Make a Smart White Board for Less Than $99

The White Board…

You can build a non-magnetic whiteboard out of a product called melamine that is commonly used for creating shower walls. Whiteboard specific melamine is more expensive but the only difference is the thickness of the board. This is great for a training room, home school, etc.

What you need:

• A big wall
• White Melamine sheet 4×8 foot $10 available at your local lumber company…Home Depot, Lowe’s and Menard’s should carry it.
• 6 philips head screws and washers
• Tools: Stud finder, level, electric drill/screwdriver

What to do. It’s pretty basic:

1. Place the melamine sheet on the wall and level it while someone holds it in place.
2. Find studs in the wall covered by the sheet and near the edges of the melamine with the stud finder.
3. Predrill holes in the melamine at the 4-6 points where you will insert screws around the border about 1.5 inches in. Put 2-3 screws distributed on the top edge and 2-3 on the bottom edge.
4. Secure the sheet to the wall with screws/washers into the studs.

Over time you can clean your whiteboard with whiteboard cleaner to get rid of any slight ghosting of your writing.

The Smarts of the Board…

Assuming you have a laptop (with bluetooth) and a video projector, you can make a smartboard using a Wii remote based on an original idea from Johnny Chung Lee. What you need:

• Wii Remote $23
• IR Pen and tripod stand for the Wii Remote $30
• Smoothboard application software by Boon Jin $25 for Mac OS or for Windows or WiimoteWhiteBoard application

Follow instructions on the Smoothboard site to set up the Wii remote, install the software, etc.

Here are some other information sources to help:
www.wiimoteproject.com
www.instructables.com
www.shop.irpensonline.com

Have fun!