Dice Tower

[oldhudson]

My adult son plays a lot of board games, some of which have quite a number of dice. I thought he might like a dice tower to manage them. I've looked at several on-line and I'm combing the features of a couple. If anyone has an interest I can take pics and post them as I go.

 

Thanks for reading.

[Falcon]

I would like to see it. In the Navy we made one out of Plexiglas play a lot of acey duecy (old game) like backgammon.

[amazingkevin]

My adult son plays a lot of board games, some of which have quite a number of dice. I thought he might like a dice tower to manage them. I've looked at several on-line and I'm combing the features of a couple. If anyone has an interest I can take pics and post them as I go.

 

Thanks for reading.

Yes please post!

[MrsN]

I would love to see photos. My brother might need one for christmas some time.

[Ken O]

I had never even heard of this before! I googled "Dice tower" and looked at a bunc of pictures. This is really cool. I think I found my next project. I know where I could sell a ton of these!

[oldhudson]

I know it’s been quite a while since I started working on the dice tower project, you probably thought I died and the pigs ate me. As it turns out I was just busy with my life outside the shop.

 

Essentially a dice tower is a square or rectangular device that you drop dice in, as they fall they hit some obstruction(s), are mixed up and fall out the bottom. I decided to add a tray - so they don’t land on the floor or someone’s lap.

 

I think, although I may be wrong, that basically there are two approaches to this.  Both require a box through which the dice travel

 

One approach would be to drill and add dowels between two of the sides. The dice would bounce off them as they fall through the tower. The other approach would be to use baffles of some kind. I though the baffle method would make a much better sound as the dice fall and it seemed like more of woodworking challenge, so that’s what I choose.

 

I used cherry because I have lots on hand but first I made 3 attempts with ½†plywood, kind of proof-of-concept.

 

I thought this would be an easy project but found it pretty challenging.

 

The dimensions aren’t very important but mine is about 11†x 5†x 4â€. The angles for the baffles are at 30°. No issue cutting the baffles although I should have used oversize stock and cut it down later. But cutting the dados to hold the baffles ended up being an issue. As you can see from the pic I was getting different results cutting the left and right sides. I tried it with the table saw and a stacked dado set. I had better luck with a hand held router because I could see my layout lines.

 

To add some character I added crenelation so it looked more like a castle. It was also the reason for cutting the arched opening for the dice to come out. Finally, I scrolled the dragon (Steve Good design).

 

Baffles are just glued in place. I used Titebond Molding glue and held them in position for a few minutes while the set up. I cut finger joints for the wall of the tray which catch the dice. I have a new Incra I-box jig. I hoped it would make box joints really easy, but it took me more than a couple tries to get the hang of it. Even then the joints aren’t as tight as I’d like. I think a large part of the problem was the stock for the tray sides was pretty small 1.5" x .25".

 

I used Watco Danish Oil, Natural for finish. I thought about painting it in gray’s and brown’s and black to look like bricks in a castle, but it’s cherry….

 

I’m happy with the results although the tray should have been a wee bit longer. I’m anxious to see what my son thinks.  

 

Thanks for reading.  (I'll attempt to make a short video of it later.)

 

 

 

 

[LarryEA]

Cool Dude, Let the box roll them 'Bones'.

[merlin]

Cool Berry that came out great......I can sea me attempting one of those soooooon...............

[spirithorse]

Very nicely done! Thanks for sharing and God Bless! Spirithorse

[dgman]

Looking forward to the video!

[bobscroll]

Hey Guy's and Gal's just Google "dice tower patterns" and you will find plenty of ideas and patterns!

Bob