Dice Towers

[Gunner]

I've always been a dice glass guy but I saw a tower at a tournament recently that I liked and I thought I might try one. Where can I buy a tower that tumbles the dice well, has low enough tray sides that the dice can be seen but keeps the dice from jumping out on a regular basis and has a low rate of cocked dice. Does such a thing exist? Any help you can give would be appreciated.

Gunner

 

[jake264]

I almost bought this a little while ago: http://www.minidicetowers.com/jpwoodworking_023.htm

Looks small and there is a video that shows it in action.

I actually decided instead to make myself a dice cup using this: http://www.snowdomes.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=kit2medround_info

Elmer's glued some green felt on the base to class it us a little and it works great. Luckily the kit came with two domes. I superglued the dome down on the first kit and it fogged up the inside and ruined it. I didn't glue the second dome but it fits pretty snug. I have to hold it together while I shake, but that's no big deal and has the added bonus of allowing me to add/remove/exchange dice when needed.

 

[rdw5150]

I actually decided instead to make myself a dice cup using this: http://www.snowdomes.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=kit2medround_info

I could never have one of those. Too much rum and too much bad luck and it would go sailing across the room

Peace

Roger

 

[olli]

I've always been a dice glass guy but I saw a tower at a tournament recently that I liked and I thought I might try one. Where can I buy a tower that tumbles the dice well, has low enough tray sides that the dice can be seen but keeps the dice from jumping out on a regular basis and has a low rate of cocked dice. Does such a thing exist? Any help you can give would be appreciated.

Gunner

I do aluminium towers with the ramps and tray lined with thin rubber sheet that very rarely stop the dice inside and never have any dice jump out of the tray, £30 inc shipping, they stand 5-6 inches tall, 5 inches long and the tower is two inches square

regards
Olli

 

[AZslim]

I understand Steve Pleva makes the cadillac of dice towers. You can contact him through this forum I'm sure.

 

[MrP]

I do aluminium towers with the ramps and tray lined with thin rubber sheet that very rarely stop the dice inside and never have any dice jump out of the tray, £30 inc shipping, they stand 5-6 inches tall, 5 inches long and the tower is two inches square

regards
Olli

Post a pic Olli?

 

[2 Bit Bill]

I almost bought this a little while ago: http://www.minidicetowers.com/jpwoodworking_023.htm

Looks small and there is a video that shows it in action.

I actually decided instead to make myself a dice cup using this: http://www.snowdomes.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=kit2medround_info

Elmer's glued some green felt on the base to class it us a little and it works great. Luckily the kit came with two domes. I superglued the dome down on the first kit and it fogged up the inside and ruined it. I didn't glue the second dome but it fits pretty snug. I have to hold it together while I shake, but that's no big deal and has the added bonus of allowing me to add/remove/exchange dice when needed.

You could fill it with water & snow and use it for Winter Scenarios

 

[2 Bit Bill]

you can get these on the cheap

http://cgi.ebay.com/Milton-Bradley-1973-Chute-5-Strategy-Dice-Game_W0QQitemZ230364551799QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item35a2cc1a77&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

here's one from ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/Dice-Tower-Aromatic-Cedar_W0QQitemZ260459346078QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3ca496389e&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

 

[rdw5150]

you can get these on the cheap

http://cgi.ebay.com/Milton-Bradley-1973-Chute-5-Strategy-Dice-Game_W0QQitemZ230364551799QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item35a2cc1a77&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

here's one from ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/Dice-Tower-Aromatic-Cedar_W0QQitemZ260459346078QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3ca496389e&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

The sides of that wood one look sort of high. Since I am a short little fellow, I need to take those things into consideration you know

 

[2 Bit Bill]

The sides of that wood one look sort of high. Since I am a short little fellow, I need to take those things into consideration you know

you might have to borrow Glennbo survival knife to shave off a bit or use the desert maps to increase your height

 

[custardpie]

I do aluminium towers with the ramps and tray lined with thin rubber sheet that very rarely stop the dice inside and never have any dice jump out of the tray, £30 inc shipping, they stand 5-6 inches tall, 5 inches long and the tower is two inches square

regards
Olli

and they look and play great!!!

I got mine in March at Hero's and it gets a fair amount of play. Don't get many cocked rolls and they stay in the tray. I bought some of the smaller dice and they work great with it

Cheers
Ian

 

[Bret Hildebran]

Historically, Jack Daniels has sold some towers at ASLOK the last couple years which are nice and relatively cheap on the dice tower price scale. Not positive if he'll be doing the same this year, but I'm hoping. Gives you a great excuse to come to ASLOK or if you can't quite swing that, maybe a buddy is coming and could pick one up?

