Mass Producing Dice: Is It Worth It?

[@Rybonator]

Reminder: This is the experience that I went through - You WILL have a different experience than me. This isn't to dissuade ANYONE from joining in the hobby, but instead to show some realities of making dice TO SELL or AS A JOB. I hope you found this informative and helpful :) Also go check out the Giveaway in the description and my buddies at Terragon Gaming/Terrain! They are super nice people, and I love working with them. :)

[@terragongaming]

Did somebody say sk.......... NOT THIS TIME! A pleasure working with you again, we are looking forward to the next project together!

[@Rybonator]

@@terragongaming As usual, the pleasure is mine when it comes to working with you my friends :) DID SOMEBODY SAY TERRAGON!?

[@jtoshgaming8212]

Do you have link to sorta clear 12 gallon i cant find it when i search i only get smooth ooo

[@Rybonator]

@@jtoshgaming8212 You can buy direct from them :) www.smooth-on.com/products/sorta-clear-12/

[@ImDrFail]

@@Rybonator So something you might want to consider trying if you ever had to do something like this again would be putting a shop towel on that pottery wheel you use for sanding and just pulling the painted dice out of an alcohol bath. Then you can use that to clean the excess paint off. It would still certainly take time but maybe it would be a little less painful. Just a thought, might not actually work but who knows. Anyway, love your videos and I look forward to whatever else you have coming down the pipeline!

[@meimeihughes]

One of my friends started her own dice business where she sells sets for average cost $100 per set and she constantly gets anxiety about her prices. But the thing is everytime she opens her shop, the inventory that she had spent months working on sell out in minutes. If she were to lower the price, not only would she not have enough profits to justify the work, but it would be impossible to meet the demand. Sometimes setting a higher price is about recognizing the value in the product you have made.

[@MJ3XYZ]

what shop is it?

[@meimeihughes]

@@MJ3XYZ I actually left the name out because I don't want to use someone's dice channel to promote someone else's dice shop. Feels kinda weird to me.

[@guidetoanything]

If people buy it, with no questions asked about price, then they obviously think it is worth that much (or possibly even more). It can be easy for newer artists to sell themselves short, but it really is good to sell for the highest amount that people will buy for. If the buyer values it that much, then don't feel weird about upping the price to the highest level you can both agree to.

[@Rybonator]

Oh absolutely! Most of my artisan dice making friends sell theirs for $100 or so. You can absolutely make it work!

[@meimeihughes]

@@guidetoanything I completely agree. I have bought some of her dice when I do manage to catch the sales and they are 100% worth it.

[@chelseaeldeen7728]

The way I price any of my handmade items, whether it's dice, tumblers, ornaments, whatever, is a simple formula: (cost of materials × 2) + ($15 per hour). My materials get covered, the "×2" covers wear and tear on my equipment, electricity, etc, and I get a living wage for my time. Using your numbers in my formula, your finished dice would retail at just under $15 each, not including shipping, which is what I currently price my d20s at. I completely understand that everyone's mileage varies, and experience plays a huge role in this too. Thank you for sharing all the Nitty Gritty details. 💗

[@---we1ok]

It's also important to remember that prices for luxury goods like dice are often market-driven, not cost-driven. The costs are important for your accounting, but shouldn't limit your sales price.

[@DimT670]

@@---we1ok exactly. It ain't food or shelter or medicine. In luxury goods one should charge what the market is willing to pay. If someone wants to buy an artisanal die for 50 or 100 dollars, well, let em

[@anondecepticon]

Thanks for sharing this, I’ve been considering selling some of my resin crafts for extra income. When you calculate hours, do you include the cure time of the resin, or just the time you spend physically mixing, pouring, sanding, and so on?

[@chelseaeldeen7728]

@@anondecepticon For example, when I dip the handles of crochet hooks into UVresin, I have to sit there and twirl the hook while it is curing in the light so it doesn't drip. If I'm actively part of the process, I charge for my time. If it's "set it and forget it," I don't. I hope that helps :)

[@raphaelmorgan2307]

@@DimT670 of course, but the cheaper dice are, the more people will buy them. Chelsea's formula is a good way to find that sweet spot where a seller can get a bunch of customers without completely screwing themselves over. I think if someone can find customers who will pay $100 for a single die, that's awesome, but most people won't.

[@Rybonator]

This was all great practice, next time I'll be doing d6's (less sanding by far!) for my Patrons next year :)

[@serenaferrari7651]

Hi Rybonator! I saw in this vid that you too have some excess resin with cap mold that means you have to sand the 3 faces right beside the 1...I can't seem to find a proper technique, would you consider maybe doing a tutorial for this? Thank you for all your content, it got me into dice making and now I also have a pressure pot to make my life easier! :)

[@anondecepticon]

@Rybonator Have you tried using a Dremel as faster method of sanding? You could probably use a buffing attachment to remove excess ink, too.

[@cirrusism]

@@anondecepticon i think that would take Longer, as now, he can do 2 at once... Then he can only do one at a time...

[@Bizm4rk]

With d6 - once you take it out of the mold, you could immediately spray it to fill the numbers, then make a jig to hold about... 10-20 dice at once? Place that jig ontop of your pottery wheel and leave it running. Rotate for each side. You'll get the sanding finish and not have to hand clean each dice after inking it. Because of the difference in rotational speed on your wheel, a belt sander would probably be able to get a more consistent finish for larger numbers of dice, but with the wheel you can only really use one part of the wheel so the inner dice don't end up being sanded less than the outer ones.

[@vinnie8792]

wouldnt it be faster to paint the numbers before sanding? then instead of wiping it offm it comes off with a quick sanding/polishing

[@robw5088]

I started my own woodworking business about 3 years ago. I used to sell my stuff way too cheap. I was afraid I wouldn't make sales, or that my product wasnt good enough. It took some time for me to realize that my skill set and knowledge has value. Yes, lots of people will tell you your stuff is over priced or low ball you on price. Just plant your feet in, stand by your product. Eventually someone will fall in love with what you have made and think it's worth every cent.

