And yet, I’ve been using the same set of dry erase markers in my classroom for several years now, six different colors. About every semester I have to toss one of them. They are all “stored” on their sides in the white board tray. They’re the Markers of Theseus. But I’ll easily get a year or two out of each marker.
The only problems I’ve ever had with them is when the students put a NON-dry erase marker in the tray with them. Even then, the spray board cleaner will take the permanent marker off if you get to it quickly enough.
For an exercise, rank the following in terms of how remarkable they are. How much impact did they have on your own life:
The personal computer
Smartphone
Microwave Oven
Flash drives
Post it notes
Dry erase markers
LED light bulbs
Vacuum cleaner
WiFi
3D printers
Digital camera
I’d say that of all these, the dry erase marker would rank last, in my own personal life. I have used the maybe once in 10 years.
His pun seems to have gone right over a lot of heads in this thread. They are remarkable because you can keep remarking them. (ETA: See Post #7 above.)
Never use that stuff. If you have a little bit of ghosting, or something was left on the board too long, just use plain ordinary water. If you never use anything but water, you’ll never need to use anything but water. Once you start using “whiteboard cleaner”, though, you’ll get more and more ghosting, and need to wash the board more and more often, and even going back to water requires pretty thorough scrubbing to get rid of the residue of the cleaner.
As to markers going dead quickly… This admittedly isn’t a dry erase marker, but recently, I found a highlighter marker on the floor of my room, without a cap. It wasn’t one of mine; must have been a student’s. So I set it on the chalk tray next to where it was found, with the hope that its owner would find it. Predictably, nobody claimed it.
Three weeks later, at the end of the school year, after sitting uncapped for all that time… it still worked. I have no idea how that happened.
@Gatopescado , that really is a genius tip, to keep all the old caps (or at least a few of them). In addition to what you said, it also means that you have spares for when a cap inevitably gets lost. Completely obvious now that you mention it, but it never occurred to me.
The ones in my office last a long time. The ones on the shared whiteboard outside? Dry in a few months. My co-workers are nowhere near as conscientious about keeping the caps on.
Interesting. I was just using what the powers that be were providing, and since it was the same brand as the markers I figured it would be the right stuff for the job. But your description of it getting less and less effective is right IME.
OK, it is possible that some solvents will dissolve, not necessarily the white plastic itself, but whatever surface finish was used on the board. Then you would get the effect @Chronos describes where the board works less well. Using even more solvent will obviously not re-surface it in that case. You would have to use whiteboard conditioner containing silicone oil or whatever it was that was originally there.
Now I am thinking that if you were a really heavy whiteboard user, it might be better to invest in (or make!) a board made of glass, or something similarly hard and non-porous, rather than melamine. It seems like it would be less susceptible to pigments soaking in and the resulting ghosting problems. Anyone have experience with this?
You mistake me, I had that expo fine point set, ugh. Too fine, hardly visible, not great quality. I found fat ones, also not to my needs. But these art ones are just the right width for my purpose. And they really only cost a small bit more.
Right now there are large printed signs on my whiteboards at school threatening death and dismemberment to any custodian who follows policy and uses solvent to “clean” my whiteboards. I noticed the very first year they did so that it royally screwed up the function of the whiteboard.
You can get white glass. I’m not claiming it is cheap. Also, a quick look on Amazon reveals what appear to be tempered glass whiteboards made by frosting the back. At any rate, you would not have to worry about the custodian using the wrong solvent on it, and it would also be good for hospitals where they sterilize surfaces with an alcohol solution.
I have a gaming table set up, 1" graph paper rolled out with a clear plastic table cloth that covers everything. This is then clipped tight. But the vinyl is wearing out and picking up some stains that won’t come off. This is for Dry Erase Markers and China Markers.
What would be the best replacement cover? Or the best material at least. The table is 5’x9’, in theory I could get glass but I believe single sheet would be prohibitively expensive compared to the $20 for a plastic table cloth. My understanding is plexiglass is probably worse than a tablecloth. I might be able to go with 3 3’x5’ sections of glass, but as it should be tempered, probably still pretty expensive. It would also have an unfortunate split in the main gaming area. So I’m looking for something easy to clean and very durable.
The current tablecloth is almost 6 years old and survived a move.
Yes, teachers hated them, too, and for the same reason. Now, everyone has a Clevertouch device in their classroom or office, so the “pens” are electronic devices that are consistently bright and clear.
Classic.
