Sublimation Production Kit - Dice - D6 - 16mm & 20mm

Make batches of customised dice quickly and easily using dye sublimation and PA6!
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updated January 28, 2025

Description

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Introduction

This is a kit for making customised 16mm or 20mm D6 dice in batches featuring full colour dye sublimated images and/or text. It contains:

  • Pre-configured Bambu 3MF for the dice to be printed in PA6-GF
  • Pre-configured Bambu 3MF for a re-usable jig to hold 12 dice while pressing
  • Photoshop/Pixelmator Pro templates with alignment marks for the jig

Un-configured 3MF files are supplied for other platforms.

This video I made a while ago details what you need for sublimation and a generic overview of sublimating PA6.

I hope to make a video for the instructions below when I have time, but for now here are the instructions!

Template Design

You should apply your designs to the provided templates, where you will find circles indicating the faces. Once you have applied your design remove the circle layers for printing.

Sublimation Printing

Use your normal print settings. It is important that the scaling is correct, however it is likely that you have already configured this to match real measurements already for other projects. In my case I had to scale it to 100% when I started to need things with correct measurements as it would always print a bit smaller.

3D Printing

Usually sublimation is carried out onto white materiel due to the translucency of the ink, hence Bambu Lab white PA6-GF is a good option, however other lighter colours may be effective with certain designs. 

This plastic needs to be dry before you print, and also is best fed from a dryer into the external spool feed.

I have found the default settings for PA6-GF to have terrible layer adhesion despite looking very nice. A balance of printability and strength for me at least seems to be with a 105c bed and the nozzle set to 280c.

Please also pre-heat your chamber to at least 43c by setting your bed to 105c for a period before you print. It's not so important for the dice but let the jig cool on the bed before removal to help prevent warping.

Note that you only need to print one jig unless you plan to press multiple batches at the same time as they are re-usable.

Post-printing you will need to remove the brim with a de-burring tool or other knife/cutting tool.

Alignment

Take your template that you have printed off with your design.

Check you have removed the guide circle layer before you print otherwise it will end up on the dice.

Cut between the tips of the two thick black lines as exactly as you can.
Cut carefully and exactly along the inside of the thick black lines.
Load your dice into the jig.

Put your template on top. It should align exactly.

Please triple check each time that the alignment is correct, as getting a single press wrong can ruin the dice.

Tape the ends of the paper to the jig. Now you are ready to press!

Pressing

I have my press set to 210c and press the dice for 55 seconds. I am open to suggestions for any improvements!

Finally

I will be producing more of these in the future when I get time around other projects. If you would like the jig customised to support more dice please let me know.

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The author marked this model as their own original creation.

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