[@bookoftimes]

what do you do/ recommend doing in order to get into the carpentry trade? i have been working with wood as a hobby since i was about 15 but i never made a business out of it

[@riverross5743]

I'm a small handmade dice seller and I cannot explain how much I appreciate how thorough this is. Making dice is my fulltime job and I enjoy every little step (even when they take HOURS), but it IS a lot and it takes a lot of skill, patience, and love.

[@vironx22]

This is a brilliant insight into the market. Not only to temper expectations to those thinking you make it look easy, but to just fully appreciate what creators go through. Thank you SO much for showing us this.

[@Rybonator]

I am glad that you found this helpful Curtis :) It means a lot

[@vironx22]

@@Rybonator It really is. I have debated on making dice many times before, but didn't know what it would entail. I've made retainers as part of a family business, so I knew about similar materials, but this shows what it truly takes. And polishing... it really does suck.

[@lt-ug2pz]

If anyone complains about my prices again I am sending them this video

[@milofer96]

For the next run I would recommend you to ink the dice before you sand them, this way you may be able to remove the paint mechanically which could be faster. Or maybe secure the towel to the pottery table just like the sanding paper. Hope this helps! Love the dice you make

[@zipas]

also make or use tool similar to 'hexagon dumpling mold', can both sand and/or remove extra paint 30~ times faster

[@BouncingBlades]

I was thinking the same thing when it came to securing a towl to the wheel!

[@The_gaming_gazimon]

this comment here

[@eclairamisu2517]

Yes. But keep in mind that the paint will clog the sanding paper over time, so you'd need enough backup sanding paper.

[@happylatino]

was thinking same, could have combined two work stages. Also spraying paint on dice could be faster

[@CorvusNumber6]

You could possibly speed up extraneous paint removal by using a micro-fibre cloth taped to your potter's wheel, soaked in isopropyl alcohol. Might save a bit of time? Great video, very interesting! 🎲👍🏻😎

[@zreiser]

Had the same thought while watching!

[@stealthskater66]

You can also just reuse the last zona paper and the excess paint will come right off and even can get you a little bit better of a shine. No alcohol needed

[@Kathdela]

@@stealthskater66 Yep that's exactly what I do!

[@CorvusNumber6]

@@stealthskater66 Very true! It may even give a more even overall finish.

[@heroictourney270]

I wipe off the excess paint while wet. Muuuch faster, 0 alcohol.

[@kanukulgood]

Hand made dice, especially ones that have glitter pieces or specific colors is definitely a luxury art piece, and after this vid I understand why people sometimes sell sets for upwards of 60 dollars

[@PitH0und]

I found this video after discovering a woman selling large size D20's for $550. I had to get a perspective.

[@WeGeekTogether]

What a amazing video! Honestly if people are thinking about starting their own business making dice this really shows all the work and unexpected costs it takes to go into dice making which is already a competitive market! You are a legend and a scholar!

[@Rybonator]

Thanks Geek :) I still hope this doesn't DISSUADE anyone, but I'm glad you think it got the point across well enough.

[@Rybonator]

Also, no u ;)

[@WeGeekTogether]

Now here is another thing you don't talk in the video, but I think is CRAZY important. Branding. (I've been trying to start my.own business for the past odd year or so). The problem you run into is you can make product, but no one knows who you are. And it takes a long time for that snowball to build. Since you've put countless hours into your community you know have a base that if you have a product there are people who will listen, but those starting out don't have that. Idk it'd be an intresting video to see how to build community, but that's not nessicarly dice making in itself haha.

[@Rybonator]

@@WeGeekTogether Oh absolutely - Branding is a WHOLE other topic entirely. IDK if my channel is necessarily the right place for a branding video, as that's a business topic as a whole, but vitally important to survive in the ttrpg space as a maker :)

[@befuwoodruff8805]

@@Rybonator This also doesn't include the amount of time it takes to put the product up on a website, package and shipping costs, babysit social media, attend conventions... etc... I really hope this video shows people the value in handmade dice. ^-^

[@S1L3NTIGamer]

Definitely shows why injection molding is the go-to for actually manufacturing dice on a large scale. You can make a single d20 in a couple minutes compared to a 12hr epoxy cure.

[@TheBaldr]

Some people prefer resin to plastic for dice. Another mass production way is resin printing, however you really have to know what you are doing. There are some limitations, the larger the dice, they nicer they will come out of the printer. UV resin always slightly tints yellow, so you have to be careful with color selection. Clear dice is out of the question.

[@thanhavictus]

Dont they still have to manually ink and wipe the injection mold ones too? That's where the labor effort goes to

[@neodinium7316]

​@@thanhavictusyou could always set them up where they get covered in ink and each side is given a quick sanding and polish. Probably

[@The_Horizon]

I have never even touched dnd in my life but yet I watched this entire video, good work!

[@foxsockss8795]

Horizon on top

[@Nimeesha1991]

I started making dice as a hobby about 7 months ago. Recently started selling a few, but I would never want to do this fulltime haha. Thanks for the vid! And please do make more tutorials. Learned so much from you!

[@Exloar]

13:20 For this step, a rag on your "orbital sander" and an occasional alcohol drench will probably do wonders on the turn around times for cleaning the ink.

[@northernmetalworker]

The silicone molds can be cut along their side in a zig zag, this let's you remove the pieces faster, but it still registers properly when it's closed. You could place the molds back into Dixie cups if you want to ensure they stay properly closed. And if you were to paint the letters first, and then sanded after, you would have eliminated the step of wiping the paint all together because the sanding would have removed it, (adding a little lubricant to the sand paper would keep it from getting clogged as well.) Hopefully those ideas might be appealing to you! Awesome video.

