How to Support Dice For 3d Printing (To avoid Mushy Numbers)
- Storm
- Jul 15
- 8 min read
This is part 1: The Theory of Supports
When I first started out printing my own dice I watched so many "tutorials" on Youtube about how to properly support. None of them helped me. The worst one (as with most things sadly) Pappy Rybonator himself. His supporting method only showed how to make fins... on the wrong sides with no additional supports. After failing over and over on my own prints for months trying to follow his "instruction" I decided to go my own way. This method has come from supporting and printing more than 100 custom orders of sets and probably 2000+ individual dice. While each individual shape of die does require a bit of care to properly support there are overall lessons to be learned for a few of them that will set the baseline for all the rest.
The three that are the most problematic and/or difficult and/or improperly supported in other peoples 'guides' or 'tutorials' are the D20, D12 and D6.
The D20 is the most common to have very warped (mushy) numbers toward the build plate. Learning how to support the D20 will help to set the foundation for how you support all the dice.
The D6 is the most common to have Z-Axis warping issues (elongating so it is no longer a perfect cube). If you have ever seen anyone showing how to support dice they often show a single point down on the D6. This leaves it with only 3 points of connection that do not give it enough structure to stay a true cube with the suction of printing.
Putting it instead on its edge, allows for more connection points so that it can hold it's structure much better against the suction force. Adding in the bumpers gives it just enough structural support that it will withstand the majority of the z stretch warping and come out more-or-less almost a perfect cube. You will need to sand it down a bit to bring it into the accurate measurement but it starts out much MUCH closer this way.
The D12 is often oriented differently in other peoples pictures/instruction as well. I have found it actually prints much better this way because it has more space for the liquid resin to escape so the numbers do not warp as much. I will get into more details of this warping soon.
Ok on to technique:
Orientation
I know that Dicemaker outputs D20s to put the 20 side down toward the build plate. This is not ideal. You want the numbers that are the easiest to support (and the least important) to be toward the build plate as those are the numbers that are the most likely to be warped or have flaws. Generally, the easiest numbers to support without too much trouble are the 1, 19, 3, 17, 7. So if you flip the die 180 degrees around so the 20 side is on the top it is better for supporting that way :)
As a general rule, it is easier to support all the dice in an orientation that puts the lowest numbers toward the build plate. There are some exceptions to that rule of course, but in most cases you will want to put the lowest numbers toward the plate.
Bumpers
Dicemaker has an option for "bumpers" that is a godsend. It really is an amazing and under-used option that makes everything easier for you. They are a little bit of extra material around the edges of your dice. This may seem counter-productive. Like why put more material there that you will just need to sand off anyway? - but they do more for you than you'd think.
They allow you to place fin supports directly on them. This means your fins will never touch any edges of your dice so they cannot damage them.
They keep the structure. The extra material bulking up those delicate edges mean that it will hold the whole thing together far better than without. There will be less warping, less stretching and more even suction on the whole thing as it prints - resulting in a better and more prefect print.
They are also really useful for learning and continuing to sand your faces straight. They are an obvious visual marker of how hard you push on one side or another while sanding. This can help you in the long run to become better at shaping things like the D20 and keeping your corners aligned easier. I highly recommend using bumpers on all your dice.
Fin Supports
Fin Supports make crisp edges and do less damage to them so that you can easily sand them flat without warping or pockmarks. Even without bumpers (although I highly recommend them). The fins can be placed directly on the edge as long as they are small and do not extend too deep into the surface. This way they can be tipped over 90degrees when softened and come right off and the sanding needed to smooth out the edges is minimal. I have a video I did a while back on how I remove my very thin supports with the help of soaking them in in hot water before they are fully cured.
Support Size
Smaller connection diameter and depth. The supports are there to hold the print onto the plate and even out any stress from suction. This means they only need to be strong enough to hold the weight of the print and the suction it would endure being pulled off the FEP over and over. Generally Dice are small and have very little surface area to cause suction with so much smaller and thinner supports will do the trick without causing as much damage.
I make my connection points 0.15mm.
Support Location
Location location location! The reason that we put the supports around the numbers is to give structure to the walls of the numbers. The only parts of the numbers that require the extra help staying straight are the ones that will have the most pressure put on them and/or be the softest during the print. Those are the sides of the numbers where the gravity will take the resin as it is being lifted from the vat.
See pic for reference.
