How to Make a Whiteboard for $4 [video]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBMUI-Mj_YU

by theschwa • 17 years ago

65 36 17 years ago

youtube.com

Shamiq• 17 years ago

Text version?

rudenoise• 17 years ago

1. Get hold of some clear cellophane (the stuff used in the video is for gift-wrapping fruit baskets and the like)

2. Use pins/tacks to attach a top corner to a wall, unravel to desired width and pin/tack the far top-corner

3. Use a sharp blade to trim, then tack bottom corners

4. Tile surfaces and repeat for wider coverage

5. Use white-board pens and eraser as normal

Bingo!

cturner• 17 years ago

It may require properties of the specific cellophane he's using. The thing that's interesting about the video is how clean the erase is. He calls it Clearphane by Highlander. They have a ridiculous website, http://www.highlandsupply.com/

maheshs• 17 years ago

instead of pins/tacks we can some plane stickers which have glue on both side

jacquesm2• 17 years ago

http://rumkin.com/reference/whiteboard/surfaces.php

wglb2• 17 years ago

There is one missing: Glass. In one corporate office, we had glass walls. I taped a large sheet of white paper on the outside of the glass wall and used the inside as a whiteboard. Probably the most durable surface for that purpose.

And I have heard of mounting a piece of glass in front of a white wall to act as a whiteboard.

jacquesm2• 17 years ago

7th entry from the top.

gecko• 17 years ago

That's exactly what we do at Fog Creek. Our whiteboards are just glass panels held about an inch in front of the wall by six special clasps. For those of us whose whiteboards are mounted on non-white walls, the back of the glass is painted white. They look spectacular and are incredibly durable--but they're also rather expensive, sadly.

joshu• 17 years ago

Any sense if plexiglass is as good?

xcombinator• 17 years ago

A very good idea. I made myself a blackboard of wood with a very expensive paint so I can use color chalks. I love it, but is bulky and heavy, and dusty.

I will try this need method.

tumult4• 17 years ago

Haha, it's an ad. I love how he fakes reading the name off of the product slowly, as if he's never read it before, then proceeds to repeat it, and the web address where you can buy it.

"I've discovered a product.." Discovered a product.

gfodor• 17 years ago

You really think this guy is pushing $4.00 cellophane wrap? I'm sure he's getting a huge cut of the "computer nerds who run to Michael's and buy cellophane wrap to stick it to their wall for a whiteboard" market.

Worse case scenario (if you consider promotion inherently evil) he's a business consultant or something and the YouTube video serves as buzz for this. Either way it's a cool hack.

tumult4• 17 years ago

Yes, I do think he is pushing it.

Your other two sentences are irrelevant to the fact that this video is a shitty ad.

tumult4• 17 years ago

Whoever used a bunch of accounts to vote some of my comments down, here and elsewhere: fuck you

tumult4• 17 years ago

Here's another one so you can hit my karma again

z8000• 17 years ago

Wow. This really did not need to be 7 minutes long. A short textual description (even a tweet) would have sufficed.

noss• 17 years ago

People in a hurry should add #t=5m58s to the youtube link, that is where he uses it.

fragmede• 17 years ago

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBMUI-Mj_YU#t=5m58s

kellishaver• 17 years ago

Not a bad idea, but really didn't need to be 7 minutes long.

A while ago, I bought a box of page protectors, slipped a sheet of white paper in each and put them in 3 ring binders. Now I have dry erase sketch pads.

http://www.amazon.com/Standard-Archival-Protectors-UNV21125-...

jamesbritt2• 17 years ago

Damn clever.

I have a small whiteboard that fits in my laptop bag that I've used for sketching out things. I would then photograph the board and use Gimp to clean up the images for long-term saving (if I had something worth saving).

The page-protectors approach is so much more convenient.

timdorr2• 17 years ago

Why not just get some tileboard? It's $12 for a 4'x8' chunk at Home Depot: http://www.johnmurch.com/2007/10/20/diy-whiteboard-on-the-ch...

gojomo• 17 years ago

Two issues with the $12 tileboard:

(1) ghosting: they erase well when new, and when the ink hasn't been there for long, but over time they get murky.

(2) mounting: it's not easy to cut to size; it has enough thickness and weight that mounting tape or small tacks are iffy (and prone to failure sometime after installation).

The same issues come up for other surfaces short of fairly-expensive true glass.

If this 'clearphane' continues to be cleanly erasible after a while in use, or with ink that's been present for days/weeks, then this is a really neat idea I hadn't heard before. I'll definitely be trying it out.

timdorr2• 17 years ago

Well, for ghosting, they're so damn cheap that replacing them isn't a cost concern for anyone but those where ramen profitability is a lofty goal :)

But perhaps you could combine the two? Tileboard for a solid white back and this cellophane for a covering to protect against ghosting. Sounds like a winner.

raphar• 17 years ago

Nice idea. The problem I see with his demonstration is that He is going to be in big trouble with the clothes he hangs in that door at the side. (unless he wears all black) nobody noticed?

mattcrest• 17 years ago

We created a sexy setup with plexiglass, glass fogging spray paint, and mirror hangers. We get lots of compliments.

It cost a hell of a lot more than $4, but it looks a lot better too.

Here's a few pics (pardon the sweet coloring from the iPhone camera): http://drp.ly/8Az8f

You can also get plexiglass pre-fogged, but it costs more. We liked the subtle background paint color showing through.

How to Make a Whiteboard for $4 [video]

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