[@laurentbondet210]

Hello Rybonator ! You're a titan ! I'm sure you could produce nice dice in industrial quantities ! You succeded brightly and showed us what patience, work and passion Can overcome every challenge. You're an example for anyone who love dice , and I'm decided to play D&D with some of the dice you make ! Hugs from France and keep being awesome !

[@Rybonator]

Bonjour Laurent! Thank you for your kind words my friend :) They mean a lot, truly. I hope you hare having as nice a day as the comment you left me.

[@samprastherabbit]

Holy cow, dude! First off, you did an incredible job doing every single step of a production process all by yourself as far as I can tell. AND doing the whole filming, editing, sound mixing etc that's your regular task... Holy shit. I would have gone a bit crazy after a week! I hope your video sponsor was generous, seriously O.O Doing all that for minimum wage seems kinda nuts. Be very interesting if any boutique dice makers leave comments about how they approach mass producing dice.

[@christait361]

What I love about your videos is they’re kind of like inner monologue ASMR for the maker process, which always involves more failures and setbacks than most folks let on. Love and appreciate your process and thanks for representing it so well. 💚

[@thebrokenbreakingseas8317]

Damn, I polish one (1) set and I'm over it. I can't imagine doing that many dice in one go.

[@Rybonator]

It. Was. Not. Fun.

[@strana6875]

@@Rybonator lmao I /totally/ couldn’t tell

[@guidetoanything]

Thanks for the edutainment video! I probably won't ever be selling dice as a job, but this just shows the value of the work that people who do sell dice full time put in, and it is astounding. They definitely deserve to charge at least $20 per die (not counting shipping) if not more, for all that work. Personally I like buying handmade items in person, I love being able to meet the artist of something, it makes the art seem more valuable and worth however much they want to charge.

[@stropheum]

hey bit late to this video but nice tip for batch sanding - make a JIG. cast a silicone grid of say 3x3 or 4x4 recesses with the pointy edge of a dice sitting at the bottom, but only cover the dice a little over halfway. Then you can cram the dice in there, rough edge facing out, and friction will hold them in place. construct a box around the silicone "half-mold" to keep it from deforming, and you can press the whole jig down against the sanding paper for 9-16x efficiency

[@Rybonator]

This is a fantastic idea- I will absolutely give that a shot if I do this in bulk again

[@andrewwebb6270]

As a fellow dice maker that has been selling dice since day one (I feel like selling those first sets was both a mistake and a blessing though), this was super helpful because I sell my single dice for $15 and full sets for $60-75 for base sets and I was unsure if that was too high for my personal market. This confirmed that to be a no, but I have also slowly automated a lot of my process and I use a resin that cures in an hour so I can get more sets done in a shorter time. The most time consuming part of my process is definitely the sanding/polishing phase with inking being a close second. I have also given up on old making for a while so I am outsourcing that process which is also included in my price calculations. Still working towards being able to sell dice as at least a part time job, if not full time.

[@sarahscruggs9578]

What resin do you use?

[@andrewwebb6270]

@@sarahscruggs9578 I use Smooth-On Smooth Cast 326

[@vintereventyr_]

This made me think of including dice sets in my art commisions. It would probably be a nice way of getting my name out there, make the art more… i forgot the word, but ‘wanted’ since you would, by paying just extra, get personal dice to the same character you commisioned. I am planning on being a freelance artist, and already draw commisions beside school. My main commisioners are dnd players, so it would probably be worth it after some years. I wouldn’t make big badges like this, but it would make me able to work on the commisions while waiting for critique on the W.I.P of the art itself

[@demonzabrak]

"I am planning on being a freelance artist, and already draw commisions beside school." I'm just going to point out that if you make money off commission based art, you are, in fact, already a freelance artist. Also, commission has two s's in it. Also also, linguistically, you would be the commissioner. The one that enacts the commissioned thing. You want the word "patron" or "client" or something like that. Good luck.

[@vintereventyr_]

@@demonzabrak thank you! ^^ about the wording-correction, thank you, english is not my first language so i just go after sounds x3

[@demonzabrak]

@@vintereventyr_ you’re welcome

[@jordananderson2728]

@@demonzabrak I disagree with saying the person doing the commission is the 'commissioner'; I believe they would the the 'commissionee', as the person to whom the commission is given to undertake. The suffix '-er' typically denotes 'the one who has performed the action', such as 'runner' being 'one who runs'; 'commissioner' would be 'one who commissions', or orders the piece.

[@demonzabrak]

@@jordananderson2728 no disrespect intended, but… Commissioner noun a person appointed to a role on or by a commission. The OP is appointed, by the client, to create a work of art. Therefore, upon having received a commission (noun; an instruction, command, or duty given to a person or group of people), they become the commissioner, one that enacts the commission. I’m only refuting you because English isn’t the first language of the OP, and I’d like to keep it clear. A commissioner IS like a runner, one who runs. It’s just not one that issues a commission, it’s one who fulfills a commission. Some commissions are issued by commissioners, but those commissioners are themselves commissioned to issue commissions, as in a police commissioner, who is appointed and instructed to give instructions and appointments to the police force at large. English is fuckin duuuuumb sometimes, amirite?

[@orrhousecreative]

Radical, thanks Rybo! Last summer I began the process of setting up a pressure pot and whatnot which I'll finish this winter when i get back from college, and this was a super helpful video! That's a whole bunch of work and I appreciate your having done it and even more so, having shown us the process! I believe that if I were going into dice making specifically to make money then I would probably take a step back to reevaluate after this, but I'm mostly just gonna be making dice for a fun hobby, gifts for friends and family, and I'll give a go at selling them, although I'm not too worried about it!

