Skills Learned:
- SolidWorks (creating parts and assembly)
- Parametric Modeling
- Laser Cutter
- Kerf and Overlap
- Sketching
- Adobe Illustrator
Piper's Monopoly Dice Tower
Summary
The Birth of a Dice Tower
I wanted to create a dice tower for my friend whose favorite game is Monopoly. Her favorite Monopoly piece is the thimble, so I added a thimble decoration to the lid. The thimble piece has a slip fit so it can be switched out for other decorations available in the expansion pack. The dice tower also includes pockets in the back that can hold your other decoration pieces and your dice. The dice tower was made on a laser cutter out of 1/4” MDF and designed in Solidworks using parametric modeling.
The Dice Tower In Action
Piper demonstrates rolling dice in the dice tower.
Initial dice tower sketches and early CAD model
The design process of this dice tower had several stages. First, I sketched my ideas on my iPad, then I developed and added dimensions to those sketches to make sure I knew how many pieces I needed and what they would look like. Then, I made each piece in SolidWorks. To do this, I used parametric modeling. I made a global variable list and used those variables instead of numbers so that I could easily change every component at once. I also used relations in order to dimension as few things as possible so that when I had to go back and change some things, changing one dimension in a part changed everything. This saved me lots of time and hassle and was the most valuable skill I learned in this process. I changed things and improved my design multiple times, most notably after our class design review. I received a lot of great feedback. In response to what my classmates said I added a lid to better secure the decorative pieces and a pocket in the back for the dice and extra decorative pieces. After assembling all my pieces in SolidWorks, I saved each piece as a dxf file and assembled them into a sheet for the laser cutter in Adobe Illustrator. I then uploaded this to the laser cutter and printed out my pieces. As a final step, I put them all together.
The Design Process in Pictures
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Dice Tower Sketches
Sketches I made planning out each part of the dice tower and how they would fit together
Initial CAD Model
This is the first CAD model I made
Design Review Notes
Notes and sketches made in response to feedback from my classmates and teachers
More Sketches
More sketches made in response to the design review feedback.
Updated CAD Model
Final CAD model complete with lid, pockets, and other modifications.
Adobe Illustrator File
File used to print the dice tower on the laser cutter, compiled of arranged dxf drawings exported from SolidWorks.
Front of Completed Dice Tower
Dice tower with thimble decoration and pockets in the back.
Back of Dice Tower
Back view of the Dice Tower featuring the pockets prominently
Side View of Dice Tower
A view of the side of the completed dice tower
Dice Tower Being Used
Dice Tower in Action during a game of Here To Slay with Piper’s friends