If you put your camera in chitubox facing up THROUGH the build plate this is the side of the die that will be at the top when your print is hung upsidedown on the build plate. Considering where the gravity will take the liquid resin down the sides of the die. The sides that are going to get pools of liquid resin through the print are the sides that will need the extra support.
So keeping in mind the gravity is pulling the resin down the sides as above, the supports should be placed along the edges of the numbers that would be affected by it. So like the right side of the 3, the left side of the 7, the bottom of the 1. I have placed red dots in the places i would put supports in this example. (See pic)
Islands
This is one of the very first things you learn about when supporting any 3d printed model. Places where the print will start in an area where there is nothing to attach to. Printing in mid air (or in the vat as it were with resin printing). The part of the model that prints on nothing will end up not having a crisp edge, it will dull the edge as it finally picks up where there is something attached to the area to stick to the rest of the print.
Putting the supports RIGHT up on the very edges of the numbers will help keep those crisp edges The D% is always one of the worst ones for islands. If you are supporting all the areas where the gravity will drag the wet resin, then you should already have gotten most of the islands without any issues. You can check for islands in chitubox by slicing and then pressing the "Show Islands" button atop the layer slider
Supporting Numbers
Not all the numbers need to be supported on any die, just the ones that will be affected by gravity pulling liquid resin down into them and catching it and/or islands. So on the d20, the bottom 5 numbers that made the tip that faces the plate, then check the numbers on the faces that have upright triangles (as those are the ones tilted toward the build plate) around the outside. So if you are using the 1,7,17,3,19 tip, that would be the 13, 9, 16, 10, 15.
Anywhere those have islands (pull the slider on your layers down from the top to look at where the islands might be at the bottom edges of the number. If the faces are not angled to face the build plate at all, they do not need additional supporting. ^_^
On the D12 it is a bit less obvious, the 2 faces on either side of the edge that is toward the plate but the other two sides also are angled down toward the build plate so they need supports too.
The less directly angled toward the build plate the faces are, the less supports the need. And if they are perpendicular to the build plate they do not need any.
How many Supports?
How much is too much? More supports is better than not enough (especially when they are small) however there is definitely a point of diminishing returns and then you start hurting yourself more than helping.
The goal is to hold everything up securely and evenly but not to have so much there that the liquid resin cannot escape.
Resin tends to soften resin. I know it doesn't make much sense but it might be for the same reason that water softens resin. If it is partially cured (the way it is when it gets done printing) and remains in (or covered with) the liquid resin, it is more likely to warp. If you have ever done a larger hollow print you might have noticed this. If you don't get to it right away to pull it and and clean it and cure it, it will sometimes start to have strange dipping on the flat sides while it is hanging from the build plate (I see this most often with larger pieces like the 80mm chonks I make)
Anyway if the resin is caught in the number cavity and has nowhere to drain out (Because there are too many supports) it will be more likely to cause what I call "mushy numbers"
What are Mushy Numbers?
Mushy numbers are either ramps or drooping. Ramps are most often caused by light bleedthrough. If there is resin caught in the number and the light turns on to cure the next layer, it can cure at the bottom of the numbers causing "ramps" up the side. They look awful and don't hold paint well.
The other mushy number is drooping. You may have seen this one some of your prints already. This happens when the supports are not close enough to the edge to hold it up so the wet resin and suction pressure cause it to droop in a little. These can sometimes be fixed after the print (With hand-added printer resin and a UV light) but are just easier to not have to fix in the first place :) Properly supporting can take a lot of time and patience but most of all it takes practice. It won't come out perfect first time. Learning the quirks of the software (chitubox) will help a lot.
Some things that have helped me -
1. Get comfortable with using the hotkeys in Chitubox to switch quickly between place (a) and move (e). This way you can place the ones that are hard to get close to the edge and then switch to move and adjust it into the correct position along the edge of the number.
2. Save often - Chitubox can be finicky sometimes and crash often. Please save your work so you don't get too frustrated when it crashes. Also make sure to set up your "auto-save" in your settings so you might be able to recover some of your work.
3. Use your "+" and "-" buttons to fine tune the zoom of your camera while working. Sometimes the zoom wheel just goes too far and makes it hard to see if you are close enough to the edge or not.
Don't settle for "good enough" when it comes to your masters. With enough practice, time and patience, you can do incredible things with your 3d printer!
If you have any questions or want more information about how to fix your dice printing problems, please reach out to me. I am happy to help walk you through it or troubleshoot your situation. You can email me at WisdomCheckCreations@gmail.com Use the "Contact Us" form or Catch me on Discord by joining our channel!
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