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Step 3Drill & Grind the Dice
Start by arranging the dice as you want them to be in the finished cube. On each die, there will be one corner that is completely inside the cube. This is the corner that you need to drill from. The press works best when it has a perpendicular surface to drill into, so this corner needs to be sanded down some before drilling the hole. Use some kind of sander that doesn't move too fast--you don't want to melt the die. I used a simple sanding block, while resting the die in the jig.
When you have the drilling surface prepared on all the dice, attach masking tape to the 17/64" drill bit 5/8" from the tip of the bit. You need to drill at least 3/8 inch into the cube, but less than 7/8 inch. Therefore 5/8 inch should be about right.
After drilling the initial hole, you need to carve out the rest of the cube where the steel ball will be. For this I recommend a Dremel tool. Each die needs to have a quarter-sphere carved out of it. The sphere should have a radius of just slightly more than 5/16 inch. I used a 3/4" sanding wheel for this, and touching up with a steel grinding bit. I used a steel ball to check my work and make any adjustments necessary.
After this, the holes need to be deepened so that the magnets rest at just the right height. Once again, this is mostly guess-and-check. Place magnets in the holes and attach the core. If the dice don't touch each other, one or more holes need to be deepened.
ac-dc says:
RE: Holding down the dice with your fingers whilst drilling - be very careful, this is a daring way to use a press. One inclination might be to wear gloves, but this can be a problem in that the bit could catch on the glove (which is even closer to the bit while holding such a small object than a gloveless hand would be) and then your hand is pulled along for the ride. A more elaborate jig might be the conservative route to take.
Another option would be to take the jig, screwed together not just glued, and put it in a pan you fill with water up almost to the tip of the cube and freeze. Drill while it's suspened in the ice, and the ice will result in the plastic being colder so the bit cuts cleaner too.
burzvingion says:
You make a good point, one that I probably should have spent more time talking about in the instructable, other than the comment on one of the pictures. One problem I see with freezing the dice is that the friction of drilling tends to create a lot of heat, which I would think might melt the ice around the die rather quickly. Some of my original ideas included a round washer with a hole large enough for the bit to fit through easily, yet small enough to catch the edges of the die. then wires would be attached somehow to the washer, which would go through the base and attach to weights or tensioned springs.
In the end however, I decided that since the plastic is pretty soft, my hand pretty steady, and the press fairly slow, I'd try it without the complicated washer setup.
On a final note, although I never had any problems with losing control of the dice, if you do happen to, get your hands away from the work area and turn off the press.
ac-dc says:
Unless the drill bit is incredibly dull, there is no problem melting the ice just to get a hole of suitable size. A hunk of plastic is a reasonable insulator, and a large block of ice doesn't melt very fast. It only needs to hold it still for about 5 seconds if that and the drilling can actually go faster when you're not having to be particularlly careful of your fingers.
We can think through lots of ways to do it, but generally speaking you may have more skill or experience with a drill press than some and I'd hate to hear someone had their finger harmed. It's easy to get too relaxed using a drill press and to forget just how powerful it is. Suppose somehow the bit caught on your finger, it can easily force the entire hand up to the top of the bit and that's going to be startling enough that you won't be able to so quickly turn the press off, and turning it off doesn't apply any kind of braking on most presses. IMO, safety first.
burzvingion says:
I'm still not sure about the ice method, but then i've never tried that technique before. I agree wholly about the safety aspect, and that I should have focused more on it.
When you have the drilling surface prepared on all the dice, attach masking tape to the 17/64" drill bit 5/8" from the tip of the bit. You need to drill at least 3/8 inch into the cube, but less than 7/8 inch. Therefore 5/8 inch should be about right.
After drilling the initial hole, you need to carve out the rest of the cube where the steel ball will be. For this I recommend a Dremel tool. Each die needs to have a quarter-sphere carved out of it. The sphere should have a radius of just slightly more than 5/16 inch. I used a 3/4" sanding wheel for this, and touching up with a steel grinding bit. I used a steel ball to check my work and make any adjustments necessary.
After this, the holes need to be deepened so that the magnets rest at just the right height. Once again, this is mostly guess-and-check. Place magnets in the holes and attach the core. If the dice don't touch each other, one or more holes need to be deepened.
IMPORTANT NOTE
The drill press is an amazing machine, but it can also be extremely dangerous if not respected. I held the dice in the jig with my hands, as you can see in the picture, however I have a good deal of experience with the press. If you aren't very familiar with using a drill press, or don't feel completely comfortable holding the dice with your hands, you may want to modify or add to the jig so that it holds the dice for you. below is a copy of some of the comments from the intro page regarding the safety of this step.ac-dc says:
RE: Holding down the dice with your fingers whilst drilling - be very careful, this is a daring way to use a press. One inclination might be to wear gloves, but this can be a problem in that the bit could catch on the glove (which is even closer to the bit while holding such a small object than a gloveless hand would be) and then your hand is pulled along for the ride. A more elaborate jig might be the conservative route to take.
Another option would be to take the jig, screwed together not just glued, and put it in a pan you fill with water up almost to the tip of the cube and freeze. Drill while it's suspened in the ice, and the ice will result in the plastic being colder so the bit cuts cleaner too.
burzvingion says:
You make a good point, one that I probably should have spent more time talking about in the instructable, other than the comment on one of the pictures. One problem I see with freezing the dice is that the friction of drilling tends to create a lot of heat, which I would think might melt the ice around the die rather quickly. Some of my original ideas included a round washer with a hole large enough for the bit to fit through easily, yet small enough to catch the edges of the die. then wires would be attached somehow to the washer, which would go through the base and attach to weights or tensioned springs.
In the end however, I decided that since the plastic is pretty soft, my hand pretty steady, and the press fairly slow, I'd try it without the complicated washer setup.
On a final note, although I never had any problems with losing control of the dice, if you do happen to, get your hands away from the work area and turn off the press.
ac-dc says:
Unless the drill bit is incredibly dull, there is no problem melting the ice just to get a hole of suitable size. A hunk of plastic is a reasonable insulator, and a large block of ice doesn't melt very fast. It only needs to hold it still for about 5 seconds if that and the drilling can actually go faster when you're not having to be particularlly careful of your fingers.
We can think through lots of ways to do it, but generally speaking you may have more skill or experience with a drill press than some and I'd hate to hear someone had their finger harmed. It's easy to get too relaxed using a drill press and to forget just how powerful it is. Suppose somehow the bit caught on your finger, it can easily force the entire hand up to the top of the bit and that's going to be startling enough that you won't be able to so quickly turn the press off, and turning it off doesn't apply any kind of braking on most presses. IMO, safety first.
burzvingion says:
I'm still not sure about the ice method, but then i've never tried that technique before. I agree wholly about the safety aspect, and that I should have focused more on it.
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