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Comment by nickjj | Hacker News Reader

If anyone is interested, here's how you can build your own 8 foot by 4 foot whiteboard for about $15 (they normally cost around $200):

https://nickjanetakis.com/blog/build-your-own-8x4-foot-white...

I've been using Expo markers for a long time. They rock.

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This generally works OK, but for heavy duty use I find it is vastly improved if you glue it to an equal-sized piece of CD plywood. It makes it significantly heavier, but it won't warp and it will write way better. Only adds a little bit to the cost (plywood + bottle of liquid nails).

I was lucky enough a few years back to find a guy in my hometown selling two 6ft x 4ft whiteboards for €20 from a sports club. Before that I was playing around with magic whiteboard sheets, which are a dragons den product that's basically a roll of a2 sheets that stick to a wall with static electricity and are dry erasable. They have issues though: Markers leave an indent of what you write and even though you're supposed to be able to move them around and restick them hundreds of times, in practice they started to peel off the wall after a few weeks, even if you never moved them.

Can confirm it works well. I even found some 1/8 trim plastic (also at Home Depot, don't recall the section, think it was flooring or where they have molding for walls). Slipped right over the edges and cut at an angle for corners it looks pretty professional.

Only downside is I left a DB schema on the board for months and now can't get it off. Probably there is a solvent that would do it but haven't really looked yet. That might be a problem with regular whiteboards also though.

I'd try just a little windex. Had this awful whiteboard for a while that just would not clean normally. Window cleaner though? did the trick perfectly.

Try going over the image with a fresh marker. My daughter figured out that you can then easily erase the image.

That technique is also quite effective for removing permanent marker from a whiteboard.

> Only downside is I left a DB schema on the board for months and now can't get it off.

Try using an alcohol based hand-sanitizer, e.g. Purell. Works surprisingly well, even on marks that have been dried on for a long time.

Give isopropyl alcohol a shot - it's like $2 for a decent-sized bottle at a drug store, and it's a pretty good solvent in general.

Not sure about on this particular surface, but Expo whiteboard cleaner spray works like magic for old writing. I have several different surfaces at the office, including a whiteboard-painted wall, and it works equally well on all. Clorox wipes generally work really well too, but I think the Expo spray is better.

Yep, that stuff works great on these surfaces. Sometimes, you need to spray, let it sit for a few minutes, then spray again and erase. But it’ll work.

Can also recommend furniture polish and a cloth. The polish also works great as a lubricant for a door that won't close fully without a shove. Small spray on the lock and it slides closed nicely.

I did something like this for my desks at home and work. I don't have room to mount it on the wall at either location, so I purchased a decent sized piece of acrylic, sanded down the edges to round them, then placed rubber feet on the bottom. It works really well. Especially if you work in an desk farm without a lot of wall room. I like having the flat surface to write on and it doesn't moved around a lot. I had a glass one prior which was much nicer to write one. However, someone stepped on it and the glass couldn't handle the pressure with the feet raising it up a bit. The acrylic is more flexible and doesn't have that problem.

That's awesome. I've been looking for something exactly like that. That price is insane. Hell, even with having it delivered to my house it's under $100.

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