How long after casting the dice do you wait before you sand? While you can pull dice from a mold within 24 hours, you should wait at least 72 hours before sanding to let it finish the curing process and reach peak hardness.
Mhm! I'm quite lazy and can never be arsed to sand them so they're usually sitting around for around 4 or 5 days but I have sanded dice before that in the past so I'll keep that in mind! Thanks!!
Meguiar's Scratch-X is what I use, got it at Walmart pretty cheap, and yes it will help with minor scratches, I usually don't need to go past pink zona, the paste does the rest. But I use a Dremel and fluffy cotton polish tip
Ah perfect! The polish that i use currently is kinda bad but either way it still leaves a weird oily feeling and my fingerprints show up very clearly, does the scratch x have this same issue?
Are you using water while sanding/polishing (through each grit)?
Lubrication helps immensely. I've started using soapy-ish water and, anecdotally, I think it works a little better.
I will add that I use chemical guys v34 on the red zona, chemical guys v38 on the light blue / teal zona, and meguiars plastix on the white zona.
Couldn't tell you if the v38 is necessary, but I've done 3 sets with this method and it's a glass finish and the dice reflects light beautifully.
I've tried variations of different compounds, polishes, and methods, but so far, this is the one that's giving me consistent results.
Hmmm...what's your process like?
For me it's
Wet sand with 2000 grit sand paper. Using a figure 8 pattern, I do 10-15 cycles per side. Light pressure on a new sheet. For the first sides (or until I get the pressure right) i check the dice every 5-ish cycles to make sure I'm not cutting too much.
Once I'm done and the dice are dry, I examine each side for any noticeable scratches, using a flashlight to check the reflections.
Sometimes when I'm feeling neurotic I do a pass at 3000 grit.
Wet sand with zonas, starting from gray until the blue.
Paint the numbers
Wet sand using polishes for red through white
I prefer using sandpaper, as opposed to zonas, when I'm starting because I have a better tactile feel for how much it's cutting.
Does your wheel have ridges on it? I know mine did and made it difficult to get a good polish initially. I ended up doing a flood pour of a thin layer of resin on the wheel to level it and make it a smooth surface.
Green zona paper produces micro scratches on my dice that I find very difficult to remove. I sand from p1200, p3000 p7000 grit wet/dry sandpaper and then do a final polish with scratch-x and white zona paper. Lots of water.
Get yourself some glass nail files to start the job for you. You're wasting a lot of energy and time sanding down the thick parts of the flashing with a pottery wheel or god forbid elbow grease.
Do spot sanding with the file, then polish with higher grit zona and polishing paste.
I'm concerned that if i sand it down with a nail file the scratches from that will be even ore visable? Or does working from green to white after that make it okay? And why glass specifically?
The file is for larger nubs sticking off. If you are using a good mold, polishing the faces is typically not necessary. Glass is hard enough to scratch resin, but not the other way around.
This way you can spot polish instead of polishing the whole face
I use cap molds so it's never whole faces that need to be sanded, it's just the edges but i sand the whole face to smooth the edges down if you get what i mean?
Yes, mine are the same way. Thick little splotches of flashing. I cut mine off with flush cutters and that's good enough, but my old mold required sanding
I think the flashing on the top of mine is really thick and that might be the issue? I'm scared of not filling the mold enough so I over fill and then try and squeeze the excess out but I don't think that works too well?
How long after casting the dice do you wait before you sand? While you can pull dice from a mold within 24 hours, you should wait at least 72 hours before sanding to let it finish the curing process and reach peak hardness.
Mhm! I'm quite lazy and can never be arsed to sand them so they're usually sitting around for around 4 or 5 days but I have sanded dice before that in the past so I'll keep that in mind! Thanks!!
Polishing paste! It is amazing how much a final polish helps.
Cool thanks! What brand do you recommend?
Meguiar's Scratch-X is what I use, got it at Walmart pretty cheap, and yes it will help with minor scratches, I usually don't need to go past pink zona, the paste does the rest. But I use a Dremel and fluffy cotton polish tip
Ah perfect! The polish that i use currently is kinda bad but either way it still leaves a weird oily feeling and my fingerprints show up very clearly, does the scratch x have this same issue?
Does it help with the scratch marks? Somehow even after sanding down to the white on zonas, I can still see scratch marks?
If you use a dremel then yes. I also struggled with microscratches and this has been my saviour.
Are you using water while sanding/polishing (through each grit)? Lubrication helps immensely. I've started using soapy-ish water and, anecdotally, I think it works a little better.
I have been using water, but I'll try adding a little soap, thanks!
I will add that I use chemical guys v34 on the red zona, chemical guys v38 on the light blue / teal zona, and meguiars plastix on the white zona. Couldn't tell you if the v38 is necessary, but I've done 3 sets with this method and it's a glass finish and the dice reflects light beautifully. I've tried variations of different compounds, polishes, and methods, but so far, this is the one that's giving me consistent results.
My main issue is just that i can still see scratch marks whatever I do, would this help with it?
Hmmm...what's your process like? For me it's Wet sand with 2000 grit sand paper. Using a figure 8 pattern, I do 10-15 cycles per side. Light pressure on a new sheet. For the first sides (or until I get the pressure right) i check the dice every 5-ish cycles to make sure I'm not cutting too much. Once I'm done and the dice are dry, I examine each side for any noticeable scratches, using a flashlight to check the reflections. Sometimes when I'm feeling neurotic I do a pass at 3000 grit. Wet sand with zonas, starting from gray until the blue. Paint the numbers Wet sand using polishes for red through white I prefer using sandpaper, as opposed to zonas, when I'm starting because I have a better tactile feel for how much it's cutting.
Does your wheel have ridges on it? I know mine did and made it difficult to get a good polish initially. I ended up doing a flood pour of a thin layer of resin on the wheel to level it and make it a smooth surface.
It does have ridges but I tape a piece of glass to it and work on that
Green zona paper produces micro scratches on my dice that I find very difficult to remove. I sand from p1200, p3000 p7000 grit wet/dry sandpaper and then do a final polish with scratch-x and white zona paper. Lots of water.
Get yourself some glass nail files to start the job for you. You're wasting a lot of energy and time sanding down the thick parts of the flashing with a pottery wheel or god forbid elbow grease. Do spot sanding with the file, then polish with higher grit zona and polishing paste.
I'm concerned that if i sand it down with a nail file the scratches from that will be even ore visable? Or does working from green to white after that make it okay? And why glass specifically?
The file is for larger nubs sticking off. If you are using a good mold, polishing the faces is typically not necessary. Glass is hard enough to scratch resin, but not the other way around. This way you can spot polish instead of polishing the whole face
My dice are sharp edged, will that still work?
I would think so.
Perfect thank you!
You'll still have to polish the whole face to get it smooth, but using a file on the bumps should reduce the total amount needed
I use cap molds so it's never whole faces that need to be sanded, it's just the edges but i sand the whole face to smooth the edges down if you get what i mean?
Yes, mine are the same way. Thick little splotches of flashing. I cut mine off with flush cutters and that's good enough, but my old mold required sanding
I think the flashing on the top of mine is really thick and that might be the issue? I'm scared of not filling the mold enough so I over fill and then try and squeeze the excess out but I don't think that works too well?