[@Rybonator]

Doing it for fun and for gifts for your friends/family is the ultimate reason anyway :) Your friends are lucky to have you Liam!

[@GarageQuest]

Great vid Ry. This is why I tell people to start just selling to recoup the costs of your hobby before deciding if you want to actual try to make a profit long term. Also, I recommend you switch to dragon skin 20 for cap molds. its more flexible than the stiff sorta clear 12. makes it way easier to get the dice out.

[@50shadesofbs81]

Those dice are so pretty tho (I like the rose gold and the dark blue ones the best)!!! Wouldn't know those were mass-produced, would just think they were all individualy made!

[@Rybonator]

Thanks Shades :D The blue ones turned out really well honestly. Pretty proud of them!

[@DragonCMNDR]

At this scale, I'd call them more "Small Batch" than fully "Mass Produced." At least as far as marketing terminology goes, it still intimates and emphasizes the small-business-artisanal angle.

[@Aedi]

Coming back to this, i feel like estimating ongoing costs. If we assume you use the same molds, in this case these were specific to the kickstarter, but if we pretend they were ones you had a commercial licence on, or a free use policy, or designed yourself, then we can cut the time and cost of making molds off of future dice. Presumably you'd still be making new molds occasionally, whether a mold wears out, breaks, or you just add a new design to your collection, but I don't think its unreasonable to treat that as a rare ezpense and exclude it from what im doing now. So we cut the cost of silicon, the new pressure pot, and let's say most of the nitrile gloves since they come in large packs if you look around, and if you use 2 a day on the top end, a pack of 100 will easily last a month, so call it $5 i guess to be in the safe side. That leaves us with $325. Thats assuming you need to buy an entirely new stock of paints and alcohol inks, and that your isopropyl doesnt last, but since you would go through most of a stock, and there is a limited shelf life, im happy to call any left over a bonus. the maths on time is actually a little off, your original time is 5 hours short, you spent 160 hours, not 155, so we stick with 155 since we're subtracting the mold making process. you also said you think you could go faster next time, lets hazard that at about a 20 hour difference, possibly an overestimate but it doesn't seem too unreasonable a jump from literally your first time working in this scale to maybe a few batches in. so 135 hours we'll stick with the same minimum wage, but anyone can adjust that to their own local needs. So $978.75, plus our $325 ongoing cost of materials, we have $1303.75. all these numbers assume the same amount of dice being made, so lets assume a similar failure rate (hopefully, you would be able to reduce that with experience, or salvage some of the failures for other uses, maybe sell the ones with just cosmetic damage at a lower rate?). So 280 dice to sell, we need to sell them at $4.67 each to make minimum wage.

[@Artemion94]

Is there like a list of items needed for a total beginner to making dice? Like, what is the cost to entry?

[@Rybonator]

I made a video a while back on supplies :) Though I wouldn't get a vacuum chamber any more - kzbin.info/www/bejne/bHqQnWauhaxmb5o

[@Artemion94]

@@Rybonator thank you :]

[@frea_o]

One thing to consider is that as a handcraft clacksmith, you're probably not going to be set up for a mass production project like this. I'm hella impressed that you pulled this off. My own notion would've been to do giant slab molds and void out the individual slots as they wore out with trash dice, to save time on pouring/flashing removal/demolding. But I totally get your logic and the dice looked fantastic.

[@Rybonator]

Absolutely - THis is the 'I WENT FULL TIME I GOTTA MAKE TONS OF DICE' mode- Small individual sets is a totally different matter :) Also thanks Frea :)

[@indrabar]

i have never heard dicemaking referred to as clacksmithing, but I have to say I love it and this is my default term for it now. It's so perfect.

[@kirbysamus]

I just want to say thank you for putting this up. I'm actually about to start making dice here in the next week as a hobby, eventually as a side hustle, and this helps put some things into perspective. Keep up the great work!

[@nathanielburden9900]

As someone that is taking the first steps to start making dice professionally: thank you. My wife and I love your videos and are excited to get started and honestly most of my excitement is because of you and your videos. So again, thank you.

[@DragonMaster5050]

Mass manufacturing that many dice dice yet still keeping that incredible quality standard of yours is absolutely amazing. Incredible work as always!

[@ValeOfMuses]

Thank you for making a video like this! It's so important to know what you're getting into any time you start up a creative venture, be it business or a hobby.

[@SulliverVittles]

I've looked at making dice more as a side-job sort of thing. The market is...niche, but maybe it would be feasible.

[@Rybonator]

It's definitely worth giving a shot. I know a lot of people that make comparable money to uber eats etc., while getting to do something that they love, so hey, go nuts! :D

[@Crits-Crafts]

Not dice making, but I made game themed coasters as a side-job a few years back. Find a local gaming cafe, and see if they would be interested in partnering with you for some custom jobs. that way, you have atleast a first customer, and can get some commission work going.

[@SulliverVittles]

@@Rybonator Oh yeah I definitely do not want to sound dismissive of the idea. I personally think that it's worth pursuing, and I personally think I have found a market within the dice-making community that is completely untapped but also am inherently pessimistic and try to temper my expectations. Your videos have gotten me into the idea of trying it out and I certainly plan to once I get my car repair bills paid. :P Keep up the good work!

[@KaitlinPierce]

I appreciate the plug at the end about reasonable prices for handmade dice! I can’t recommend a ceramic tumbling media enough if you do another Kickstarter. Takes way less time to polish.

[@yaboicheese3456]

I’ve been wanting to get into dice making for a while now and have always loved your channel, this video is super helpful!!

[@Rybonator]

I'm glad you liked it Cheese! Best of luck in your dice making journey my friend!

