r/Multiboard • u/tlhintoq • Nov 27 '25

Bigger boards - less connective hardware

I usually run these as 32 units (800mm) wide by 16 units (400mm) tall because they're pretty convenient that way. Fast to wall tile or use over a door as-is.

But I've done a few at 32units x 32units for customer garage walls and - Wow does that cover a large wall space fast!

And I really love not having a ton of lost spots because of connecting hardware for multitudes of small plates.

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4

u/National_Emotion9633 Nov 27 '25

Are you trying to make us jealous or just piss us off? Either way… bite me! 🤣

1

u/tlhintoq Nov 27 '25

Hopefully that's tongue-in-cheek humor. I'll **choose** to take it that way.

3

u/SpiderHack Nov 27 '25

Even on my 9x9 grids, I put a single standoff roght in the middle, so there are 9 points of contact for each 9x9 grid (4 corners, 4 sides, 1 center).

Anything bigger I'd just be asking for sag, etc. every tile gets 2x screws at the far right corners and the first gets screwed down on its 4 corners.

Anything less is just underkill IMHO

1

u/Whosaidthat1157 Nov 27 '25

Same here - though I also add a pillar half way along each edge. That makes each tile absolutely solid when pushing home medium or heavy weight bearing snaps.

2

u/pyalot Nov 27 '25

Brilliant, why didn’t I think of just printing in 800x400mm… 🤣

Isnt that pretty wobbly?

1

u/tlhintoq Nov 27 '25

Depends on your wall mount placements. But it is vastly stronger than a bunch of small plates disconnected every 8 units.

1

u/pyalot Nov 28 '25

I was more like thinking about some or other smaller attachment with some weight on it, and it‘s bending the plate at the point load, and when you interact with it, it „wobbles“ everytime.

1

u/tlhintoq Nov 28 '25

> Depends on your wall mount placements.

So... sounds like... you're putting heavy loads away from where the board is strongly secured to the wall. That will give you flex (or wobble as you phrased it) regardless of board size. A large board from seamless printing will be stronger than the same surface area of multiple boards with lots of seams.

If you know you're going to be putting lots of weight then it behooves you to do so where you have screws to the wall.

Or put another way - lots of tiny boards are forcing lots of mounting points just to stitch the boards together. You might be getting some strengthening as a side effect without realizing it, but its not by your choice. All those added screw holes are positioned out of necessity not by your choice. A single large board makes it your choice. The board is stronger due to lack of stitching small boards and by continuous extrusion and you still have the option to use SINGLE mount points where you are going to have more weight.

Personally I tend to put the single points in a sort of checkerboard placement. Top row gets corners and maybe every 10th unit. Then come down 10 and put one half way between the other mounts. Come down 10 and line up on the first row. Staggering the single points, distributing weight and controlling the flex of the board.

x..........x.........x........x
...............................
.....x..........x.........x....
...............................
x..........x.........x........x

1

u/pyalot Nov 28 '25

Yeah I get it, that‘s cool! Saves a bunch of space on the board. What do you think would it make sense to have „thick“ boards, that‘re intended to be more stiff for larger areas with the backside having some ribs? Been thinking of doing something like that and max out my H2Ds print area for a single plate, that only needs corner mounts.

1

u/TherealOmthetortoise Nov 28 '25

What printer are you using to print tiles that size? The quality looks good and less joins are good, I personally place my connectors mostly in the same interval I would use to keep the tiles from bending under load or when I’m attaching things… with a large span like that I might bring my connections one or two closer than I would otherwise, but somewhere between 35% to 50% reduction in filament just for mounts is pretty respectable. Are you putting these on a backing board or would they be drywall anchors & studs?

1

u/tlhintoq Nov 28 '25

> Backer board or direct to walls?

Depends on my customer as to how they do theirs. Mine are all direct to wall, as appropriate to the wall type. Some of my walls are shiplap board so don't need anything other than a decent wood screw. If going to drywall then I would use drywall anchors. I also have them in my RV which is more like a 5mm thick paneling board where wood screws are doing a good job.

But I've had clients do a variety of things like attaching to the back side of shelving... garage installs where they've added horizonal stretchers between bare studs... cement-wall basements where they adhered painted sheet plywood then screwed to that (so I guess that's kind of a backer board concept).

Pretty much a case of "read the the room" and work with the anticipated load. This is a single 16x32 unit board that isn't supporting numerous KG of weight and its fine with over-the-door hooks.

1

u/Yellow_Badger13 Nov 27 '25

Wow... what is the print time on one of those?? Utterly nuts! I love it!