37-sided die - can anyone hollow it out?

Discussion in '3D Design Requests' started by 113416_deleted, May 19, 2013.

  1. As a dice collector, I loved finding this on Thingiverse: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:58408
    It's wonderfully customizable, allegedly allowing anyone to tweak it to design any sided-die they wish!
    Only problem is, the model is solid, and as I discovered when I uploaded my model to Shapeways, it'd cost over $30 in alumide.

    Can anyone hollow it out? I assume this would be a simple process? I wouldn't even know where to begin.

    Anyway, here's my D37 (37-sided die) model: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:83281

    And here's a rendering of it:
    [​IMG]

    I'd love a hollowed STL file of my file. (After that, I'd be more than happy to upload it to my "store" with no price markup, since I can't take credit for creating the base model).

    37 seemed like a wonderful random prime number to test it out... I'm curious to discover how it rolls!
     
    Last edited: May 19, 2013
  2. Keymaker
    Keymaker Well-Known Member
    if you want to hollow it out you need to decide where to put hole in to it. and dice with one hole will look wierd.
     
  3. Hm, is there any way to hollow out the center without adding a hole? The support material from Shapeways's 3-D printer would then just remain inside the object, I think?
     
  4. AmLachDesigns
    AmLachDesigns Well-Known Member
    In theory you are correct. But what do we call a hollow object that's full of the same stuff as the shell is made of? Solid.

    In practice if you upload a hollow shell with no holes then the SW software will treat your object as solid.

    Wrt your specific model you could make many holes and make them a feature. I also note that in the render the numbers do not line up with the faces - is this not a problem? Also, how do you read the number that the die is showing?
     
  5. HenryAlfredo
    HenryAlfredo Member
    many holes as a feature is a solution... you might also want to hollow out the model and create a very small escape hole to fool the software, you should advise the service team of your intentional trapping of the material, i don't know if it will still be allowed though.

    peace
    Marco
     
  6. AmLachDesigns
    AmLachDesigns Well-Known Member
    I believe this is allowed with FD/FUD but not other materials.
     
  7. Thanks, everyone, for your ideas. I suppose I am under the impression that hollowing out the middle without means of escape is allowed... I own this 32-sided die model in purple strong & flexible: https://www.shapeways.com/model/187765/d32-sphere-dice.html

    As it says in the description, the walls are only 1.5mm thick, but it is full of support material to keep it heavy. Could a similar approach be used on my design?

    As for the fact that the numbers do not line up with the faces, that is actually intentional. Once the die has stopped rolling, a single number will be facing directly up, even though it may not be flat. This one works quite well: https://www.shapeways.com/model/250377/d15-sphere-dice.html

    I'm very curious to see if this new Thingiverse model works just as well and rolls just as fairly :cool:
     
  8. Thanks again, Shapeways community, for your help. I now have a hollowed model of the D37 available for printing. Check it out here: https://www.shapeways.com/model/1109389/d37-die.html

    ...and download it if you wish.

    Keep in mind that because of the way the Thingiverse Customizer worked (translation: bugs yet to work out), small portions of the numbers are not visible on the model, but no number is affected in such a way that it is unreadable.

    If anyone would like to work on this model to restore the missing bits of the numbers, that would be lovely. I realize I am simply begging here, but you would have my gratitude, and probably some more of these sunglasses guys: :cool: :cool: :cool: