Clue Game Board, Box, and Pieces

Hi! My name is Rachel Albert, I am an eleventh grader at Illiana Christian High School in Dyer, Indiana, and my mom loves Clue. Since we were designing a game board in my engineering class, I figured, hey, why not make the greatest gift I've ever given?

My first idea for the game was to design a box underneath because I always thought the giant cardboard box was a pain, and I thought it would be cool to have everything in an easy to use box, so I started designing.

Along the way I made a few mistakes and my design kept getting more and more ambitious. If there's one thing I've learned from this project is that when you design and create something, something will always gonna go wrong and force you to try something new. Because of this, I tried to build in different avenues to customize and make each box slightly different. Hopefully, each person can get a super cool customized box, but also something that feels entirely their own.

I hope you enjoy and have as much fun with this as I did!

If you aren't interested in making the full assembly, choose which parts you would like to create and skip the steps that don't apply. Below are the separate parts lists for each component.

Board Game:

• Wood
• Fusion 360
• CNC machine
• Table saw
• Sander
• Paint
• Stain
• Router table
• USB drive
• Tape measure

Box:

• Wood
• Fusion 360
• CNC machine
• USB drive
• Table saw
• Stain
• Hinges
• Laser cutter
• Paint
• Felt
• Pencil
• Tape measure

Pieces:

• Fusion 360
• 3D Printer
• Spray Paint

The first step in creating the game, is to create a box in fusion.

Make sure you design the box the size you would like it to be in real life. I created a 15" by 15" box, but the cardboard Clue board game is 20" by 20". You can also make it smaller, but if it gets too small you might not be able to create a box that will hold all the pieces.

After creating the box, fillet the edges as desired such as a 1/4" edge.

To start, find an image of the board game to trace in Fusion 360. Many different versions of Clue have been produced over the years, so there are several different options to choose from. The easiest way to get your image is to Google "clue game board" and find a clipart. Another option is to take a picture of the game, and insert that. After you find your image, insert it into Fusion using the insert canvas button and place the canvas on top of your box.

Next, create a sketch on top of the box. It is important to create the sketch second, otherwise, you won't be able to see the image while you edit the sketch.

I started the design by creating a rectangular pattern for the dice squares. I placed the first rectangle .75" from each edge. Then I used math to find the exact dimensions to use. First, I subtracted 1.5" (.75" from each edge) from 15" to find the box size for the rectangular pattern. Next, I divided that by twenty four (the number of boxes) which gave me 0.5625" as the size of the boxes. Now for the actual pattern, I selected the geometry and set the distance as 12.9375'' (13.5-.5625) in both directions and put the quantity to 24.

The next step is to delete the rectangular pattern constraint (see above for an image of the rectangular pattern constraint). Once the rectangular pattern constraint is deleted, you can delete the extra lines and create the rooms. I kept the rooms very simple and traced only the outlines of the rooms and centered the name of each room in the outline of the room.

There's a lot of freedom in this areas for you to make the project your own. If you don't like the way I designed it, play around with it until you find something you like.

After you are satisfied with your design, and you're ready to start building, find the piece of wood you'll be using because it's time to cut. Before you cut, carefully measure and pencil in the lines where you'll be cutting. It's better to be cautious and have to cut the excess off, then mess up and have to start all over.

Once you've measured as much as you feel comfortable with, set the table saw up, and cut!

Before staining, sand away all the scratches and make it smooth and even, so the stain and trace will look amazing. I used an orbital sander and started with a 40 grit then a 320 grit to smooth it out. I didn't have to spend too much time sanding because my wood was already pretty smooth.

Make sure your wood is level before you clamp it in the CNC machine. If it isn't, just keep sanding.

The next step is to stain the wood.

Staining the wood first, allows for the trace to pop because you can see the lighter wood underneath the darker stain. The darker the stain, the cooler it will look when you cut the design out.

Since you'll be filleting the edges later, you don't have to worry about tape because everything will be cut off or painted over later. All you have to do is grab your rag and stain.

Now that you have your block of wood cut, stained, and filleted, it's time to start the toolpaths. Once you are editing under the manufacturing tab in Fusion, place your origin on the closest left corner. Look at the above picture for reference. It's the arrows on the corner that say Z, Y, and X.

Next, choose trace and a V-bit for the tool. I used a 90 degree 1/2" V-bit, and chose a negative axial stock of -0.05. Now, all you have to do is click the lines you want to engrave, post the process, and cut on the CNC.

Posting the process is super easy, all you have to do is click the operation you would like to post and click the post process button. On the top left of the pop-up, you'll choose the machine you have. I chose a Laguna CNC because that is what I use at school. The next setting to change is the safe retracts, if the drop down says G53, change it to Clearance Height. After that, post the process to a USB drive.

After posting, you should quickly read through the NC code to check for anything that seems off. You should especially check the Z height. Your Z height should be the negative stock to leave that you chose. Another thing to check for is the Z-0 at the bottom of the first few sets of lines. If you see this code, delete the Z-0, and save the file again. Once you've checked that everything is okay, simulate to see where the tool starts cutting first, eject the flash drive, and walk on over to the CNC machine.

The first thing to do is clamp your wood down.

Since I cut the box out at school, the clamps around the origin (the screwed in piece of wood and two metal clamps) were already there, and perfect the way they were, I used them. Which meant all I had to do was put two Rockler Auto-Lock T-Track Clamps on the edges to secure my wood in place.

Feel free to clamp your wood any way that works for you, especially if you don't have the same clamps or machine.

Next, set the origin to the same spot it is on the toolpaths. You place your origin by manually moving the bit to exactly where the origin is. Once it is positioned as close to the origin as you can get it, use the XY-0 and Z-0 keys to set your origin on the machine. Now click the origin button. All this should do is move the bit higher.

Now, all you have to do now is find the file and run your program.

It's time to hop back on Fusion and create the container part of the design.

As you probably guessed, the first step is to create another box in Fusion. The length and width should be exactly the same size as the top, however the depth should be at least .75" in order to hold the game pieces. If you can find a thicker piece of wood, use a thicker piece of wood.

In order to create the pockets, I measured the game pieces and created the pockets using the measurements. The dimensions of the nine pockets are shown above, all the edges are filleted to .125", and the thickness of every wall is .375 inches. I extruded the four boxes for the cards and the envelope by a quarter inch. I extruded the other pockets by 0.6 inches. However, if possible make it deeper because then the pieces will fit better.

It's time to cut the wood down to size.

Grab your wood and measure carefully as you pencil in the lines where you'll be cutting. As I mentioned before, it's always better to be cautious and have to cut some excess off, then mess up and have to start over.

Once you've measured, set the table saw up and cut!

Into the manufacturing tab again!

The origin will be placed in the bottom left corner.

The next step is to create the 2D Pocket. All you have to do is click the bottom edges of the pockets you want to cut out, select your tool, and set up multiple depths. The rest of the settings stay the same.

For the tool, I used a 1/4" bit. I chose the 1/4" end mill because I was using MDF, a very soft wood composite, so the tool wasn't in danger of breaking, and I could get a smaller corner radius all in one shot. I also made my step down slightly greater than .125", the usual step down, and made it .2" instead. If you are using a different type of wood, you will have to adjust the settings and tool accordingly.

Now it's time to post the process and get ready to mill on the CNC.

As you can see in the picture, the clamps for the box are virtually the same. All I did was switch out the wood I was cutting and readjust the Rockler clamps to fit.

Same thing as before, set the origin, find the file, and run the program.

Notice the giant block of space on the bottom of the box? Well that's because it's a perfect spot for you to customize.

You can do whatever you want in this section. Add a picture of your mom, an image you found on Google of a clover, a falling leaf, you're favorite quote, whatever floats your boat. I decided to laser-cut an image of Sherlock Holmes with the caption of "can you solve it???" and Clue.

