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Thread: Dice engraving - How to speed up the process

  1. #1

    Question Dice engraving - How to speed up the process

    Hi,

    I've just received an order about engraving small blank six sided dice (12mm) in large quantities (maybe 10000).

    I know how to do it for a handful dices but i never tackled a huge order like that.

    My normal steps would be :
    - Place all the dice on face 1 in the laser
    - Mask
    - Engrave
    - Paint
    - Remove the mask and clean
    - Turn all the dice on face 2 and realign
    - Repeat

    Obviously, the main problem is turning 10000 dices by hand, one by one !!!!

    Even if i proceed by batches, the problem is the same.

    I'm seeking for any solution from manual work tips to a full mechanical solution to build (!!!) !

    Did someone had to solve this type of challenge before ?

    Regards,

    Philippe

  2. #2
    Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics - University of Washington
    Kern 400W 4'x8' HSE with metal cutting add-on and rotary stage
    2-axis CNC mill, 2 manual mills, 3 lathes, other standard shop tools, . . . and a 7.5 MeV tandem Van de Graaff particle accelerator

  3. #3
    Hi Matt,

    Thanks. This previous thread goes a bit in every directions (dice providers...), but there are some good tips.

    This manual dice turning operation still seems unmanageable for huge quantities, even with the jigs help. I would have to recruit 2 or 3 people to turn dice all the day ! ^^

    Regards,

    Philippe

  4. #4
    I agree that it just to time consuming. I couldn't see were it would pay enough to make it worth your while.
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  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2005
    Location
    Sammamish, WA
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    7,630
    I agree, it seems like someone could buy dice already made (in China?) for far less than what we would have to charge for all that labor time.I would also consider it a terrible waste of time even if you get a decent price, and have a minimum wage employee to do the turning.



    Sammamish, WA

    Epilog Legend 24TT 45W, had a sign business for 17 years, now just doing laser work on the side.

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  6. #6
    Just for grins a giggles I Googled buy 10000 dice , $539 wholesale. Hey buy then and then sell them to your client for a 1000$
    If the Help and advice you received here was of any VALUE to you PLEASE! Become a Contributor
    Rabbit RL_XX_6040-60 watt Laser engraving/cutting machine Oh wait its a 3D Printer my bad LOL
    Lasercut 5.3
    CorelDraw X5

    10" Miter Saw with slide
    10" Table Saw
    8" bench mount 5 speed Drill Press
    Dremel, 3x21 Belt Sander


  7. #7
    @bert : My client doesn't want normal "dot" dice. Each face must be engraved with different symbol. I'm sure that even the chinese price won't be as low as the one you found !

    Related to our discussion, it seems that this firm manage to do something with their orders : http://q-workshop.com/customdice
    Maybe i'll try to contact them to learn their secret ! ^^ (i'm optimistic !)

  8. #8
    Bonjour Philippe

    Q-workshop use Galvo lasers, even turning a single set of dice by hand with the speed of a Galvo makes it profitable.

    I've done quite a few custom dice but it sure gets tedious after the first 1,000 or so

    cheers

    dave
    You did what !

  9. #9
    I didn't know what Galvo laser were before your post, Dave, it seems to be a really great machine !

    I'll try the manual dice turning on this order and refuse the next ones if it's too tedious.

    Does someone have some insight on managing the jigs placement between the batches ? I know that they are some very small offsets in X & Y in start position when I burn the same projects multiple times. (immediate mode or not)
    Theses dice are very small and i don't want to take the risk of missing the last face after all theses manual actions !

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Medina Ohio
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    4,515
    I would use a pin register system. I would mount a base in the laser and cut 2 holes in it then I would use the same 2 holes in each of my blank jigs pin it and cut the die openings.

  11. #11
    Does anybody think that a laser is not the way to do this job?
    Mike Null

    St. Louis Laser, Inc.

    Trotec Speedy 300, 80 watt
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  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Null View Post
    Does anybody think that a laser is not the way to do this job?
    What do you suggest?

  13. #13
    I think the first couple of posts we decided this was not the best way to do this job. I mean seriously, even if he had a super large bed size and could place a 1000 at a time in it, just the time involved to place all of them in then turn them 6 times and do that 10 times, and don't forget you have to buy material to build the jigs.
    How much could you possibly charge for a job like that? Personally I don't know if a dollar per die would be enough.
    If the Help and advice you received here was of any VALUE to you PLEASE! Become a Contributor
    Rabbit RL_XX_6040-60 watt Laser engraving/cutting machine Oh wait its a 3D Printer my bad LOL
    Lasercut 5.3
    CorelDraw X5

    10" Miter Saw with slide
    10" Table Saw
    8" bench mount 5 speed Drill Press
    Dremel, 3x21 Belt Sander


  14. #14
    I aligned myself on Chessex (a dice manufacturer) for this order. The price is "by custom face number".

    Pricing:
    10-25 dice: $1.00 per side
    26-99 dice: $0.75 per side
    100-199 dice: $0.60 per side
    200-499 dice: $0.50 per side
    500-999 dice: $0.42 per side
    1000+: please ask for quotes
    My bed size is 90x120 so i could manage batches of 5000 dices approximatively.

  15. #15
    I wouldn't discount it's feasibility too quickly. A couple times a year, we do some small items in high quantity. I think the most we ever did was 22,000 of them at one time. My fixture holds about 325 of them at a time, but I could easily make a bigger fixture to hold many more. I have 4 fixtures, it takes 3 minutes to run 325 of them, 12 minutes to unload and load a new fixture, and we use 3 people to keep it running. We've calculated it every time we've run it and we're billing close to $400 per hour for the work.

    I'd take all these dice I could get for .42 cents per side. I'd even go into the dice making business for that price I suspect you'd do quite well. I'd suspect you'd have about 8 seconds a side on the engraving, when done in mass.
    Lasers : Trotec Speedy 300 75W, Trotec Speedy 300 80W, Galvo Fiber Laser 20W
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    Real name Steve but that name was taken on the forum. Used Middle name. Call me Steve or Scott, doesn't matter.

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