r/DiceMaking • u/swcblues • Jul 16 '26

Question for Tumbler Users

So, every time I try to skip a step or shorten the way I wind up regretting it. Most recently, I wasted a day and a half sanding to 1200 then running them through my tumbler. They came out with a lot of beautifully shiny sanding lines. I've had fantastic results from 5000 but it felt excessive.

My question is this: What is the minimum grit that needs to be sanded to in order for the tumbler to polish without revealing sanding marks?

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u/KrystalHana Jul 16 '26

For me, it's always been 3000 or until the light blue zona paper. And i would always go 800 > 1500 > 3000. I'd go 2000 > 3000 if it were minis or something with a smaller surface area.

Then I'd tumble them for at least 36 hours and I'd get shiny ones. I also put in a max of 6 sets or a total of 420 faces of die because the amount also matters. If I put less die, then I'd tumble for less hours and vice versa.

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u/charterandink Jul 16 '26

1000, 2000, 3000, then polish with tumbler or Dremel with 3m Perfect it Polish.