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This instructable will show how to build a transparent glass whiteboard that will never wear out and never ghost. Glass is a superior surface for writing on with dry erase markers and erases with a tip of the finger. The size I made mine was 28 inches by 54 inches and was NOT made to freestand as it would take up too much room in my sons college apartment. Total cost was a very reasonable $60-65, and took a weekend to build and finish (minus the time going to and from stores!). The glass was from a local IKEA store. It is normally used as a desktop protector and is safety glass weighing about 30 pounds . My son is a Math and Com Sci double major along with being a whiteboard nut and his rooms look a lot like the garage in A Beautiful Mind so a great project for him.
Does it work? Yes. Is it the best whiteboard my son has ever used? No. It's the contrast. A white whiteboard with a black marker is, by far, the easiest to see and use. Unless there is a dark background or a white background, the writing is harder to see on a clear whiteboard. The best is to have a white sheet of material stuck to the other side of the glass but that defeats the whole purpose for a clear whiteboard!
The other question you have to ask yourself is glass the best clear material. I went shopping in Home Depot and bought several types of plastic sheeting. Lexan was the ONLY plastic sheeting worth considering. I found a great place to buy Lexan sheets. Freckleface!:
http://freckleface.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/polycarbonatesheet.html
But in the end, I decided that glass was the best material. A large sheet of Lexan is harder to keep clean, the leading brand of markers (Expo) will ghost after sitting for a week or two, and has a much more shiny surface which makes it even harder to read what is written. But it does not break and would be much easier to build. Next clear board is going to be 3/8 inch 36 by 48 Lexan, just for mobility and safety's sake.
Why a clear whiteboard? In the show "Numb3rs", I was intrigued by the clear whiteboard that Charlie Epps is using.
Could I buy one?
http://www.clearmarkerboard.com/home.html Not at THIS price.
So let's build one!
Does it work? Yes. Is it the best whiteboard my son has ever used? No. It's the contrast. A white whiteboard with a black marker is, by far, the easiest to see and use. Unless there is a dark background or a white background, the writing is harder to see on a clear whiteboard. The best is to have a white sheet of material stuck to the other side of the glass but that defeats the whole purpose for a clear whiteboard!
The other question you have to ask yourself is glass the best clear material. I went shopping in Home Depot and bought several types of plastic sheeting. Lexan was the ONLY plastic sheeting worth considering. I found a great place to buy Lexan sheets. Freckleface!:
http://freckleface.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/polycarbonatesheet.html
But in the end, I decided that glass was the best material. A large sheet of Lexan is harder to keep clean, the leading brand of markers (Expo) will ghost after sitting for a week or two, and has a much more shiny surface which makes it even harder to read what is written. But it does not break and would be much easier to build. Next clear board is going to be 3/8 inch 36 by 48 Lexan, just for mobility and safety's sake.
Why a clear whiteboard? In the show "Numb3rs", I was intrigued by the clear whiteboard that Charlie Epps is using.
Could I buy one?
http://www.clearmarkerboard.com/home.html Not at THIS price.
So let's build one!
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Signing UpStep 1Building a windowframe.
So I have a large piece of glass that I want to mount to a support. That is,err, let me think, a WINDOW. So how do I build a cheap and strong frame for the glass? Looking around and I see that my windows use WOOD as a frame. Whew, tough decisions are made.
The IKEA glass sheet is 55 1/8 inches by 29 1/2 inches or 140 by 75 cm. I will use stock 1 by 3 inch pine as the frame and use 2 by 4's that I trimmed to 2 1/2 inches wide to match the frame. If you do not have access to a tablesaw, I would recommend using 1 by 4 inch pine.
The IKEA glass sheet is 55 1/8 inches by 29 1/2 inches or 140 by 75 cm. I will use stock 1 by 3 inch pine as the frame and use 2 by 4's that I trimmed to 2 1/2 inches wide to match the frame. If you do not have access to a tablesaw, I would recommend using 1 by 4 inch pine.
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Here's a plan for an 18" by 36" glass whiteboard for under $20!
