This project sets out to solve one of life’s most frustrating situations, making a decision on what / where to eat and drink. If you have ever faced this dilemma, then this project is for you.
This project can be easily personalized to your food preferences, so make a set and never be stuck on making a dice-ision (get it?).
Project Files
Materials:
- Blank wooden dice OR Wood to create a dice from (We used a piece of reclaimed hardwood)
Other Items Needed:
- Sandpaper
- General woodworking tools
The Build
I decided to make three dice-iders. One for deciding which local fast-food franchise to choose. Another for selecting a drink. The third was to decide on a general cuisine.
For this project I used a piece of reclaimed hardwood that I had in the workshop. If you prefer, you can easily find blank wooden dice online and use them instead.
I wanted these dice-iders to be fairly large, so I cut cubes measuring 40x40x40mm with a drop saw.
![](https://darklylabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/build01-2-1024x808.jpg)
To make sure the dice wasn’t biased towards any side, I carefully measured each side and sanded them so they were as close to 40mm as I could get.
![](https://darklylabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/build02-2-964x1024.jpg)
To help the dice roll better when it is thrown, I beveled all the edges at 45 degrees. This was easy with my sander as it has an adjustable rest.
![](https://darklylabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/build03-3-925x1024.jpg)
![](https://darklylabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/build04-2-1001x1024.jpg)
With all the edges beveled, I used some 180 grit sandpaper to smooth them all out.
![](https://darklylabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/build05-2-1024x817.jpg)
After my hands had enough time to rest from all the sanding, it was time to jump into LightBurn and create a design for each side.
LightBurn has an excellent ‘trace’ feature which creates vector shapes from a basic image. The process it very easy.
I first found an image of the design to engrave on a side and imported it into LightBurn.
![](https://darklylabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/LB01-2.png)
I selected the image and then used right-click to bring up the context menu. From there I selected ‘Trace Image’.
![](https://darklylabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/LB02.png)
For this image I had to slightly adjust the ‘threshold’ value until all the image was cleanly traced.
![](https://darklylabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/LB03-1024x725.png)
![](https://darklylabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/LB04.png)
I found other examples online and traced them for my three dice-iders.
![](https://darklylabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/LB05-1024x640.png)
The dice were then engraved with the Emblaser. I wanted a nice deep engraving without over burning any fine detail. For testing the settings, I initially used a scrap piece of the same wood.
![](https://darklylabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/laser01-1-1024x719.jpg)
This particular wood released some oils after engraving which was sticky and caused some unwanted darkening.
![](https://darklylabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/build06-2-859x1024.jpg)
Using a piece of 240 grit sandpaper resting on a flat surface, I gently sanded the engraving. This cleaned the residue away and brought out more of the detail.
![](https://darklylabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/build07-2-970x1024.jpg)
The reclaimed wood I used had a very rustic feel. The grain and cracks added to the character of the pieces. I may eventually apply some varnish, but for now they are bare.
![](https://darklylabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/final04-1-1024x776.jpg)
![](https://darklylabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/final06-1024x854.jpg)