally to doing the same thing with the other half but using hexes. This was going to be potentially a whole new world of pain to produce and so my thoughts have been directed to all manner of DIY solutions. I was doing some Google Fu on the subject when I came across the above item that is used by the quilting fraternity.

The above clear plastic template enable the user to plot the angles of hexagons from 1" across the flat side up to 5". This is an ingenious device that, for the price of a cup of coffee, is going to save me a lot of hassle. All I would need to do is to plot the hex angles and then simply join the dots. It will mean a much tidier finish and also I will be marking out lines in a far more controllable fashion.

The points on the mat will be marked quite finely but the lines will be thicker. One could even just make the points bolder and dispense with lines altogether but that is an option I will not be using as it does not bother seeing grid lines.

My template is on order so as soon as it arrives I can get to work. 

20 comments:

Trebian said...

Just use the dots. Don't bother with the lines, at least at first. You can always put them in later if you need them.

Robert (Bob) Cordery said...

David,

I've tried this method, and it works. It can be a long and boring process to use, but with time and care, you should end up with a hexed mat at a fraction of the cost of buying one.

Good luck,

Bob

Mike Hall said...

I'll be interested to hear how it turns out. I know from my wife's quilting efforts that you size the pieces as accurately as possible but that the real skill comes when sewing together and that this is where any earlier inaccuracy, unfortunate stretching of the material, or the like, is "lost".

The danger with any "mark the next by setting the template from the previous" approach is that small errors accumulate. You know this of course so I've no doubt you have some plan to reign them in.

I might try to get a set of those templates for my wife: currently she draws hexes by hand, cuts out the paper and pins it to the material, cuts the material a bit larger, folds over the material and tacks it to size. The template would make cutting the paper easier and one might be able to dispense with the paper entirely. I fear though that a request that she quilt me a hex gaming mat will not get a positive response.

nundanket said...

Never thought of this. I would be very interested to hear how it goes.

Hmm! Who do I know does quilting? About time I paid my sister a. Isor 😉

Nigel Drury said...

If you use tailor's chalk for a test run you can start again if errors creep in, and then use a permanent marker once you're happy with it.

David Crook said...

Hi Trebian,

I was thinking about that as an option - especially for naval gaming mat. I will probably go with lined hexes though but who knows.

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Bob,

To be honest I am thinking that whichever way I opt to hex the mat it will be a long process but as you say, it will be worth it.

Steady as she goes and all that!

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Mike,

the great hing about this template is that it will avoid the issues you mentioned for a couple of reasons. To begin with the surface I am marking out is designed to lay flat so 'stretch' will not be an issue and also as the dots define the angles when I fill in the lines between adjacent hexes I will only have to draw one.

That is the theory anyway!

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Nundanket,

I must confess that this is certainly not an option I would thought of and sadly I have no quilting relatives that I could approach.

Good luck with your sister!

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Nigel,

That is pretty much the idea I was thinking of.

All the best,

DC

Bill said...

My solution to the hex problem is to use printed hex paper sheets from incompetech.com. I create a sheet of hexes the size I want, and print out 2 or 4 sheets. I glue these to a sheet of stencil card and use a hole punch to put holes at the verticesI. Then I lay it on my mat material and mark through the hopes with a paint pen.

You can see the results of this here: https://www.velociengineer.net/?p=165

David Crook said...

Hi Bill,

That is very effective looking and would be easy to replicate freehand using the template to mark the angles. All I would then need to do would be to put an additional 'dot' halfway along the hexsides.

Something to think about so many thanks for the link.

All the best,

DC

Bill said...

The important part is the template. I just took a picture of it, you can find it at http://www.velociengineer.net/?attachment_id=176

Having the sheet with a lot of hexes reduces the potential for errors cropping up, since I’m able to mark many hexes at once and I have more points to align the template against.

David Crook said...

Hi Bill,

That would certainly speed the process somewhat! I am looking to hex grid something with 2" hexes for naval and aerial games which would work well with your system. As the hexes I want for my playing areas to use with the 30mm figures are 4" across the flat sides I am thinking that using the larger template on a hex by hex basis may be a better option but I will experiment with both to see which works best.

All the best,

DC

Steve J. said...

That's a really neat idea! Looking forward to seeing the finished mat.

David Crook said...

Hi Steve J,

I was rather taken with the template although the grid will still take a while to do as I need to be very careful!

As soon as it arrives I can begin work on it.

All the best,

DC

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

Hmmm, interesting!

Norm said...

Good idea.

here is a link (look at the 2nd photo down) of how someone got their hexfield from using paper plates.

LINK

http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=512946

I have attempted a few hexed surfaces, the further I would get into the hexfield, the more distortion I got, you only have to be a degree or two out on one and then a second etc and the accumulation means that by the time I was two thirds through, I had continual distortion. In that respect, just doing the dots and not the lines may be preferable.

David Crook said...

Hi Geordie,

As soon as the template arrives I will trying it out. In theory it should help to eradicate the 'creeping distortion' effect but however I end up doing this I will need to be very careful and take it slowly.

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Norm,

Many thanks for the link which I will take a look at later (the site is down for maintenance at the moment).

Years ago I ironed a hex grid using RAFM transfers (I still have a pack of the 3 1/2" grid version) and you had to pin the sheets of tracing paper - it came in long strips - so that the hex material was in contact with the cloth. It took a lot of pins to hold the sheets in place and for the first cloth I did it worked like a charm. Sadly the second went horribly wrong - more or less for the same reason you mentioned - and it really put me off using it again.

I plan to take this very slowly indeed....

All the best,

DC