Homemade magnetic flight stands

[Fat Dragon Tom]

My son and I got hooked on ACTA at Origins a few weeks ago (thanks Bill Stec!) I've decided to try and make my own magnetic flight stands out of laser cut MDF board, brass tubing and rare earth magnets. I've got all of the supplies on order or already purchased, so I've proceeded with designing the base stickers while I wait for the MDF bases and magnets to arrive. Here is what I've come up with so far:

 

[billclo]

Nice.

 

[mdauben]

Very colorful! I like the numbering on the stickers, very neat and helpful in a game with multiple ships of the same class involved.

 

[Greg Smith]

They are very cool.

 

[kenting]

These are very nicely done. Very impressive

 

[Fat Dragon Tom]

Thanks everyone! I'll post pics of the stands as I construct them.

 

[bluebirds40]

great job.

 

[Fat Dragon Tom]

I just got the magnets and tried making my first stand. I'm happy to say it works perfect, and the rare-earth magnets are strong enough to hold up the metal miniatures. I'm making more stands later this week, and will photograph the process step-by-step. Here are the magnets I'm using:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001KUOKPA/ref=oh_details_o01_s01_i02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Fat Dragon Tom]

Here are the first two flight stands I've made (just need to paint them black and attach one of the stickers I made. The base is 2mm MDF, the main post is 1/8" diameter aluminum rod, while the smaller 1cm long 'collar' is 5/32" interior diameter rod (exterior diameter isn't important.)

 

[bluebirds40]

very nice.

 

[bladestalker]

I like these.

 

[Fat Dragon Tom]

Here is the finished base with sticker applied:

 

[Fat Dragon Tom]

One change to these finished one vs. the prototype image I posted earlier this week is I added a small collar at the bottom of the main rod out of the same diameter tube I used at the top. This helps keep the rod perfectly vertical when gluing to the MDF base.

 

[Fat Dragon Tom]

Total cost per base is around $1. I used gloss black Krylon paint. The stickers peel off of this easily if you ever need to remove them, so these bases can be reused for other games as well.