How To Make A Light, Inexpensive Puzzle Carrier

The puzzle work surface is made from two sheets of 1/4 inch thick plastic foam board. That's the plastic covered Styrofoam board that's available at craft stores. One sheet will become the work surface, and the other will become a decorative cover. The large 20 inch by 30 inch foam boards are big enough to accommodate a typical 750 piece puzzle.

Get 2 small picture hanger hooks and 4 small picture back clips (the small clips that rotate into place to hold a picture securely in the frame).

You'll also need strips of 1/4 inch thick wood for framing the foam board panels. Hard wood strips are best for holding the screws for the picture frame clips and hangers. If you don't have the tools to cut hard wood into the necessary widths, you can cut strips from a piece of 1/4 inch thick balsa wood. If you choose balsa wood, then you'll have to put glue on the screws that hold the picture frame clips and hangers in order to provide the necessary support.

The puzzle boards are made by gluing strips of the 1/4 inch wood along 2 sides and one end of the foam boards, leaving one end open so you can slide out a completed puzzle. Trim one of the foam boards down so the untrimmed one is large enough to sit down over the trimmed one, including it's wood trim. When the foam board panels are fastened together to make the carrier, the open end of one panel is placed next to the closed end of the other. In this way the closed end of each panel also closes off the open end of the opposite panel.

For example, trim down the width of the bottom foam board by just a bit over 1/2 inch if you're using 1/4 inch thick wood strips so that the wood strips glued to each side will still allow the untrimmed (top) foam board to be a bit wider than the bottom, including strips. Likewise, trim off one end of the bottom panel by just a bit over 1/4 inch, since a wood strip is only added to one end of each foam board panel.



The height of the wood strips should be just enough to extend past the edge of the foam board barely more than the thickness of a puzzle piece. This makes a rim, as in this diagram, to keep pieces from falling off of the work space as you are working a puzzle. To keep the puzzle pieces in place when the foam board panels are closed, it helps to glue a thin layer of cork (in comes in rolls) to the bottom panel. You don't want much wiggle room for puzzle pieces when the panels are fastened together, so the "rim" formed by the wood strips should only just be higher than the thickness of the puzzle pieces.



Cut the height of the wood strips for the top panel tall enough to reach to the bottom of the bottom panel when the top panel is in place, as shown in this diagram. You can see why the bottom foam panel must be trimmed in width so that the top panel, with it's wood trim sides, can span the width of the bottom panel with its wood trim sides.

Lift off the top panel and work on a puzzle whenever you want. When you're done working, put the top panel on, and if you've cut the wood strips to tight tolerance, the puzzle pieces will be held in place. This is especially true if you add the thin layer of rolled cork onto the bottom panel. The cork makes a nice working surface for working on the puzzle, and a cushion that helps the top panel hold the puzzle pieces in place when the top is attached.