saphira
off to a rocking start
Member since June 2020
Posts: 8
|
Post by saphira on Jun 8, 2020 11:01:50 GMT -5
Hi! i was directed here after asking an experienced rock tumbler and several fruitless days of searching, so i'm hoping someone has any experience with this! I've worked with resin for years, but recently started making playing dice. i love the colours, and it's generally a very calming process, but sanding one of the faces smooth (generally one one face has imperfections because of the casting method i use) and polishing them has been really hard on my hands. After a lot of research i came across dry tumbling with a corn cob media, and thought this might be a good place to start experimenting. Does anyone have any experience with polishing resin pieces or even remotely think this would work? The process i came across described rotary dry tumbling with corn cob and aluminium oxide, which i thought might work, but i'd love to get some feedback on! My pieces generally need very little sanding and come out mostly polished (to 1 micron) in all but 1 face ( which i will sand down to 12000, then polish to 1micron), but i always want to give them that glass like shine uniform on every face that i tend to only be able to get with a lot of time and manual effort. I understand i will lose some of the sharp corners i have, but it's a tradeoff i'm willing to make if it will allow me to keep polishing my pieces with less strain on my hands. Heres an example of the pieces i cast:   ![]() |
|
|
|
Post by stonemon on Jun 8, 2020 11:13:41 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum from western Oregon!
|
|
|
|
Post by knave on Jun 8, 2020 11:17:36 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum! You could look into a flat lap machine?
|
|
|
|
Post by manofglass on Jun 8, 2020 11:18:51 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum from Michigan
|
|
saphira
off to a rocking start
Member since June 2020
Posts: 8
|
Post by saphira on Jun 8, 2020 11:42:11 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum! You could look into a flat lap machine? Thank you! =) I already use something similar, but these pieces are very small and it ends up being very time consuming do to it by hand, and painful after a time because of how small the pieces are. It's also very easy to oversand or polish each face differently, which for dice is not ideal. I was hoping a tumbler would provide a more uniform, hands-off solution, but i cant seem to find any resources. |
|
whyofquartz
spending too much on rocks
So, Africa is smaller than I expected...
Member since December 2019
Posts: 318
|
Post by whyofquartz on Jun 8, 2020 11:51:51 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum! You could look into a flat lap machine? Thank you! =) I already use something similar, but these pieces are very small and it ends up being very time consuming do to it by hand, and painful after a time because of how small the pieces are. It's also very easy to oversand or polish each face differently, which for dice is not ideal. I was hoping a tumbler would provide a more uniform, hands-off solution, but i cant seem to find any resources. it is far from being inexpensive to buy but a faceting machine may help, if you look around you may find a simple faceting stand that you could make yourself. beautiful dice btw |
|
EricD
Cave Dweller 
High in the Mountains
Member since November 2019
Posts: 1,142
|
Post by EricD on Jun 8, 2020 11:57:51 GMT -5
If you want to, you can ship me one and I can do some experiments with it in my vibratory tumbler and see what I can come up with.
It shouldn't round the corners much, if any, depending on the starting finish and the grits necessary to remove the scratches.
What grit would you guess the finish is before any polishing, or better put, what grit do you begin the polishing process with?
|
|
|
|
Post by knave on Jun 8, 2020 11:58:09 GMT -5
If you could sand the imperfect side only, to maybe 600 grit. There’s a chance a vibe tumbler would do the trick.