1. Purchase piece of glass at Home Depot for $10:
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202091046/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=glass&storeId=10051
2. Purchase double sided outdoor mounting tape:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004Z4BV/ref=oh_o00_s00_i00_details
3. Find a white wall and mount the class to the wall. No frame required.
What do you think?
The link to Home depot is broke, but I am assuming your priced out a glass window replacement sheet. For a little more money, a cheap glass picture frame would work just as well but would be a little more protected.
My advice? Look at the priciest piece of plastic sheeting LEXAN (I think it has GE on the sticky label in Home Depot). You will have to double your budget or shrink your size but it has all the advantages of glass without all of the dangers. 2 screw holes into the top would hold it to the wall.
Sticky tape and rental walls are also made to cost you your rental damage deposit. If it sticks well enough to hold something heavy, it will also peel paint and gypsum board paper. Not worth the risk.
If the link doesn't let you click it, just type it into your browser. I took pictures of the finished product. I didnt put duct tape on the back or anything, but hopefully its fairly safe.
The glass will be mounted 4-5 feet above the floor, above a wide filing cabinet in an office where no children go. I would definitely not hang this above my bed.
Perhaps before mounting it, I can (neatly) put two layers of heavy duty clear packing tape around the edges, and two layers of duct tape covering the entire back of the glass. The duct tape will make it somewhat shatter resistant. Do you think that would help?
I've decided to use "mirror clips" instead of the heavy duty mounting tape. I uploaded a picture, but its my first time using this forum so hopefully its visible. The uploaded picture shows the glass in my backyard, a screenshot of the home depot glass for $10, and a screen shot of the mirror clips I'm going to use.
Thanks for the warnings. I'm still excited about the project! So inexpensive, yet will hopefully outperform any retail dry erase board 3X its price.
Note that an 18 by 24 inch sheet of Polycarbonate (Lexan) at Home Depot is only $20 and the back can be covered by contact paper ($7.00) or just use it on a white wall. It would need only two screws to hold it. For $70, 36 by 48 inch, just the right size.
Yep, pictures work fine. Good idea about the mirror clips instead of double sided tape. I like how the clips are screwed into the wall (don't want this to fall). HOWEVER, the tops of the screws are contacting the glass directly and will act like a glass breaker tool under any sort of impact. I suggest you cover them with duct tape then slide the glass into place. Remember, mirrors are rarely ever touched.
(a) the screw heads are contacting the glass working as glass breakers.
(b) the mirror mounting clips hold the glass in a wobbly manner as they do not hold the glass flush to the wall firmly and snugly and
(c) the edges of the glass are sharp to touch and present a hazard.
I am in the process of doing a any of the following, possibly in combination:
-changing the type of mounting clip used,
-adding the double sided mounting tape to offer snugness to the wall and
-having the glass professionally framed, or doing it myself.
I updated my blog with the problems you pointed out and clearly labeled it as a "WORK IN PROGRESS." Thanks for the ongoing tips.
I've attached an image of the mounting clip I plan to get to replace the dangerous ones I have now.
As for the clips you are showing me here, think about rubber washers to wedge into the top that touches the glass so as to snug it down to the wall and prevent the glass from moving and protect the glass. Pieces of the washers could also be used as a wedge (either clip) to hold the glass firmly in place.
My son's final solution was to paint over the back with ordinary Latex white paint, several coats of it. It worked a lot better as a whiteboard with the white reflective, highly contrasted background.
While I was writing this, I just thought of Rubbermaid contact paper for shelving. It comes in white, it would come off and you don't have to worry about trimming it as you could just overlap the stuff, and it would be fast. Dang, I wish I thought of that before we started painting. Anyways, the paint worked fine...
A quick search of rectangular glass table top with Goddess Google (and her earthly angel Siri ) show that they are available but at a $200 price range rather than the $40 for the Billsta top.
It looks like this project is dead as far as the cheap material costs go. At this price, Lexan would be my first choice.
No. I don't work for or own stock in Simple Green. It just works.
I am very interested in building one of these but I have one question.
Does Lexan get scratched easily?
I heard that Acrylic, while not as durable, doesn't get scratched as easily as Lexan.
