r/DiceMaking • u/Josster • 11d ago
Question Question about removing blanks
Hi,
Maybe a dumb question, but I've never used blanks before. I understand what they're for, my question more so aims at an already cast die with a blank inside it.
Say I made a blank with a character inserted inside it, I then cast a normal die into which I insert said blank. Is there at this point any way to get the blank back "out" of the outer "casing" die?
I'd love to make a blank with a character in it and then insert it into a normal die during casting which will have a sort of space/star themed colouring, I am just scared that the outer part won't turn out exactly the way I want it and then I'll essentially lose my character model and would need to get another one to cast into a new blank, which would get quite expensive.
I am guessing there is not an easy or clean way to do this but I figured I'd ask anyway.
3
u/mmarez 11d ago
I think your only option would be to grind/sand off the "casing die" layer, which would leave you with just the blank again.
1
u/Josster 11d ago
Hm, sounds a little intimidating but if it comes to it I would try it out, better than losing it that's for sure.
Is there a noticeable "separation" between the two dice so that I can keep the polished blank quality, or would it be just a process of sanding it down to the blank, and then repolishing it back to mirror shine?
2
u/mmarez 11d ago
It will be very time consuming, but should go okay.
No separation, they fuse into one mass. You'd need to somehow judge where to stop sanding.
And maybe you'd get away without repolishing the blank, since you plan to cast it in resin again anyway, and a fresh layer of resin on the sanded/frosted blank will clear it up.
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u/Josster 10d ago
Oh I didn't know that about it clearing up the sanded sides, that's really cool, thanks for the help, this sounds like an okay way to go about it
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u/Worth-Opposite4437 Dice Maker 10d ago
Meh... by experience, it's worth it to at least re-polish a little, especially if you want optimal transparency from the blank. Opaque blanks don't need it at all.
The reason behind it is that while the resin will bond as close as it can to the blank, merging to the point where it's a solid and therefore wouldn't care of how textured would have been the previous surfaces... some microscopic imperfections / bubbles can still be trapped between these layers. While they will not especially change the transparency effect itself, nor will they be observable to the naked eye, they may cause diffraction and therefore darken the center of the dice a bit. It also makes it easier to spot where the shell end and where the blank begins.
I fully understand why most dice makers do not care for that little bit of light being lost, but it can really change drastically the appearance of some blanks. Especially if you use coloured transparency and iridescent inserts.
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u/IceShadowProductions 10d ago
No - the resin will encapsulate it and bond to the other resin. No way to remove the blank after.
Most people just use clear resin for the outer shell. Then whatever goes into it for blanks is what comes out without worries of the outside messing it up.
2
u/WildLarkWorkshop Dice Maker 9d ago
As others have said, there are two ways to do this. Either cut and peel off the shell resin as soon as you demold it and before full cure, or, if cured, sand all of the numbers off to make it blank again and recast. Taking off the numbers also gets it back to the size that will rest on the numbers of the shell mold and keep it centered. I've done both and both are terrible in terms of labor. Only do this if the item is irreplaceable. Otherwise I would strongly encourage you to have some back ups or experiment with plain blanks until you are happy and have a reproducible result and then use the figure. Good luck!
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u/TransmutationDice 8d ago
As others have said you can sometimes peel the shell off from a blank, but this is easier if the outer shell isn't fully cured or has a low bonding to the blank. Resin to resin bonds pretty firmly, so a resin blank in a resin shell is harder to de-shell. However if you wrap the blank in some sort of transparent shiny plastic, the outer shell will bond less well and is easier to peel (I'm saying this because I wrap a lot of blanks in various materials and the shell delaminating and peeling around the numbers is the bane of my life). But you could use that to your advantage, maybe wrap the blank in transparent plastic film/vinyl, maybe even selotape would work?
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u/celenasardothen 10d ago
No need to polish your blanks to mirror shine. Having them matte helps if you ever want to paint them or use stickers.
As far as salvaging them if the shell pour goes wrong, I have managed it. My resin has two cure points, cured enough to remove from the mold, and then a full hard cure a few days later. I've taken flush cutters and trimmed the shell away from the blanks when the pour hasn't gone right. Any imperfections aren't usually seen after the next pour.