|
|
saphira
off to a rocking start
Member since June 2020
Posts: 8
|
Post by saphira on Jun 8, 2020 12:25:02 GMT -5
If you want to, you can ship me one and I can do some experiments with it in my vibratory tumbler and see what I can come up with. It shouldn't round the corners much, if any, depending on the starting finish and the grits necessary to remove the scratches. What grit would you guess the finish is before any polishing, or better put, what grit do you begin the polishing process with? On most sides they come out of the mold polished to a glass finish, which i obtain on the rougher face when i polish to 2 micron with 3M polishing papers ( i generally sand to 12000 with micro mesh). i'm in the UK, so i was trying to experiment myself, but i may just take you up on that and send you a few if that's okay! |
|
saphira
off to a rocking start
Member since June 2020
Posts: 8
|
Post by saphira on Jun 8, 2020 12:28:39 GMT -5
Thank you! =) I already use something similar, but these pieces are very small and it ends up being very time consuming do to it by hand, and painful after a time because of how small the pieces are. It's also very easy to oversand or polish each face differently, which for dice is not ideal. I was hoping a tumbler would provide a more uniform, hands-off solution, but i cant seem to find any resources. it is far from being inexpensive to buy but a faceting machine may help, if you look around you may find a simple faceting stand that you could make yourself. beautiful dice btw Thank you! Unfortunately that would be way more than i'd be willing to invest in the process. =/ |
|
EricD
Cave Dweller
High in the Mountains
Member since November 2019
Posts: 1,142
|
Post by EricD on Jun 8, 2020 12:51:58 GMT -5
If you want to, you can ship me one and I can do some experiments with it in my vibratory tumbler and see what I can come up with. It shouldn't round the corners much, if any, depending on the starting finish and the grits necessary to remove the scratches. What grit would you guess the finish is before any polishing, or better put, what grit do you begin the polishing process with? On most sides they come out of the mold polished to a glass finish, which i obtain on the rougher face when i polish to 2 micron with 3M polishing papers ( i generally sand to 12000 with micro mesh). i'm in the UK, so i was trying to experiment myself, but i may just take you up on that and send you a few if that's okay! Sure thing! If/when you need it you can PM me for the address.
Are you using a random orbital sander or doing this all by hand? I have a handy mini electric random orbital that I use to polish plastic headlight lenses to a mirror finish. Can't imagine doing it by hand
|
|
reeniebeany
starting to spend too much on rocks
Rotary Only
Member since January 2020
Posts: 125
|
Post by reeniebeany on Jun 8, 2020 12:59:35 GMT -5
If you want to, you can ship me one and I can do some experiments with it in my vibratory tumbler and see what I can come up with. It shouldn't round the corners much, if any, depending on the starting finish and the grits necessary to remove the scratches. What grit would you guess the finish is before any polishing, or better put, what grit do you begin the polishing process with? On most sides they come out of the mold polished to a glass finish, which i obtain on the rougher face when i polish to 2 micron with 3M polishing papers ( i generally sand to 12000 with micro mesh). i'm in the UK, so i was trying to experiment myself, but i may just take you up on that and send you a few if that's okay! I think there are some other forum members in the UK? Maybe one of them will see this and volunteer for testing. Pretty dice! |
|
EricD
Cave Dweller
High in the Mountains
Member since November 2019
Posts: 1,142
|
Post by EricD on Jun 8, 2020 13:08:50 GMT -5
|
|
EricD
Cave Dweller
High in the Mountains
Member since November 2019
Posts: 1,142
|
Post by EricD on Jun 8, 2020 13:20:56 GMT -5
I was also just thinking that some thinned hxtal epoxy painted on with a small brush might cure with a good enough finish to be acceptable, even over a roughly sanded surface? I was just ordering some and that idea popped up in the empty space between my ears  |
|
saphira
off to a rocking start
Member since June 2020
Posts: 8
|
Post by saphira on Jun 8, 2020 14:32:50 GMT -5
Sure thing! If/when you need it you can PM me for the address. Are you using a random orbital sander or doing this all by hand? I have a handy mini electric random orbital that I use to polish plastic headlight lenses to a mirror finish. Can't imagine doing it by hand
I started doing it by hand, which is the norm in the dice making community by the way, and then started using a pottery wheel with polishing papers, which works better and takes less time, but it still a massive drain of time. An orbital sander tends to have too much torque and too little control for these pieces( i've seen a number of people try it), and using epoxy on the faces would not be feasible for a number of reasons ( balance issues, for example). one of the biggest advantages of using a tumbler, as i saw it, would be that the polish would be uniform. Please do feel free to correct me, i've been reading up a lot but have no practical experience at all! |
