Magnetic Tile Keeper for Twilight Imperium 4

After an audacious act by a rogue faction of the Hacan, involving an unauthorized leap into subspace that destabilized trade lanes and interstellar communications, the Galactic Council declared the security of trade, transit, and record-keeping to be a matter of utmost importance. In response, the High Office of Interstellar Trade and Security drafted a comprehensive initiative to address the vulnerabilities exposed by the incident. The proposal was ratified by the Council and subsequently opened for public review and competitive bidding.

In a twist both ironic and controversial, the Hacan Trade Guild secured the contract to develop the Subspace Stitching Device (SSD)—a revolutionary technology aimed at reinforcing subspace stability. The project commenced the following galactic cycle, despite whispers among rival factions that the initial subspace breach may have been orchestrated by the Hacan themselves. Yet, as the SSD proved indispensable to the galactic infrastructure, such accusations were dismissed as irrelevant in light of its success.

Released for your review and use is my first model on the internet, much less Maker World – an unofficial Twilight Imperium 4 tile keeper. It was during one particular game of Twilight Imperium that my friend and host's rambunctious cat leaped onto the table that I decided we needed to develop a solution that at least kept the game table together, at least, a bit more securely. 

I took inspiration from another hex based game's solution (Terraforming Mars) to keeping tiles together. For the life of me, I can't find the original file (I remember this solution from about 6 years ago; if someone finds the original I'll happily reference it). So while this isn't an novel solution to the problem, I think my contribution is a valid one. I've also seen a few other magnetic hex tiles.

I've printed these in PLA, PLA-Silk, and the results are superb. Tiles should feel snug, but not absurdly tight. I'm able to tap them out gently through the back. 

I have had some issues with some old PLA being too tight on a couple tiles. Your mileage may vary.

Note, you will need lots of 5mm x 2mm magnets. The fitment on the magnet holes are supposed to be tight, and permanent. However, if you find that the holes are still a little too tight, a tiny amount of plastic can be removed from the very top of the hole to allow the magnet to slide in easier. If you accidentally remove too much, I recommend a simple dot of super-glue to retain the magnet in the hole.

If you're especially concerned about making the hole as tidy as possible, I recommend using a reamer (by hand) like this one.

Each magnet in the side of the hex should alternate polarity. In another way of saying that; even sides are positive, odd sides are negative (side 1, 3, and 5 are negative, sides 2, 4, and 6 are positive). What I did was take a stack of magnets, press them into the hex, turn the stack of magnets over, and press the next side in. You'll do this a lot. 

Feedback welcome! Thanks for trying it out!

UPDATE Dec '24:
It was brought to my attention that the native model is set in inches, not millimeters. Yes, inches are better. No, I'm not going to bother explaining why, because American exceptionalism knows no bounds; not reason, logic, or your French base-10 counting system. Decimal inches to the stars! 

Joking aside, scale 2540% in all axis and you'll get a model that scales correctly!

UPDATE 05/27/25

Props to user @Print_A_Potato for doing some proper accounting on a full set, and picking up the slack; reposting his comment here. 

"37 tiles 
222 magnets
666gr filament 
On an A1 I was able to print 4 at a time in 1h50min 

For the 8 player board you would need 61 tiles."

Thank you!!

Design by Armor Designs on MakerWorld (license: BY-ND).