[@anonpal8998]

Thank you so much for doing this video! My friend once mentioned that I should try dice-making and I was considering it but I didn’t really know what to expect. I was aware that there was a lot of money and work involved however I didn’t know to what extent so this was definitely an eye-opener. I appreciate the hardwork you put in to give us answers to our questions. Thank you again, man!

[@masteroffate2692]

Couldn't you just use the higher grit Zona papers to get the excess paint off? I don't know if it would clog up the papers as I've never used them before. But since they're meant to polish it would seem they'd strip the paint off well enough.

[@masalanicholoff3593]

That's a good idea. Inking, then sanding might be the way to go for mass production.

[@josh___something]

I don't think he sanded every face, so this idea wouldn't have worked so well

[@masteroffate2692]

No, he didn't sand every face, but it's something that should he do the project again he could test against wiping it off to see which is faster. Worst case scenario, my method takes longer and the wiping method is better. It's one of those cases of not knowing till trying.

[@francoisstevens4349]

To reduce the cleaning time I have started to wipe, in a sanding fashion, the face of the dice on a piece of printer paper placed on my glass top immediately after I painted it. This completely completely removes the cleaning the paint with solvent step, and greatly reduce the finishing time.

[@scorpius1401]

00:13:39 those people's product looks awesome (I definitely forgot to look into them in the last vid you made with them)

[@Rybonator]

Right? The terrain hexagons are so much fun! It's like playing Legos and dnd at the same time haha

[@redavatar]

I have a few remarks about this (I do price calculation as a job) a) Don't facture in the purchase of a pressure cooker into the final amount because that will last a HECK of a lot longer. Estimate how many dice you'd expect to make before it breaks, multiply that by 0.7 (durability, maintenance, breaking sooner than expected ...). b) The speed at which your work tends to increase vastly with experience. You learn to use better materials (the hot glue is proof of this) and you also learn ways to speed up the process. For example, if you did your painting BEFORE your sanding, you could sand down the paint without needing to clean it. The sanding would strip the paint away and you'd be able to skip a step. c) Always look at what the market dictates. Is it better to mass produce these dice, or is it more profitable to make dice on demand (colours by order)? The profits you make off 10-20 dice could easily be the same as a single custom die. d) Factor in return costs - some customers will be unhappy, some dice won't be perfect or won't roll randomly enough.

[@CreamAle]

Taking the time to make jigs for repeatable results is key. Another thing I'd try is adding registration marks during the casting to save some time later on. When it comes to getting a repeatable process in large scale, it's the tiny bit of optimizations that cuts time down. Honestly, after doing a first batch and making a profit my next steps would be to add another Ppot, making more efficient molds like the cap sprue hybrid to cut defective losses but add time as a tradeoff. The ultimate downside that I see is sanding. There isn't much you can do there.

[@Rybonator]

Oh yeah, economies of scale make everything easier - I will say that I PREFER the adding registration marks AFTER the fact. I have just always found them to lock in place better that way, but that's just me. The mold making truly doesn't add much time overall, since you can repeat and reuse the molds anywhere from 50-100 times depending on how careful you are with them. But you are totally right on jigs and small improvements :)

[@CreamAle]

@@Rybonator yeah results may vary ofc. Just never use deep cylinders for Rmarks since tight tolerances + sticky = sphincter pain. No intentional innuendo, but have a laugh. What I do like for adding Rmarks is the hot glue itself. Stick the dice down squiggle around the dice But midway to the outer edge and just randomly spew hot goo down after. It's the inner lazy talking as it cuts a step later even though it's only a 5 min time save every time I have to make a mold it adds up in your case 12 molds that's an hour saved. But yeah there's plenty of things that can be done to help mass production like a multiple dice sanding jig that can be made similar to a cap mold but materials reversed made on a glass pane. This is honestly a great guide for folks that want to experiment as there isn't a great deal of similar resources out there.

[@heroictourney270]

My experience is masters need to be polished to the micron levels. Every flaw removed is one less potential issue.

[@Chickeeenz]

If you were adamant on using a brush for the numbers, I’d recommend a shorter bristle and just ‘stabbing/tapping’ the paint in, would probably be faster when there’s a lot of die to paint

[@millies825]

Wow, this was really eye-opening! How many sheets of Zona paper did you go through for this particular project? And how did it compare to the amount you go through for a regular single set of dice? Thanks!

[@Bearclaw27]

Thank you so much for this video! I have no intention of making dice to sell, but I DO enjoy buying dice, so it is extremely helpful to know that those prices for handmade dice are in fact reasonable. Etsy, hold onto your butts, because the dice buying is about to commence!

[@ethanpercival216]

What a great video! An a concept I wanted to know about-entering dice selling. Thanks!

[@Rybonator]

I'm glad you liked it Ethan :)

[@Rebecca-yf9ci]

Thanks for sharing! Since I found your channel a few months ago, I calculated everything and figured out to make my first dice, it would be around $500 out of pocket because of all the upfront tools and excitement you need. Been putting it off for financial reasons but hope to get everything at the beginning of next year :)

[@PSroka]

IT'S BEAUTIFUL!:0

[@Rybonator]

No u :) Also thank you haha

[@benjohnson7085]

For anyone else wanting to get in, it took me about 18 months dice making and selling as a hobby to break even. I ended up selling 50 sets over those 18 months and making 1400, which was enough to break even with expenses. I did not count my labor as an expense, so I made $0 in my own pocket, as Rybonator stated in the video after doing it I know I could do it much more efficiently now. The start up costs were massive. 3d masters ~$100, silcone for molds ~$250 (had to make multiple attempts), definitely a learning process, Pressure pot and air compressor ~$300, various powders and dyes ~$100, Inks/paints ~$100, Resin ~$400, then there were a lot of misc expenses such as pipettes, mixing cups, gloves, respirator, etc. Rybonator got me into making dice and it is a fun hobby, but it definitely has a high start up cost. I'm a teacher and want to spend this summer doing it as a "job", but really want to make my own design, which would mean paying someone to do that and buying new masters, then making new molds from those masters, so likely an additional $400 - $500 in expenses between all that. I know I'll be able to make it back so am not worried, but it is a lot. My biggest piece of advice is that you are probably undercutting yourself when you first start. I was selling sets for $20- $30 and got multiple messages saying they paid $70+ for similar quality. If I was more confident in my work and priced better I could have broken even in half the time. My side goal for this coming summer is to sell a set for $100. Its a fun hobby and even though I am not making profit I still enjoy it.

