Dice engraving - How to speed up the process

[Philippe Lecomte]

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

[Matt Turner (physics)]

Previous discussion: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ng-custom-dice

[Philippe Lecomte]

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

[Bert Kemp]

I agree that it just to time consuming. I couldn't see were it would pay enough to make it worth your while.

[Joe Pelonio]

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.

[Bert Kemp]

Just for grins a giggles I Googled buy 10000 dice , $539 wholesale. Hey buy then and then sell them to your client for a 1000$

[Philippe Lecomte]

@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 !)

[Dave Sheldrake]

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

[Philippe Lecomte]

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 !

[Jerome Stanek]

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.

[Mike Null]

Does anybody think that a laser is not the way to do this job?