I started by inserting the image of Sherlock Holmes into Fusion and tracing the image in Fusion. Then, I projected the outside of the box and area that will be cut, so I could see it when I inserted the sketch in Fusion.

Next, I added the text.The CLUE was just the regular text box, but the "can you solve it???" followed an arc instead.

Next, I exported the sketch as a DXF, and imported it into LightBurn. In order to import the sketch you have to right click on the sketch you want to export and click save as DXF. Look at the above picture for reference.

Now on to LightBurn.

The first step is to open LightBurn and set up your machine. If you have used LightBurn before, you can skip this step. In order to set up your machine click the device button, find your machine, and update the details to match your machine.

Next, import the sketch and change the lines that won't be cut to a Tool, the mode to fill, and the speed and power to 350 and 10 respectively. Now that the settings and design are ready focus the laser cutter, send the file to the machine and press start.

I ended up using the router twice. Once, before I painted which made the edges sloppy. Then I ran it through the router again and didn't repaint it because the edges looked more finished. If you aren't sure which you would like compare the two pictures above.

To fillet the edges, you have to set the router to the radius you would like the fillet to be. Mine was about a quarter inch. After that, you run it through the router, making sure to follow the feed direction.

If you like the way your box looks with the stain on the outside edges or just bare, feel free to skip this step. Since MDF doesn't look the greatest bare, I went ahead and painted it to give it a more finished feel.

All you have to do when painting is tape the edges and spray. Be as careful as possible when you're taping, so you can sand less in the next step.

Now it's time to sand away any paint that got on the edges and smooth everything out. Use a super light grit, so it smooths all the wrinkles out without taking off too much of the stain or paint.

I used a 320 grit sandpaper when I was sanding. This time I sanded by hand, so I could be as careful as possible and not sand away too much. Whether you do the finishing sand by hand or with a orbital sander is up to you.

After staring at the MDF for weeks, I decided I hated the way the pockets looked, so I covered them up with adhesive felt.

All you have to do is find a fabric or felt, measure the size of the pockets, and stick the felt to the bottom. I had some green adhesive felt lying around the house and fabric. I like the color and texture of the fabric more, but it kept fraying, so I used the felt instead. The adhesive felt was great because it functions like a sticker, so you just peel off the paper on the bottom and stick it in.

One of the easier steps, but the result is well worth it.

My box was heavy. That isn't a bad thing, however, it did mean that I had to use four hinges, so I wouldn't put too much strain on anyone point and split the wood. If you're using a lighter wood like pine, then you can probably get away with two hinges. I could not.

So I spaced out my hinges, penciled in where the holes would go, pre-drilled my holes, and screwed the hinges in.

Since the walls of the pockets are so thin, make sure you measure the screw and the width of the wall you will be drilling through. One of my walls was so thin, I had to cut the screw almost in half, so it would fit in the width of the wall. You should also be careful of splitting the wood since the walls are so thin.

After adding the felt as an afterthought, I realized the dimensions I had for the existing pieces no longer fit, so I designed all the parts in Fusion using a mixture of loft, pipes, and a lot of time. Since printing the parts takes about two hours and the design is pretty standard, it's easier for me to just give them to you, so you can save yourself a lot of time. If the design is somewhat lacking in your eyes, mess around with it, and make it perfect for you.

The next step in 3D printing is to save the file as an STL and import it into your 3D printing software. I use Dremel, so I imported my sketches into there. Next, repair the pieces, insert all the individual files into one big file, and send it to the printer.

If you use a different 3D printer, or you know a better way, feel free to change the settings, but the above pictures are the settings I used when printing.

Now its time to spray paint the pieces.

I painted the character pieces the traditional yellow, red, green, purple, white, and blue. For the weapons I painted the metal ones gray, and the rope gold.

All you have to do is get a surface you don't mind getting some paint on and paint.

Finally! The box and game are complete, and now you can finally play Clue.