[@magmatune4573]

Your content is always very informative and enjoyable to watch, you did a great job with the video and the dice 🖤

[@Rybonator]

Aww thanks Magma :) Your comment made me smile. I hope you are having as nice a day as your comment!

[@xxPenjoxx]

This was a really interesting look at a big labour-intensive project. The teal and gold was my favourite, they were beautiful.

[@sholagoth3566]

This is incredible, so much damn effort...

[@Rybonator]

Haha, it was a LOT, but worth it :) Thanks for watching Sholagoth!

[@DividedStates]

I think the molds could be improved. At this scale you want a silicone tray instead of cups that you can fit sideways in your pressure pot. (for that to work you also have lay the pressure pot on the side) . You could fit multiple trays in there at once. Might need temperature control as well at that point. For cleaning the dice you can stick a microfiber to your pottery rotor.

[@PSroka]

eyyy that's the pressure pot I bought! ❤️

[@Rybonator]

Pressure pot twins! :)

[@PSroka]

@@Rybonator yes! It took me months to save up for

[@Sorestlor]

For the sanding process. I believe you could speed it up a good 5x+ if you created a jig in which you could place a bunch of d20's. You would then press this jig onto the orbital sander therby saving your hands from cramps and doing more than 2 at once. Assuming it takes more than a little while for the actual sanding so it makes sense time wise. When removing paint you could also put that cloth on the orbital sander or some spinning device so you just hold it against it and it the paint dissapears.

[@nootnootman6353]

noot noot

[@Rybonator]

Noot :D

[@dead-eyedice8324]

Here is my experience from almost two years as a 'professional' clack-smith selling on Etsy. I make an average of around 40 standard sets a month. I use the same sorta clear 12, and get about 9 months out of a set of molds. I use cut molds with a sprue they are faster to pull and tend to be more reliable than squish molds for me, plus it cuts out a lot of the wasted resin. I go through about a gallon of Art N Glow resin in a month. I typically cast 6-12 sets at a time depending on how involved each design is. I do not sand or polish the castings since I have wrist and hand issues but make sure my masters are as clean as I can get them. I have the buyer choose the ink color they want and ink before shipping. Inking usually takes me about an hour per set. I typically use Turbo Dork, Reaper Masters or Vallejo paints for inking. Selling standard sets at $25 since they are raw, or $20 if they have major misalignments or small pin bubbles in them (sometimes the defective ones need homes too). With packaging etc. I average less than 5$ per hour of labor. Not really going to get rich at this but I do enjoy the process immensely. Despite what the inner dice dragon says I do not need to keep ALL of them, so selling them keeps me from having even MORE dice in the house, I average enough money to be a little better than even. For me it is a hobby with extra benefits, in no way would I be able to live only from what the dice produce.

[@strikerofear]

i think you're really on point with the cut molds.

[@KhanaHatake]

The pink-gold dice are sooo insanely gorgeous, I'm absolutely in love with them!

[@beaureynolds4267]

Great video I really like the cost breakdown. For manufacturing purposes, I would spread the cost out of the silicone and pressure pot out for the life of the items. If you have an idea how long they will last you can attribute the depreciation of the expense over time. Silicone example: If you can reasonably get an average of say 40 dice per mold, each dice gets roughly 1/40th of the cost of the silicone applied to it. I don't remember the actual average, but this should convey the point. Pressure pot: With equipment depreciation is usually based off of use hours or units. I would probably base it off hours here because time used is what's creating wear. It doesn't matter if one dice is being vacuumed or 20, the pot is doing the same amount of work. So if you plan on using it for 4 hours each batch, 10 dice batches, and it lasts 100 batches it becomes pennies per dice. Still assuming long-term goals. The trick with manufacturing minimize direct materials cost (e.g. gallon of silicone not quart pricing) and maximize throughput. The more dice you create with each mold, the less expensive the mold becomes. If you had squish molds that funneled the wasted resin into a tray mold at the bottom, you could sell those, turning the waste into profit. This video is a really interesting look at startup costs. Great information and great analysis!

[@lightningqueen1145]

Partially commenting to help the algorithm bc you deserve all the views for all that work- but also, I ADORE all those dice. If I ever do dice making as a part of my career, I think I'd plan to make like, 5 dice sets as a startup, then 1 themed set a month for promotion. My main thing would be working on commission, not trying to mass-produce anything. Anyway, I hope you were able to stagger your time (basically make it so while you were waiting for one thing to cure, you did another thing) because I'm intensely worried for your sanity if you piled everything at one time- I couldn't quite tell tbh. It's a lot easier to sew over one seam at a time than all at once, since I'm inwardly tying this back to sewing-

[@panzerfaust480]

I think using spray paint to paint the numbers would go much faster, and you could use a polishing wheel to get the surface paint off once it dries. This would also make the earlier polishing process no longer needed. Just some thoughts on a good area to improve speed.

[@CystemicCyanide]

I have a dumb question, why did you SAND then PAINT. Couldnt you just sand the paint off during that process since that is surface level?