I'd send Jack a PM first to make sure before buying the plane ticket though, but usually someone has dice towers for sale at ASLOK.

 

[footsteps]

Post a pic Olli?

His avatar, I believe.

 

[rdw5150]

Historically, Jack Daniels has sold some towers at ASLOK the last couple years which are nice and relatively cheap on the dice tower price scale. Not positive if he'll be doing the same this year, but I'm hoping. Gives you a great excuse to come to ASLOK or if you can't quite swing that, maybe a buddy is coming and could pick one up?

I'd send Jack a PM first to make sure before buying the plane ticket though, but usually someone has dice towers for sale at ASLOK.

Hi!

I bought one from Jack last year as my Pleva Tower had some sort of bad luck mo-jo going on it and I needed a change (plus I wanted another tower). Some come with unit emblems on them is memory serves its purpose.

Jack makes nice towers, if you use small, light dice, they can come shooting out, but that is a problem with most towers. I leave my "jack" tower at my buddy Doug's so it still gets used a lot. For the price, they are tough to beat.

No offence to anyone of course, Pleva still makes the BMW/Cadillac/Mercedes of towers..... (I know I butchered the spellings, but I am just not a "Car guy")

Peace

Roger

 

[MrP]

His avatar, I believe.

Aha. I have all the piccies turned off when I read - thank ye koind sor

 

[Daniels]

I am planning to bring some again this year.

 

[2 Bit Bill]

Hi!

I bought one from Jack last year as my Pleva Tower had some sort of bad luck mo-jo going on it and I needed a change (plus I wanted another tower). Some come with unit emblems on them is memory serves its purpose.

Jack makes nice towers, if you use small, light dice, they can come shooting out, but that is a problem with most towers. I leave my "jack" tower at my buddy Doug's so it still gets used a lot. For the price, they are tough to beat.

No offence to anyone of course, Pleva still makes the BMW/Cadillac/Mercedes of towers..... (I know I butchered the spellings, but I am just not a "Car guy")

Peace

Roger

Have you seen one made from petrified wood yet?

That would be GROFAZ! :smoke:

Sam B has one made from a Sequoya :clown:

 

[Gunner]

I am planning to bring some again this year.

Can you post a pic or two? I have some buds coming to ASLOK so I might be interested.

Gunner

 

[MrP]

Have you seen one made from petrified wood yet?

That would be GROFAZ! :smoke:

Sam B has one made from a Sequoya :clown:

I've a couple of french oak wine barrels that I started making a tower out of (just a stave, not the whole barrel!), the smell when you work the wood is fantastic One day I'll finish it.......

 

[pward]

Do it yourself.

My homemade tower is from 3" wide strips of bass wood obtained at the local Hobby Lobby. Grab some 1 foot squares of thin corkboard to line the tower and you can put one together in a few hours with an x-acto knife and wood glue. You will also want to pickup a 3/4" or 1" strip of bass wood as well for the walls of the tray (or be willing to cut along the grain on the wider strips). It will take approximately 42" of the 3" wide, about a foot of the 3/4" or 1" strip, and two patches of cork at 3x7 and 3x6.

The primary dimensions were selected so I would have to make as few cuts as possible. The main tower is therefore 3" x 3-1/4". I determined the height by laying out baffles at 45 degree angles and guessing how many and what size they would be to have 4 of them total, without making the whole thing too tall. Remember that the bottom one has to roll the dice out to the tray, so work up from the bottom. Clearance between baffles depends on the dice size used. I got some larger dice recently, only to find that they can get stuck in the tower on occasion...

It's about 7" high, each baffle is about 2" long, the total length is also 7" or thereabouts, so the tray has about 4" of "run" for the dice. Cork is lining the front and back of the tower, I should probably add some to the tray and the baffles to lessen the noise a bit more... Quieter than a glass, but noisier than one of the finely crafted "Cadillac" models.

Fanciest thing I did was bevel the edges of the baffles with a Dremel before assembly. Make sure to put the baffles in when one side is still off the tower. Hold everything together with rubber bands overnight till the glue is good and dried...

If I was going to make another one, I wouldn't use quite so much material on the "front" of the tower. The baffle just above the tray leaves a void of sorts between it and the front piece. So if a die stops short "inside" the tower it's not readily visible. I would also go with the 3/4" high walls on the tray. When using the standard ASL dice, sometimes pips are hidden behind the tray wall at some viewing angles.