|
saphira
off to a rocking start
Member since June 2020
Posts: 8
|
Post by saphira on Jun 8, 2020 14:35:20 GMT -5
On most sides they come out of the mold polished to a glass finish, which i obtain on the rougher face when i polish to 2 micron with 3M polishing papers ( i generally sand to 12000 with micro mesh). i'm in the UK, so i was trying to experiment myself, but i may just take you up on that and send you a few if that's okay! I think there are some other forum members in the UK? Maybe one of them will see this and volunteer for testing. Pretty dice! i'd be over the moon, especially because that would mean i'd be able to find the materials used (if successful) more easily around here. I absolutely appreciate any and all help and advice. |
|
EricD
Cave Dweller
High in the Mountains
Member since November 2019
Posts: 1,142
|
Post by EricD on Jun 8, 2020 17:35:58 GMT -5
Are you using a random orbital sander or doing this all by hand? I have a handy mini electric random orbital that I use to polish plastic headlight lenses to a mirror finish. Can't imagine doing it by hand
I started doing it by hand, which is the norm in the dice making community by the way, and then started using a pottery wheel with polishing papers, which works better and takes less time, but it still a massive drain of time. An orbital sander tends to have too much torque and too little control for these pieces( i've seen a number of people try it), and using epoxy on the faces would not be feasible for a number of reasons ( balance issues, for example). one of the biggest advantages of using a tumbler, as i saw it, would be that the polish would be uniform. Please do feel free to correct me, i've been reading up a lot but have no practical experience at all! The problem with doing it in a rotary tumbler is the requirement of water and media like ceramic media, depending on how fine the finish is initially. When dry tumbling in a rotary with corn cob media I wouldn't suggest anything coarser than about 10k because it would tend to fall to the bottom with no liquid to stick it to things.
In a vibratory tumbler you could avoid the rounding action of a traditional rotary recipe, and round the edges a LOT less. Not dry, the same issue would arise with grit accumulating on the bottom. If a 600 or so finish can be achieved easily on your dice by hand, it should be easy (mind, I have never tried it) to finish the piece with extremely little rounding with traditional vibe recipes starting with aluminum oxide 500 grit for a day to three, then moving to aluminum oxide polish (12k+) for the same
|
|
saphira
off to a rocking start
Member since June 2020
Posts: 8
|
Post by saphira on Jun 8, 2020 18:16:47 GMT -5
The problem with doing it in a rotary tumbler is the requirement of water and media like ceramic media, depending on how fine the finish is initially. When dry tumbling in a rotary with corn cob media I wouldn't suggest anything coarser than about 10k because it would tend to fall to the bottom with no liquid to stick it to things.
In a vibratory tumbler you could avoid the rounding action of a traditional rotary recipe, and round the edges a LOT less. Not dry, the same issue would arise with grit accumulating on the bottom. If a 600 or so finish can be achieved easily on your dice by hand, it should be easy (mind, I have never tried it) to finish the piece with extremely little rounding with traditional vibe recipes starting with aluminum oxide 500 grit for a day to three, then moving to aluminum oxide polish (12k+) for the same
600 is extremely easy, especially because only one face needs it due to the nature of the mold- i generally start sanding that one at 800. the video i watched suggested the dry corn cob and aluminum oxide mix for high polishing on softer rocks, which was why i thought it sounded promising =) thank you so much for your advice, i'm actually really excited to try it! |
|
EricD
Cave Dweller
High in the Mountains
Member since November 2019
Posts: 1,142
|
Post by EricD on Jun 9, 2020 7:23:44 GMT -5
I tried dry polishing in my vibe once, and liked the waxy-feeling polish so little I threw away 10lbs of corn cob media so I wouldn't be tempted to do it again. It's like the polish actually compacted into any microscopic voids and pits in the stones and couldn't be removed. Of course I only tried it once so I'm not an expert at it, but for me, once was one too many times.
I then ran the same stones in the vibe again with a traditional polish recipe and was much more pleased with the outcome vs dry polishing.
|
|
saphira
off to a rocking start
Member since June 2020
Posts: 8
|
Post by saphira on Jun 12, 2020 11:24:40 GMT -5
Check with Chuck(Drummond Island Rocks). I believe he polishes bowlerite in a Lot-O vibe. The Lot-O may be your best way. [Admin Edit - photo removed] Thank you so much, i will look into it! =) |
|