[@dude-dk7ei]

you may be able to speed up the paint cleanup by painting before sanding, then the excess paint will be sanded away whenever you do your first sanding pass

[@LeoPanthera]

See, it's videos like this one that are really important in showing and explaining the amount of work done in any creative field. Anyone who's made art, in some form, has probably come across some client who has massively under valued the amount of time and effort that it takes to make their craft. You're pricing yourself for like... federal minimum wage which isn't enough enough for some people to survive depending on where they live and you make dice professionally. So thank you for the careful and thorough breakdown of each step.

[@Amayagma]

I've gone from not knowing anything about dice making to wanting to make my own dice and thinking about how to make them and sell them from watching your channel, I really appreciate this vid and honestly it just encouages me even more to go for it and make it a business

[@GeorgeSlade1]

Any reason you went cap over sprue moulds or is it just a time saving thing?

[@superhpfan00]

i'm in a fair few facebook groups for crafters (mostly fiber bc yarn is the most easily accessible thing rn due to space) and the amount of hours people put into shawls and quilts and plushies and string art commissions and octopus hats and elaborate princess dresses for a kid thats not even 2 its astonishing at least by the time you're done with the yarn, all you have to do is block it resin has so many in between waiting steps, like laundry

[@fnhs90]

Wouldn't weighing the silicone be much easier and accurate, when mixing it? Edit: and paint before you sand (by hand)? The sanding would remove excess, but not the paint in the number

[@Kineteken]

Every Dice creator I've spoken with online has always referenced you as a source, So I would say that very good in standing.

[@XQGaming]

Not included is the sales tax and income tax depending on the country where your business is located, packaging materials like envelops/boxes/address stickers/printing, time to package and ship them. Then if you have a website: domain names, hosting, server, email, the transaction cost per sale for like credit card and paypal.

[@kawaiigoomy3487]

I appreciate the effort put into creating dice now. As a digital artist some people really undervalue my work. It’s important to remember that it takes, time, skill, and resources to create a finished piece. 🙆 Just like any job you deserve a living wage at minimum.

[@glowpon3]

The thing about the bigger buckets of silicone.... sometimes it's worth the extra price to get it in small manageable doses. If you do insist on getting it in bulk, sometimes it's better to process your shipment into smaller containers when it arrives so you can make sure you aren't wasting the savings on your mixing tools. You can make your tools dirty once and re-package it into sizes you know you will need later. It also helps keep the mixture even. The buckets settle out with time, so your first project might cure different than your last even if you did the same process.

[@guerillarice1129]

Could you ink them by dipping them into the ink? Also I know you said the lid molds were more consistent but it seems you would save a ton of time if you were able to make a reliable mold that split down the middle so you didnt have to dig them out, although that would give you more edges to sand. Speaking of sending you've got to make some kind of drum sanding work, doing it by hand is just crazy.

[@CreepyHisoka]

just a thought, couldn't you paint first and then sand, thus removing the excess paint by sanding?

[@BusinessWolf1]

I thought about quite a lot of ways to improve each process as you were doing this. For example, you could make holders for like 100 dice for each type of dice so that you can use a wide sanding belt on top and just wait for it to be done. Instead of flipping each dice in the holder, you use another holder to flip all of them together, so then you only flip individual dice half the times. To not have to insert each dice manually in the holder you could make a filtering device so that you could just dump all the dice down a chute. Instead of making the silicon molds in cups, you could custom order 2 sided metal cups or maybe 3d printed ones so you can remove all the fiddling with cups scissors and hot glue. Since the painting process takes so long and the wiping takes a long time anyway, it would be a lot easier to just dump all the dice into the paint before the sanding process, then you have a lot less work to do and eliminated the painting. And since now there is only paint on the edges, you can put stickers on all sides of the dice and just throw them in a vat of alcohol, them leave them for a bit, come back and swoosh them around. Putting the stickers on wouldn't take very long because there are sticker guns that let you just pull a lever to apply a sticker and have another one ready. You could also rig up the trigger as a pressure plate in a block that has a shaped hole for the base of a die, so then you're not pressing the trigger just turning the die, setting it down on the pressure plate and repeating. All that's really left to do at this point is selecting colors, switching sanding belts, turning over dice, putting on stickers and the silicone and resin mixing and pouring. And you don't even have to remove the stickers off the dice, it can be your signature thing as a company and the customers will like peeling them off anyway. The biggest limiting factor to scaling now is the whole sticker rigmarole, but you could put the block with the die hole on a holder for it attached to a servomotor programmable by arduino which is also hooked up to the fire impulse of the sticker gun, so then it automatically rotates the die and stickers the faces, you just flip it around when a row of sides is done.

[@samhughes729]

I really like how fast he talks. I so often put videos like this on 1.5 speed or higher but I watched this at normal speed and it felt like actual information was being shared in every moment.

[@matthewsheltra4392]

Awesome video! Out of curiosity, what type of pressure pot did you get that was ready to go without modifications for resin?

[@simoneazzoni3882]

Probably polishing with the tumbling machine is the way to go over more time or with bigger machines (they are quite easy to DIY), i wonder if you could actually paint the dice first and polish it that way it might not remove the paint from the inside of the number but it's just a guss i'd try it's quite unlikely tbh (this way you could paint it sloppy) that would be a great time save for sure...

[@ssskids123]

That is just a fantastic breakdown. Thank you so much. I’ve always been tempted to make my own dice and still may, but knowing the steps and the time certainly helps me frame it before I get into it.

