Tungsten dice

I'm contacting a few companies that do custom metal work, to see if anyone can make for me some custom tungsten dice. I'd most likely want to go for 12mm base instead of 16mm base, since it would probably be cheaper because there's a LOT less material used (and they'll be so dense and heavy, I wouldn't want that much weight). So far, I have no idea what it would cost, or when I could get them, or anything, but is anyone interested? I'm sure I could manage 7-piece d20, or 10d10 for White Wolf or whatever else you might want that for. It would certainly be expensive, probably $60+/set, but I don't actually know, it's likely to depend largely on the number of each die to be made. But, since these things aren't mass produced, you just might have the coolest thing in the whole game shop! And it's possible (and probable) that neither you nor anyone you meet will ever see another set of dice like these.

And what about a tungsten-copper mix? That would be less expensive and easier to machine.
It could look like this, or perhaps a little more coppery, or less, but I like it just about here, maybe a little less. Have a look:
http://www.bridgat.com/files/tungste...r_alloys_2.jpg

I got an E-mail from one company that said they can do it. I have some friends, and friends of friends, who are very interested, so this is pretty likely to go through. And I tried to do a GB of MS ProDUOs before, but there just weren't enough people interested, so this is the first GB I'm going to make sure I get done (unless it's like $200/set of dice). Since I don't really have any rep, I'm not a big time poster, and I don't have any past experience doing GBs, I'd like to reassure everyone that I'll pick up any and all costs if this starts to fall through (which I'm pretty sure it won't, at least not once we get to the financial stage of it). I'll post again when I have a cost per set estimate.

Machining tungsten? Good luck. Sounds awesome, but as I'm sure you're aware, that stuff is very tough to machine.

Are you contacting any places that do powder metallurgy, or just machine shops? Especially with stuff like tungsten, powder metallurgy might even be easier or cheaper than machining.

Also, then it'll likely be easier get tungsten carbide, which is much shinier/prettier.

I'm contacting places that do custom metal work. I really don't know. I've gotten a response from a second company now who is confident they can do it, too. I know tungsten is hard to machine. I'll ask about that specific process, and about tungsten carbide, too. Is pure tungsten or tungsten carbide more expensive? One of the companies is Tungsten.com, so I'm sure they'll have powder metallurgy available, and possibly tungsten carbide.

EDIT: What about tungsten-copper, with a low percentage of copper, maybe 40% or less? Sound interesting? Here's how it might look:
http://www.bridgat.com/files/tungsten_copper_alloys_2.jpg

I think it could look pretty cool, with that copper hue to it.

The tungsten / copper blend might work better. I think dice should have a bounce to them that give them their randomness. If they are all Tungsten they might be a bit heavy and not have that nice spring to them.

Jon

Depending on the cost involved of course, I might be interested in a set, or maybe a single die for a keychain...................rob

I might be interested. Also i heard a long time ago about wire edm'ing tungsten :/ i am a skeptic about this process though. i have never seen it done with tungsten just heard about it.

chipdouglas said:

I might be interested. Also i heard a long time ago about wire edm'ing tungsten :/ i am a skeptic about this process though. i have never seen it done with tungsten just heard about it.

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Wire EDM? What's that?

And about powder metallurgy: one company said it would be $2500/mold.

EDM uses high voltage charges to machine parts, stands for Electro-dynamic-machining iirc. These often use an electrode that goes up, and down a small amount and the electricity arcs and burns the pattern into the surface, could be good to mark the dice's spots. -Glenn

EDM actually stands for "electrical discharge machining".

while working in a machine shop many years ago I had a 3-56 tap break off in a brass optical mounnt I was making, itsted of scrapping the piece I took it down to the main machine shop where they had a EDM back then that stood for electrical discharge machining the unit it self looked like a drill press with an insulated chuck which held a device connected to a coolant source and an electrical source, comming out of the bottom was a tungsten hollow needle. the cooling fluid flows down the needle as the electricty eats up the tap in the brass, the guy operating the EDM was so good he removed the tap with out damaging any of the threads that were made in the brass. I'm sure things have much progressed since that time.

BTW I also would be interested in a pair or maby just one if cost is realy high...

Thanks ! Best Regards Pyro... :eg:

I'm interested but I probably won't get any unless the price is pretty low.

MarioMaster said:

I'm interested but I probably won't get any unless the price is pretty low.

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I'm hoping for a set of 7 to be less than $50, but I just don't know yet. It'd be worth the molds if I had the money and knew I'd be able to sell about a million sets, but that would take away part of the novelty that comes with the rarety of having such a set of dice. If I had Bill Gates' money, I'd pay someone to contact every custom metal working company in the nation and find the least expensive company for producing a few dozen or so sets.

Well if price is in that general range then I'm game

I'm with MarioMaster on that one. I'd buy a set and I have a few friends who would too.

chipdouglas said:

I might be interested. Also i heard a long time ago about wire edm'ing tungsten :/ i am a skeptic about this process though. i have never seen it done with tungsten just heard about it.

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Chip,
At first glance i thought you ment to spell "wire welding tungsten"
and i about fliped a lid--lol (but i did see that's not the case)
I use tungsten electrodes all the time for welding pipe (Carbon and Stainless- 304,308,316)
Just thought it was funny.

Anyway, if the price is right i might take a look at a set.