Reply To: 3D Printing… Where do I start?

[jamescutts 6924xp 2]

?@pagan8th

While i wont claim to be an expert im happy to offer a few pointers.

First of theres two main types of 3D printers to go look into.

• FDM, the type that uses a roll of filliament and extrudes this through a nozel
• Resin, you pour a bath of resin, a build plate moves up and light activates each layer.

Both of these have their pro’s and cons, and it depends on what you mainly want to do, resin is more expensive but more detailed results can generall be acheived.

• If your wanting to print high quality minis, lots of minis in a go, or small sized terrain pieces (barrels etc.) then a Resin printer is the way to go.
• If your wanting to print large terrain pieces then FDM is the way to go.

I’ve yet to use a resin printer but I’ve had some great results with a FDM printer for large terrain pieces.

One great piece of advice would be get good at waiting around, these things are not quick, even small prints take hours and some might take a day or more!

Your best starting point for free STL files just for convience and ease of use is https://www.thingiverse.com/, but theres a huge range of sites that im sure others will recommend aswell. You’ve also got https://www.myminifactory.com/category/tabletop which while it has a lot of paid items has a lot of free ones too.

Printable scenery offer some good free samples and are of a good quality for experimenting. https://www.printablescenery.com/product-category/free-3d-printable-wargame-files/