[@heathbecker420]

A very thorough, and I would say successful project! Thanks for sharing your experience. After doing this project, would you agree that painting the digits all by hand like you did is probably the least efficient way to fill them in? My first thought was to pour the dice and the paint in a zipper-seal baggy, shaken and massaged it until all were fully coated, then taken them out to drain for a few min on a rack or better yet a funnel to collect the flow off, then wiped the excess off with paper towels. Or perhaps dip painting them with a thinner paint more like a "wash" in painting miniatures. Dial in the proper viscosity and flow characteristics then dip the dice in, excess flows off the flats leaving a coating in the digits. Set on a rack to dry. Perhaps a greater investment of materials (paint, thinners, flow modifiers and initial time investment to dial it in) but less time, far less I would think, overall. The end result of painting them by hand would probably be superior. though for the time spent painting by hand its probably not worth it in my opinion. Then assuming that you wiped when wet or used the wash dip there would be far less dried residue to remove from the surfaces, the removal of which could potentially be automated in the vibratory sander by changing to a softer polishing media and using a bit of solvent (alcohol) and a short run time. My thinking is that your main bottle neck should be the creation of the dice molds, and the resin casting process including de-molding. After that the post processing should be mostly minimal. I say mostly since if you truly cannot use the vibratory sander on that function then hand sanding will be a bottle neck also, so I would find a way to get them done in the vibratory sander.

[@JooJoo-uz2wc]

I would buy from you in a heartbeat I LOVED those flower druid dice, I can see how dealing with a huge quantity of orders might be a bit to hard but if you do by commission or limit how many orders you get at a time either way if you do sell them I would pay whatever you ask for since their so freaking sweet. P.S glad you like berry who's your favorite character? Mine's NoHo hank he's just so god damn funny

[@kazsenkatzen5826]

youre problem with removing the dice is partly because of the "extra" silicon on the bottom. the thickness is preventing you from being able to "push-pop" out. and another commenter had it right in that for max production. having them in sheets rather than singles IS better. you can even stack them on top of each other to fit even MORE in!

[@EonsOfBattle]

this video was AWESOME! I am super interested in making dice and it looks like an absolute monster of an endevor.

[@Bearclaw27]

Rybo! Love your videos. I got the crazy idea yesterday to make dice (d6 probably) for my wedding as wedding favors. I've never made any dice, but I've watched a lot of your content, and have been tempted to get into it before. I think I'm gonna give it a shot! Practicing some basics first, of course.

[@Rybonator]

Thanks Bearclaw! And best of luck to you :) You're gonna do amazing! Congratulations on your upcoming wedding!

[@heartofdawnlight]

thanks for making this BTW, a huge help. and every grievance is fully true. ppl need to know what they're getting into when they get into it.

[@Rybonator]

I 100% agree, and couldn't find a ton of info on the subject - So I'm glad you found this helpful :)

[@pariah8064]

Just curious - for inking, what if you had a shop towel taped to the desk next to you with some alcohol on it - ink a side and do a quick wipe to remove the vast majority of excess ink, then the final wipe down would be quicker since not so much would need to be removed.

[@Crozula]

out of curiosity, could you ink the numbers BEFORE sanding and polishing? that way the sanding would remove the excess paint and you don't have to spend the time wiping with alcohol?

[@notoriusc]

What did you do to get the pink ones to look like that? I’d love to see a video on it!!!!!

[@NathanielTavington]

Hello! I make dice, and what I have found is clorox wipes do a better job removing acrylic paint than alcohol does! The cotton wipes don't scratch up my resin and it does the extra bonus of disinfecting all my dice before I ship them to the customer. I clean up my painted dice with much less time and effort than it looked like you did with the cloth and alcohol approach.

[@SemkOld]

If you had done the painting before the sanding, would that have achieved the paint clean up and sanding at the same time?

[@klyons217]

Don't feel bad. I've done projects where I figured the cost and it was astronomical. For example, I tiled a basement bathroom, and after buying the saw, diamond saw blade, marble tile, grout, etc., it was about $750. And it costed me probably 80 hours of work over four weeks. Later, I asked a contractor to do another (similarly-sized) bathroom and he did it for free! (I had to pay for the time though, so $200.) But the learning experience of tiling my own floor was worth it. P.S. at 18:14: It would be cool if one of your patrons was named "Dolly". Cuz then you'd have "Dolly Parton" supporting the channel! 🤣

[@GoodTato]

Link to that pressure pot doesn't seem to be in the description at the time of writing

[@Rybonator]

Reload and check again, I updated it like 10 minutes ago :)

[@GoodTato]

@@Rybonator Got it now :) Just wanted to see how it was so I could try to find a similar product here in the UK lol

[@Alleroc]

This was useful for me. I'm working on a project where I have to make a top piece out of resin for one of my products, and I've been trying to figure out how to simplify doing it in mass. Thanks for the info, it's exceptionally helpful.

[@Whispathehallowed]

I have been making dice for a few months, still perfecting the sanding and polishing, I have problems with my hands and boy does it take it out of me. Very satisfying though. Your video came up and hosetly I can't believe how many in that space of time even with so many moulds and sanding pushing in a wheel. I'm not making my own mods having masters scares me, but you zoomed through those moulds like a total pro, I feel like I'd be more confident makong moulds after watching you do it for sure. Great video!

[@tuskiomisham]

why do you pressurize your initial moulds? the usual process is to vacuum them and us a vibration source to get bubbles out.

[@Ilirej]

As a miniature painter, I audibly groaned at 12:17 ... Amazing video though! Makes me want to pull out my vacuum and pressure chambers and give this a go!

[@coolstuffinc5412]

For ink removal, use spray adhesive to put down some leather, grain up, on your flat sanding disc. Soak the dice like you were doing and just let the leather buff it off.

[@amandaskog4677]

Is your pottery wheel compatible with pottery wheel bats? It looks like you're taping the paper straight to the wheel but if you can get bats (basically plastic trays that act as a temporary throwing surface) you could attach the paper to those and interchange more easily.

[@michaelthomas1843]

Just curious, since I don't perform manufacturing, but wouldn't it be beneficial to paint in all the numbers and then do the sanding. You would knock out the hours of cleaning off the paint from being a separate step.