Standard Issue Purple UW Datacube

A DataCube is a crystaline data storage device. It measures 2.5cm per side. Computer data is stored in the actual alignment of the crystaline structure within. These are usually stamped with United Worlds logo. This one is purple, and is probably old, because the official United Worlds stamp is worn.

 

Limited Offer

A limited number of Purple DataCubes is available. For $3.00, shipping included for the continental USA, you get one hand-made DataCube. Simply contact me with your shipping address. I will use normal US mail within the continental USA.

For international orders, the cost will be $1.00 plus the actual shipping cost.

To order DataCube: E-mail me with request and address.

 

How It Is Made

When I decided to make a "feely" for Piracy 2.0, only a few obvious items came to mind. In the game there are two DataCubes, and the Purple one seemed more interesting to me. More colorful, more iconic to the game. So I started out trying to find something the shape of a cube, about 2.5cm in dimension.

I thought of dice, and actually approaced several dice companies. Most didn't make dice large enough, and none would imprint them with my logo for any kind of reasonable price.

I really wanted purple Vegas dice, the sharp-edged acrylic cubes. But I could find no place to order custom dice without serious cost.

I finally found some 1-inch acrylic cubes for a reasonable price, and ordered 10 to test. But they were transparent plastic. No color.

I had had some luck in the past dyeing clear plastic pieces in my GI Joe hobby. I dyed some clear space helmets dark by submersing them in black RIT cloth dye, heated, for a few hours. The result was pretty good.

So I experimented on the first 10 by placing one in dense purple RIT dye. After an overnight at room temperature, there was very little change. So I decided to bake them in an oven at 200 degrees, just below boiling. The results were pretty good. About two hours gave me a fairly nice purple cube.

So I ordered 40 new cubes. I was disappointed to find that the second order had a number of cubes that had some stress cracking on one or more surfaces. The company said that their supplier was using old equipment, and that the quality had dropped over the years. But it was better than starting from scratch.

Now for the logo. I approached a few local print shops, and a few online places, and could not find a suitable place to print my logo onto existing acrylic cubes.

So I ordered a rubber stamp online and experimented with various paints. I found a good paint that would stick to acrylic and not rub off easily. But the rubber stamp doesn't make a clear imprint. Also, I misprinted the stamp. So I ordered a second one, with the logo fixed, and got busy.

One weekend, I dyed all 40 of them. On a subsequent weekend, I stamped all 40 of them. The result is not bad for something I produced fairly cheaply, and accurately represents the in-game purple DataCube.

 

 

Piracy ©1985,2008 Sean Huxter