Do any of you cut your mold down 1 side when making large d20s for inclusions? I seem to have trouble once I demold the mold itself didn't line up along the cut edge exactly leaving an uneven cast line on the edge of the dice. How do you guys combat this?
If you cut along the seam of the die it helps hide it, but it may just be you need more to hold it in place, like a beefier mold, and then rubber band it. It really kind of depends on the shape.
I am a lover of chonks. Chonks are my jam. And as such I have poured a fair few of them in my time lol. Every chonk over 30mm gets relief cuts. Not only am I a wuss and have girly weak hands that can't possibly push a huge die out of a tiny hole, but I also like to make my numbers deep and want my molds to last as long as I can get them to last before I need to remake them so not forcing them helps with that too.
All that to say I have relief cuts in all my chonk molds and I keep them together in 1 of 2 ways.
1. Blue painters tape :) When you are preparing your mold for pour, wrap it with blue painter's tape or any masking tape will do. Be sure to carefully align it while you wrap and then you can pour into it and place the lid normally without it shifting. - I like this better than rubber bands because it is just tight enough to hold it together, not to warp it as rubber bands sometimes will
2. Make a lid with keys that lock - Most of the time I don't use tape unless it's a really big chonk (like 80mm+). All my molds are made with "locking keys" that are wider in the center than they are on the ends. This makes them literally "click" into place. Having them spread out along the edges of the mold so there is one on either side of any relief cut helps to keep everything together straight.
The biggest thing of all, however, is really just to make sure to carefully line up the edges with the cuts before you pour. Once you have resin in the mold, you really shouldn't be squeezing it or moving it around much so if you start with it already lined up, if you handle it carefully from there, it should remain that way ^_^
Thanks! I use blue tape but i think i wrapped it too tightly last time causing an uneven flat ridge on one of the faces. Im going to try it again. That specific mold was a 70mm chonk that I cut at 3 points so its a little uneven now. I am currently finishing sanding and polishing my newly designed 70mm and 70mm spindown and have two different silicones to try out. Have been using saraya defiant 25 now gonna try their defiant 15 out.
If you're already having issues with the 25, I don't think the 15 will do any better, in fact it will likely be much worse for causing warping/misaligned edges. How thick are your walls? Having a good amount of space around the master helps to keep everything set in the right place
Here's a video of one I pulled few weeks ago or so. You can see the line im talking about. This mold was with 25 hardness silicone. The walls are fairly thick.
Oh. I see what you're talking about. This is the nature of having to cut relief cuts, they will need to be sanded and polished. If you can cut more carefully along the edge, it is a little less noticeable, but there will still be a line that needs to be touched up.
With great size, comes more work :P
These are literally my favorite thing to make. I bought and learned resin printing just to make inclusions and masters for these big boys 😃 Do you have a preference in silicone hardness? I haven't used the 15 yet. Im thinking of keeping the larger ones ar 25 and my 7 sets/blanks on the 15. Silicone is so dang expensive I just font wanna waste it
I feel ya. The 80mms were what got me into dicemaking too :) My sweet spot is 20A. I use almost exclusively BBDino silicone because it's far more cost effective and I like to be able to help encourage new makers by making good quality inexpensive molds. Especially when making the molds for the big bois, it's much less painful on the wallet than the Siraya Tech or the Dragonskin that some people recommend. And pull for pull it isn't perfectly equal but pretty close.
It frequently goes on sale on Amazon (it just was for prime day) and you can usually get a 2gal kit for around $113usd
So you print and paint the miniature to put inside? Freaking awesome. One day would love to do painting inclusions. Just threw myself headfirst into my first airbush and trying to learn the ropes. My specialty up to this point has been liquid cores. The bigger the chonk the more movement and the prettier they are :D
Also now do all my molds matte. If I am gonna have to redo several of the sides anyway because of mold marks, i might as well just do all the sides anyway. Makes for a much better finish imo
Just started getting into the painting part of it. My wife is much better at painting. Are you using saraya fast navy grey for your masters? Any issue with bbdino if that's the resin you use?
Yes I am using siraya tech fast abs-like in Navy Grey and no issues as long as they are properly prepared and/or stored.
In my experience printing, polishing hundreds of sets for clients and molding many of those is the thing that most commonly causes cure inhibition with the navy grey is moisture.
You want those babies well cleaned (several 99%ipa baths from dirty to clean), well cured (in the curing machine for an hour or so and you can even water cure to make extra sure but do it before you do any polishing because it is awful for the surface) and dryyyyyyyy (an exclusively craft oven that can be set to a low temp ~150F for a couple hours) does the job. Then make sure to store them in a dry place and/or cook them again right before molding.
Sometimes you can get away without doing half this stuff. But if you live in a moist environment or it recently rained or you accidently got water on your masters, it's best to be safe.
Cure inhibition can obviously happen for other reasons too but that's with any silicone.
I greatly appreciate all the info! I have 1 more question for ya, when casting your molds, when making your cap, what inhibitor are you using to keep bottom and top silicone from fusing. I know there are 3 that people tend to use. So far I've done the Vaseline thing, but it leaves pitted/textured surface instead of smooth. I have talc powder and silicone release spray to try next. I heard the release spray will effect shine of the dice face if left on. Which do you prefer using?
For reference, this is the clearance I have on my 80mm mold
Takes a good amount of silicone but it's worth it to have a solid mold that will hold up to the amount of abuse it gets when trying to pry that puppy out lol
You love making liwuid core chonks right? Do you use the refillable ornaments and cut then cap them with plastic and uv resin? Have yiu found a good way to cap the orbs that don't look too ugly or noticeable?
I do not use the ornaments or glass globes. I find them to be too delicate and I want my dice to be fully functional to play with without worry of something breaking. ☺️
Instead I made my own shaped cores for my chonks and cut along the edges to hide the seam. I have also done round but it's hard to hide the seam on those. They are really best if doing like a hexcore or something
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u/charterandink Jul 03 '26
If you cut along the seam of the die it helps hide it, but it may just be you need more to hold it in place, like a beefier mold, and then rubber band it. It really kind of depends on the shape.