FreeTable - Magnetic TTRPG terrain map system

I enjoy playing games with my friends and wanted to have a somewhat modular way of building maps and terrain. This is the solution I came up with.

Basic information:

The base tiles have four slightly raised smaller tiles that are large enough to comfortably hold a standard mini with a 1-inch base with some extra room. There are holes for magnets on each side and slots for walls. 

The walls slot between the base plates and only exhibit a small wobble that is fully removed when using the column-like fillers. 

There are fillers for each different way the walls can be connected. Additionally, there is a cap for when four walls end together.

Parts:

Glue - I used super glue, you can find it in stores or online. (cost $5-$15 depending on brand and qty)

Magnets - 6mm diameter magnets. I have included files for both 3mm thick magnets and 4mm thick magnets. I was able to find a set of several hundred of them for pretty cheap. (cost $16 for 300 enough for 37 tiles)

The files in this model - print as many as you need (each tile is about 21 grams of filament).

Printing:

Infill - I had no issues with printing the tiles and walls with 10% infill, but I printed the fillers with 20% infill for the extra stability. (be careful when removing them from the print bed though)

Quality (layer thickness) – I printed the tiles with standard 0.2mm thick layers and the walls and fillers with 0.28mm thick layers.

Supports – I used auto generated supports for the tiles and fillers, and adhesion for the walls, but I don’t think it need it.

Orientation – I printed the tiles on their base. I printed the walls and fillers upside down.

Cleanup – once you remove the supports from the tiles and the fillers, they are good to go. The bed adhesion on the walls gave me a bit of an issue, but I redesigned them to minimize the impact. It should be fine once you have removed what you can without tools.

Assembly:

Once you have your tiles and magnets, it is fairly simple to set them up. However, it is very important to assemble them correctly for them to work right.

There are two magnets on each side of the tiles. A press fit did not work very well with these, so it is best to glue them in. These magnets must be facing opposite directions on the one side, and then, every side of every tile should have the magnets set up in the same orientation. (see diagrams)

This was my method of keeping track of the directions:

First, I attached a larger magnet to one end of my column of magnets so I would not forget which way it was oriented.  Then, I glued the magnets in that orientation into every left hole on each side of each tile.

Then, I switched which side of the column the larger magnet was on and I glued the magnets in that orientation into every right hole on each side of each tile.

This left me with tiles that will be attracted to other tiles no matter which way they are rotated.

Image references: (Note: it doesn’t matter if the north is on the left and the south is on the right, it just matters that every single left hole has one while every right hole has the other)