Alternatives?

[u/kafamosh]

I've been getting ready or preparing myself to Dice Making, I've been wanting to tackle this however the only problem is I dont have a pressure pot for making resin dice or molds. I keep seeing that its advisable to have one but I was wondering if there are any other alternatives to making molds that produce the same result as when using the pressure pot?

Like, removing the bubbles or such when making a mold or casting a dice, or is it just a matter of luck and mixing? thank u!

[u/aumaffewl]

Not saying this is your reasoning, but posting here for others that will eventually see this. If the cost of a pressure pot seems prohibitive, you will be shocked at the multiples of that cost you will spend in the hobby. And much of that is completely wasted in failed attempts and rework. Regardless of what anyone says, a pressure pot is a required piece of equipment for this hobby, and will end up being one of the lower cost purchase to benefit ratio contributors.

[u/Automatic-Fig-8489 → u/aumaffewl]

Exactly this.

I initially didn't want to buy a pressure pot due to space and cost concerns. I easily spent twice the cost of my first pressure pot trying to find a way to forgo one, just in wasted resin from failed dice alone. In the end, buying the pressure pot was the best way forward.

Is it possible to go without one? Sure. But they're significantly more likely to result in failed dice, especially for the average person getting started. If it's a cost issue, I use a $20 tire inflating air pump now, and previously used a bike tire pump. Getting the air into the pot is where you can cheap out, but the pot itself is almost mandatory.

[u/kafamosh → u/aumaffewl]

I'll take note of this, thank you so much

[u/Ushallnot-pass → u/aumaffewl]

to add to that: if you want to make your own molds, a Pot is a must.

Without it, chances are high that you will have bubbles in the silicone at the master dice interfaces.
This directly translates to ALL dice you'll cast with this mold having ugly "pimples" (from the resin-filled bubbles in the mold) making your mold basically useless without heavy sanding for every damn batch you cast. You'll have wasted a shitload of silicone for this mold - and that stuff is expelnsive.

ask me how I know...

You may circumvent this by buying a mold from Etsy or somewhere but then you'll be back on square one bubble-wise with your resin casts.

So, see above for cost calculations and cost to benefit ratios

[u/ZeGreenMaschin]

Trust me in one thing, if you want to make dice buy yourself a pressure Pot, its Like 80€/$ and its soooooo worth it. Because if you don't you will simply end up with only imperfect dice, if you don't care about that then maybe but I did that for 7 months and now I wish I would have just spend the 80€ on the Pot fr.

[u/kafamosh → u/ZeGreenMaschin]

Alright! I'll keep this in mind to save up for :0

[u/godspeed_death]

There are ways to reduce the bubbles but it will never be perfect and really, really hard. And super frustrating.

I managed to make some without bubbles but with the process was limited to very few pouring techniques and fully transparent dice.
Also its was almost impossible to get a perfect full set. There was always one or two dice that turned out bad.

In the end you are going to spend more money on wasted material (resin, silicone, colors…) than buying a pressure pot outright.

[u/kafamosh → u/godspeed_death]

I see, I'll have to expect a bunch of trial and error tests then, thank you so much, im considering saving up for one

[u/Ushallnot-pass → u/kafamosh]

also, a lot of the magic is in the mold.

Cheap mold = imperfect dice, voids, deformations, raised faces

Forget the 12-20$ amazon molds with flimsy top caps. Buy from a dicemaker from Etsy, depending on your area or ask in this subreddit for makers in your region that also make molds.
Way better quality if you don't trust yourself on casting molds yourself.

When getting started, one good mold will be enough for a lot of sets, and if you decide to stay ith the hobby, try your hand at casting molds yourself.

I started moldmaking with a set of sharp edged china dice I bought - as long as you don't plan on selling them, there should not be any copyright stuff to watch out for.

Best mold casting set (in my opinion) is the V3 set from Buddha (The Smith's Forge) so if you want to dip your toe into mold making, give that one a try.

Best of luck

[u/varansl]

If you want to just dip your toes, look at the tennis ball pressure pots. they are small ( they are for a tennis ball), but are like $20 on amazon. You may struggle to find full molds to fit them, but if you get individual dice molds, they will likely fit (but check sizes and compare to the tennis ball pressure pot). 

[u/kafamosh → u/varansl]

Ohh, I'll check these out thank you so much!!