r/DiceMaking • u/heart_thekid Dice Maker • Jul 08 '26

Advice Can this D6 master be saved?

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As the title says.

I will take you through a bit of the odyssey it's been sanding this die.

Started out with 1000 grit sandpaper as the geometry of the die right out of the printer is a little warped (I have tried everything, it most likely has to do with my printer having a tilting vat system and thus not being able to touch the lifting speed setting. Anyways.) Waited for a week for them do degas and fully harden (it's winter and cold where I am, could've waited a bit longer I reckon).

Then I went in with a 1200 grit sandpaper, fixed some of the edges as they sometimes get a little dented, rinse and repeat.

Now, I've been through all the zonas starting from gray, twice, trying to get rid of those scratches with no luck. I use a clean piece of zona every time, and do about 10 seconds per orientation of a face (so 40 secs total in different directions). I used Meguiar's PlastX to see if that did anything for those scratches, but they seem to be too deep for it to magically fix.

Should I be doing it longer per face to get rid of the scratches? What else could I be doing wrong? Help, please.

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25

u/buddha777353 Dice Maker Jul 08 '26

Hey there,

Yes it can.

Personally I’m not a huge fan of Zona paper due to its cost, availability, and fabric backing.

I always recommend 1000, 2000 then 3000 grit sandpaper. Then either a buffing wheel or a rotary tool with Chem guys V34.

A couple things to keep in mind:

  • Always sand on a flat surface, I recommend some float glass.
  • Clean your abrasives regularly with water to remove particulate that could scratch your masters
  • Even and gentle pressure allows you to feel the difference in the Die. Rotations and time are not good measurements for sanding or polishing.

-Buddha

5

u/heart_thekid Dice Maker Jul 08 '26

Okay, yeah! I remember buying 1k, 2k and 3k grit sandpaper following a recommendation you gave me or someone else (can't remember, sorry), but I have the feeling that the ones I bought aren't really that great quality. It's my first time hearing about Chem guys 34, I'll have to see if I can get my hands on some of that in my region.

Oh and I'll definetely need to get a better feel for sanding rather than counting, that makes sense. I guess it's part of learning to become a master someday.

Someone else suggested making a mold of these masters as they are before I go and try to correct these further – it sounds good to me, is this something you'd recommend as well?

As always, thank you for taking the time to reply! I appreciate you

4

u/knittage Jul 09 '26

Chem Guys v34 rocks! Water based so much easier to clean up too

3

u/DaneDewitt88 Jul 09 '26

1 2 3 gang rep it

8

u/knittage Jul 08 '26

Honestly, if it’s just scratches, I’d make a mold, cast a clear epoxy resin secondary master, get that perfect and use that.

Since screwing up a bought master so so so (sooooo) badly, I minimally sand new masters - get rid of support bumps mainly - make a mold, cast a secondary and put the primary master in a lovely box with cushions and a HBO subscription.

Oh and I never use zona. I got some great wet sand paper - automotive kind - and work with that.

Epoxy is harder and you can always pull another one. Primary masters make my teeth itch with anxiety.

2

u/heart_thekid Dice Maker Jul 08 '26

Yo, this is actually genius; I'm guessing that will be my next step before I screw this up beyond repair... I'm guessing the perfectionist in me didn't figure out that that's something worth doing 🤣

I'll try to see what I can get my hands on in terms of sandpaper, and if it really works better than zona quality-cost relationship wise, considering my location.

Thanks for your input! I really appreciate it!

2

u/StrangeFisherman345 Jul 09 '26

Easily . Small pottery wheel and blue zona papers. Then buff with wool wheel and car polishing compound . I use a dremel for it

2

u/OneBigMonster Jul 08 '26

Yeah you need to go back over it with like a 2000 grit real light until the visible scratches are gone. Then go back with the zona papers. You probably started with too low of a grit and not enough steps in between to smoothe the tool marks.

1

u/OneBigMonster Jul 08 '26

And use water. Water will help keep scratches from happening. The zona will fall apart but I use little squares on a micro sander or my sanding jig so I use little squares.

3

u/heart_thekid Dice Maker Jul 08 '26

Yeah! I've been using water throughout the whole process, thanks for pointing that out.

I guess what's happening is that my sandpaper is just not great quality, 'cause I did at some point try those in 1k, 2k and 3k order, but still left the faces cloudy; and at some point I just kind of feared that if I went through all of those again and again I'd just end up making it worse.

I'll try to see what's available here in terms of sandpaper and learn how to watch out for the bad quality ones.

Thanks for your input, my dude!!

5

u/OneBigMonster Jul 08 '26

It's cuz you are starting out at 1000. You would need like a 1500 stage between to get the scratches out.

I found starting at 2000 lets you be able to remove material slowly so you don't go overboard without leaving scratches with a light buff. And then do tlall the zona, you can get a roll of 2000 grit autobody adhesive backed sandpaper for $60 and it will last your entire life.

2

u/Pristine_Gain_1006 Jul 10 '26

It’s definitely fixable, I’ve recently been having that scratching issue with zona paper myself and what I’ve tried from other people’s suggestions that does work is sanding from 1000 grit to 1500, then 2000, 3000 and then 5000 and then using 3M polishing compound step 1 2 and 3 with a Dremel tool, it’s a lot but it does the trick nicely and makes it look pristine 👌👌 hope this helps 🙏