So should I get the cheaper acrylic or the regular Lexan?
THank you
For $60 you can get a good sized piece at Home Depot to try it out first or even a paper sized one for a few bucks. Get the Quartet markers as they work a treat.
As for Acrylic, if is a lot more wobbly-er the same thickness, is kind of milky in color and definitely not in the same class as Lexan. Either way, thickness matters if you are supporting a wide piece only by its edges (3/8 inch would be good)
Either way, you will not be scratching the board with dry erase markers not matter what!
I still have to try "grease" markers but no pressing need now that we have switched over to the Quartet markers.
I used exactly that (but mounted it on plywood). I also bought the plastic from freckleface!
Spoiler: I used polycarbonate.
It turns out that those nice blacklight lit fluorescent boards use a special wet erase marker ( more like a grease pen than a dry erase marker).
I was chastised when I went into a fancy restaurant and noticed the black lit fluorescent specials board rather than the fireplace and the view over Barnegat Bay. I grabbed a waitress and had her show me the markers they use. Definitely not a dry erase marker.
Well, a new marker to buy and try. Do you know how many different kinds of markers I have of my house?
http://www.google.com/products?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=glass%20whiteboard&aql=&gs_rfai=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wf
3 foot by 4 foot are the norm for an office but can get extremely expensive. Looks like taking 2 35 by 23 inch boards and putting them together would work just as well (of course very few of the people on Instructables have a budget for these!)
This company looks a little expensive. Shop around a bit if their prices are too high. The company's mobile whiteboard is a joke as it is mounted vertically instead of horizontally.
I use a frosted glass whiteboard from IKEA:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10114874
I use the board every day for lists, appointments, etc. For a smaller space, it works great and will last forever. The contrast is NOT as good as a regular whiteboard so in a big conference room, the folks in the back will not be able to read the board.
As for a hospital, I cannot think of a better surface for keeping bacteria away as it can be bleached and cleaned like any other piece of glass. For a nurse's station, it would work great as long as it does not get bumped by a cart or IV drip pole. Donno about sharps or stethoscopes either (the boards are safety glass tho).
You are very right about the sterilization of the board. This was a selling point for me, along with the elegant look of a glass whiteboards in general. I'm looking to purchase 15 boards for our hospital, and need the highest quality. We don't want cheap, we want quality. Nothing against Ikea, but I don't think that's the quality we are looking for.
If you read the beginning piece, I priced out a large clear marker board at around $1K which is a lot of money for a piece of glass. Quality gets you a large glass surface with 1/4 inch thick depth that weighs a lot. That would involve professional installation.
I have nothing against the company you mentioned but I would expect that they would be in the same ballpark of $1K for a 3 by 4 foot board. If you are willing to pay that, then that's fine!
Things to take into account. These are going to be heavy so plan on a budget to get them professionally installed. Buy the frosted kind of glass whiteboard, much more readable than the clear kind (you can still stick charts or calendars behind them and they are readable). You may want to consider mounting the board further out from the wall so the back can be cleaned (there is usually only a half inch or so clearance, not enough room to clean). Finally, remember that the contrast of these boards are relatively poor no matter what the marker so try one out before buying all 15.
Nothing wrong with the IKEA one except its small size and 1/8 inch glass. Glass is glass!
Leaving more room behind the board is a great tip friend, thank you for that. I may have easily overlooked this detail and incurred great costs to reinstall.
And yes, if not for the demands of size that I require, the IKEA boards seem to be more than adequate for their purpose. Again, I did not mean any disrespect to their product. I will check on the price of a single frosted board, and if i remember, I will report back if it is of any use to others here on instructables.
Thank you kindly, johnpombrio
1. Yes, our staff uses these boards on a daily basis, and the nurses very much enjoy them.
2. We use them in the hallway, so we haven't tested the distance at which it is readable, as any distance from the board would put us at an angle which we couldn't read anyway.
3. We use the markers we used on the melamine boards we replaced. I believe they were Expo, but I will need to check.
I might have to give it a try making one for my home! Thank you kindly Johnpombrio!
AI