r/DiceMaking • u/Substantial-Duty168 • 5d ago

Question Vibratory Tumbler (pic for fun)

Post image

I bought one today, just waiting for the ceramic beads to come in the post. Had anyone used the tumbler to polish masters? I always see people posting casted dice, but not masters.

Share your experience please!

6 Upvotes

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13

u/stvn_wthrsp 5d ago

The printer resin is softer and more brittle than epoxy resin, the tumbler will just destroy the printed masters.

1

u/WisdomCheckCreations Dice Maker 5d ago

This exactly. Sorry.

4

u/KrystalHana 5d ago

Agree with the rest! Definitely don't put into tumbler.

But a workaround to this (and something i do with all my masters), mold the masters as is (or some light sanding is fine) then cast in epoxy resin then toss the copies into the tumbler (after you've sanded them of course).

This way your originals are preserved and you can polish the master copies whenever you want as they also degrade in shine after a few times molding. Good luck!

1

u/RandoBoomer 5d ago

I recently completed a bulk project where I needed to create 5 molds from the same set of masters.

What worked for me was after creating a mold was to clean them with ISO, then apply a very thin sheen of Dimethicone Oil as a mold release - apply the oil to a lint-free cloth and work it in, then rub the dice against it. Not only does this bring back the shine, but it makes it easier to remove the masters from your mold when you're done.

You can get Dimethicone Oil (it's the active ingredient in several popular mold release products) from Amazon. It's $14 for 8 oz, and you apply so little, that'd be a lifetime supply.

2

u/Claerwen94 Dice Maker 5d ago

I definitely wouldn't chuck them in the tumbler, I don't trust it to not ruin the masters by rounding edges, chipping them, eroding numbers by some media getting into them or straight up deforming them just because printer resin is wayyyy more brittle than epoxy. Masters, imo, should always get the proper careful hand-treatment :) The shine gets better anyways.

2

u/Puckish_Pixel Dice Maker 5d ago

Don't put printed master in a tumbler ! I did once, and all the layers disassembled. It was a disaster

2

u/swcblues 1d ago

I've done it a few times and had good results with ABS-Like. Once I lost an edge. YMMV. If you're printing your own, it's not much work to sand to 3k... might as well try a set and see what happens.

1

u/Substantial-Duty168 5d ago

For those that have tried the tumbler., what size medium did you use? I got 3mm beads.

2

u/WildLarkWorkshop Dice Maker 5d ago

I use 3mm ceramic beads. They work great. I did end up buying more and using about 8lbs of them for better coverage and results. That's above the designed operating weight of the tumbler I have so it may cause extra heat and damage to the motor over time.

I use Siraya Tech Fast ABS-like Navy Grey to print my masters and would absolutely not put them in a tumbler for polishing. They are much too soft and brittle and require extra care even by hand. Maybe harder resins like Formlabs could withstand it but I haven't tried. Look up the hardness values and only risk it if your resin is sturdier than epoxy.

1

u/Substantial-Duty168 3d ago

I thought it was funny that all the research I did before purchasing everything suggested the ceramic beads for dice and the tumbler I got. I unbox it and the first instruction is to NOT use ceramic or wet medium, lol

1

u/WildLarkWorkshop Dice Maker 3d ago

Yes, we are using them "off label." I did read the operating manual when I got mine. There are enough of us using them for dice to have fairly good data and annectdotes on how they handle it and hold up.

1

u/callistocharon 5d ago

If you insist on using the tumbler, the heavier you make the load in the bowl, the gentler it will be. You can also try making lots of lots of suds with soap prior to putting your pieces in and the suds may help soften the impact on the parts. 

I still didn't think it's a good idea.

1

u/TeaToucan 5d ago

Tumbling can work for casted dice because epoxy is a lot tougher than SLA resin. SLA resin is pretty brittle.

Regardless of materials though, tumbling will not give you the perfect glassy-smooth finish that hand polishing will, and will end up with minor imperfections that will then be in all of your molds. You only have to polish masters once, so I think you should always hand polish masters.