Travel Blokus Duo

A remix of my Travel Blokus game, Blokus Duo is 40% smaller and is perfect for playing with two people on the go! As with its original, it is small, easy to assemble, portable and playable. It features a full set of pieces for two players, a folding game board and 2-piece hinged and latching box to store it all in.

Both the board and the box make use of filament hinges, and do note that both of them also use the same exact hinge piece for simplicity's sake. For a good guide on how to install filament hinges, I followed and recommend you follow this guide from SteveS42: https://www.printables.com/model/450954-filament-hinge-tutorial/files

Of course, I do want to give credit to MERoy for their excellent foldable Blokus board design:
https://www.printables.com/model/431674-blokus-foldable-board-game-set

While this design is of my own and it's not a true remix of their design as I did not use their design files for my own model, I have to give credit for the inspiration of folding the board, and doing so using a middle hinge piece and filament hinges. It was just the solution I needed for a design that needs to be as compact as it is, so I wanted to give credit where it's due!

NOTICE:

Please note that the images shown depict an incorrectly printed board with a 14x16 grid as @HeiLaut correctly pointed out. The files have been corrected to the 14x14 grid size but the images will be incorrect until I reprint and photograph the fixed board.

UPDATE:

By request I've added in a filled variation of the pieces that doesn't require your printer to have to do a bridging section. They should be somewhat easier to print and may even be slightly faster. The instructions to print these pieces is exactly the same, and I've also included a step file for them.

What to print:

Duo Board Half - 2, for both halves of the completed board
Hinge - 10, 5 for the board, 5 for the box
Pieces - Set of 2 for 2 players (either original or filled)
Box Bottom - 1
Box Lid - 1
Logo Border - 1
Logo Inner - 1

For the Box Lid, I intentionally separated the inner and border logo design so that you can use different materials for the inner text and the outline of the text. You can choose whatever colours you want for this, I chose to stick with the classic black and white for mine. If you'd rather not deal with the logo there is also a logo-less version included.

Printing The Logo

For printing the logo on the lid, it should be noted that both the inner and outer elements are only 0.2mm high, the intention is that each is printed as a single layer and then the rest of the lid is printed afterward. The way to achieve this can be done by either using a multi-material system such as an AMS on a Bambulab printer, or the simpler solution which I used:

Firstly, load all 3 models into your slicer of choice. Make sure that the logo is the first layer that will be printed, carefully align all 3 elements so that they fit nicely. Next, save each element as its own seperate .gcode file. (you could also use one-at-a-time print settings for each model and insert material swap gcode lines, but this is a more involved solution)

Next, prepare your material for the inner segment and load it into your printer, print this part. Once the print completes, WITHOUT MOVING THE BUILD PLATE SURFACE swap your filament for the material you wish to use for your border of the logo (making sure to purge material adequately), rinse and repeat this same process to finally print the actual lid. 

The final result should be that your printer first prints the inner logo. In a different colour, it then prints the border, and then finally, it prints the entire lid on top of the logo, adhering all 3 parts together resulting in one single finished part.

Filament Hinge Installation

The filament hinges are fairly straightforward to install, but of course, the fit of the design is going to be the problem area. For my own design, I used a drill to help widen the holes to about 2mm before inserting my filament, and depending on your printer's accuracy, you may need to do the same. I recommend not using PLA as it can become brittle and break over time, materials such as PETG or even TPU might be more preferable for filament hinges.

Once you've done so, thread the filament through all the holes on one board and hinge segments as you go, leaving about 4mm on either side before clipping the filament. From here I recommend using a tool like a soldering iron or a dedicated post processing tool to lightly heat and press in the end of the filament on both sides, creating a small mushroom cap of sorts and effectively riveting joint. Now do the same for the other side, carefully threading the filament through both ends and then riveting both sides. 

Of course, also repeat this process for the lid as well.

Print Settings

All of the parts for this design are fairly straightforward, so your default settings should work just fine, but I'll include some key settings I recommend for good quality results:

Nozzle Width: 0.4mm
Layer Height: Must be 0.2mm if you're printing the logo for the lid, highly recommend 0.2mm for the rest as well.
Infill: 15%
Walls: 2
Top/Bottom Layers: 3-4, as needed to get a good surface quality
Supports: No (No overhangs that require supports)
Bridging Settings: No (Gaps are small enough that bridging settings ruin the results)