Reply To: 3D printing and the enviroment #teamseas

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@captainventanus – absolutely spot on; but just about everything (electronic) manufactered has a carbon trail leading all the way back to China (although based in Nottingham, and they used to spin-cast Citadel miniatures there, quite a few GW minis are also produced in China now – and almost all their print/packaging comes from there, according to their investors reports).

So, as I see it,  you can buy a 3d printer with a single supply path, or mutliple boxes of plastic, each of which is manufactured and shipped from the other side of the world – if everything has a trail back to China (component costs, packaging + shipping) then fewer trips = better, right?

On consumables, it drives me crazy watching Youtube videos where people whack on a pair of nitrile gloves, use them for 30 seconds, then take them off and throw them in the bin. I use (reusable) marigolds – and maybe changed them two or three times in two years! The resin is turned into miniatures (and about 30%-35% by weight discarded after curing). I’ve used a single coffee jar of acetone for about a year now. The amount of “consumable” going to waste is pretty low with 3d-printed minis (compared to plastic boxed sets).

It’s not waste-free, and it’s not “green” but it’s not as “toxic” as many people (usually who don’t have a 3d printer) worry about either. Obviously, if you’re printing 24-hours-a-day your hardware will wear out and need replacing more quickly than those of us who print a couple of times, maybe once a week (or fortnight). But that will also produce *a lot* of minis (the comparable “green” cost of manufacturing, packaging and shipping factory-made, plastic counterparts from the other side of the world, many many times over would be much higher?)