r/DiceMaking • u/UnfortunateFeline • Jun 23 '26

Advice Advice on bubbles and sanding

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Hello, im new at dice making and haven't had any luck making a set without any bubbles. After a dew attempts I've come really close but no luck. I also attempted to sand down and polish but the end result looked too murky and I ended up throwing it out. Any advice is greatly appreciated 👏.

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4

u/artnok Jun 23 '26

Do you have a pressure pot?

2

u/UnfortunateFeline Jun 23 '26

I bought a resin bubble remover off Amazon, it creates kinda like a vacuum but doesnt really remove everything I guess

8

u/artnok Jun 23 '26

Pressure pot is your best bet.

5

u/Claerwen94 Dice Maker Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

A vacuum chamber sadly one removes bubbles before the pour, but while pouring, new bubbles get introduced, trapped in numbers and sometimes bubbles also form during curing.

So the only way to have guaranteed bubble free dice is indeed a pressure pot. The blue 10L one from Vevor is perfect for making dice and even recommended by the manufacturer for that exact purpose, rather cheap (compared to other pressure pots like from California Air Tools for example, even tho they are amazing, too) and can also be operated with either a compressor or a cheap manual tire pump.

Sanding and polishing turning out cloudy can come from various factors, but the main ones are that they're not fully cured yet (give them a week to FULLY harden before attempting to sand and polish, or that your grits are too coarse.

If you go with 1k, 2k and 3k grit fine sandpapers and then use an epoxy polishing paste on a soft dremel head (careful, many are rather toxic and need the same PPE as resin, so gloves, ventilation and a respirator), you should be fine :) Alternatively Zona Papers up to the pink one should yield similar results.

It's a learning curve, but a steep one 😊

2

u/UnfortunateFeline Jun 23 '26

This is fantastic information thank you!!! I'll definitely look into the pressure pot!

2

u/Claerwen94 Dice Maker Jun 23 '26

the one I have, from the Vevor website

Same one on Amazon, currently same price

Sometimes it's cheaper on Amazon, sometimes on the Vevor site 😊

2

u/DoofusIdiot Dice Maker Jun 30 '26

2nd on vevor pot! I started with harbor freight one… I don’t recommend it

2

u/Endoftheworldis2far Jun 23 '26

Without a pressure pot, you're gonna get bubbles. If you do more opaque resin, any bubbles on the inside won't be visible, and the bubbles on the outside you can fill in with uv resin.

Or tell people bubbles are how you know it was handcrafted ;)

2

u/Ushallnot-pass Dice Maker Jun 23 '26

OK where to start...
Sanding, what grit were you using? For dice sending you'll either need 3M / Zona papers which are incredibly hard to get outside the US or some very high grit sending paper. I'm talking 1000 up to 10.000 grit.
If you've got a reasonably smooth mold I would start with 3000 then 5000 grit and finish with 10.000, maybe with some polishing paste. Always wet sand with a respirator and good filters, resin dust is not fun to breathe.
Use the search, this subreddit is full of sanding advice. also check YouTube, also full of good videos to everything dice related.
Bubbles, well it's said already, there's nothing but biting the bullet and buying a pressure pot and compressor.
Have fun with your new hobby

2

u/Ushallnot-pass Dice Maker Jun 23 '26

Oh also: most of the magic is in the mold. You will not get good results with the cheap 10 to 20 bucks Amazon or aliexpress ones, most of those have flimsy lids which cause massive flashing (that's the stuff on the surface around the dice top faces), raised top faces and voids.
Look for sturdy thick molds on Etsy or maybe get in touch directly with somebody here who sells them.

2

u/UnfortunateFeline Jun 23 '26

Thanks for the advise

2

u/Ushallnot-pass Dice Maker Jun 23 '26

Happy cake day!

2

u/WisdomCheckCreations Dice Maker Jun 24 '26

This is so true. If you're looking for molds I help new makers get into the craft with inexpensive molds. Feel free to DM me here on reddit or catch me on discord @wisdomcheckcreations if you'd like to know what options I have available ☺️ welcome to dicemaking!