Wood dice for fun

I decided to take a break from holiday gift orders and made myself some fun dice and a coin. This is using some blank dice and coins that I got at the hobby shop.


Designing the jig took way longer than designing the coin and dice! The dice are too tall for the crumb tray, so I needed lifters and a piece of acrylic for autofocusing the depth.

img3
img4

Update: I’ve shared the flex risers at Flex Risers

37 Likes

I like that you can raise and lower your jig. Great job

8 Likes

Thanks! I made those risers shortly after I got the GF. (I was playing with boxes and made the joints tight enough that they don’t need glue.) The slits are at quarter-inch steps and they are wide enough for popsicle sticks to act as a bridge. The top of the risers are level with the top of the crumb tray. I made the riser boxes big enough to hold a coin magnet. The magnets keeps them solidly attached to the bottom of the GF.

For this project, I used two cardboard cutouts. One solid and the other with holes for the dice. (I taped them together.) The cardboard jig is sitting on two raised popsicle sticks. The focusing acrylic is lifted on a hotel keycard just so the top of the acrylic is the same height as the dice. (Acrylic + hotel card is lightly taped to the top of two risers.)

7 Likes

That is very, very smart. I may have to make some myself; I don’t need them yet, but I can see them being handy in the future.

3 Likes

I love how the height of your jig can be adjusted for other projects. I have some 3D printed risers I use, but this looks much more adjustable then mine.

2 Likes

Must say, I too like the cut of your jig.

Also, I hadn’t realized before that regular old blue painter’s tape could make a good engrave-through protective masking for wood.

2 Likes

I use two types of painters tape. The yellow is less tacky than the blue. Both work great on acrylic to stop scratches and wood to prevent burn/smoke stains.

Some of the generic brands leave a little greasy smudge when the glue is heated by the laser. Duct tape cleans that right up. Just press on and pull off the duct tape and the smudge is gone.

3 Likes

That’s a neat jig. I made four pyramidal supports for a cutting board. I lost my other ones in my move. This is great for small projects. What a neat idea.

5 Likes

I love the fact that, as makers, we’re all like, “The dice and coin are cool, but those risers…”
They are ingenious, btw…

7 Likes

I was laughing at the exact same thing! Nobody’s commented on the dice, but everyone loves the risers…

3 Likes

I love your adjustable risers! Very cool! The dice would be fun to put different categories for when you don’t know what you want for dinner: Chinese, beef, chicken, fish, soup… Tired of trying to think what to make for dinner? “Let’s roll the dice and see.” :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

5 Likes

I have to agree with with all the others. The dice et al are nice but that jig is a thing of beauty

1 Like

I’ve shared the flex risers at Flex Risers

4 Likes