3D Printing For A Potential Buyer

[pagan8thParticipant 12932xp 2]

Yet again I am considering the purchase of a resin 3D printer and was hoping for some advice from experienced users.

I know I need a wash and cure station to go with it, but I’m trying to keep the spending down.

Mostly I will be printing miniatures and scatter terrain, but my wargaming tends to be at the 28mm scale upwards (towards the likes of MCP and Shatterpoint) and I may want to print some buildings.

There’s an Anycubic with a 7″ lcd screen that taunts me, but I’m concerned that the screen may not be large enough for my needs.

Learning from mistakes is a form of experience, but I’d prefer to gain XP from good advice.

Has anyone got any useful advice?

[grantinvanman 2502xp 0]

I have a friend who owns a mini company here in Calgary. He recently sold a lot of his range to Crooked Dice. So he does really good work.

His go-to for 3D printing is an Elegoo Saturn 3. Go to the 4 now I guess. It has a large plate. The biggest plate you can get makes life better.

 

For software, he uses Blender  – there’s a learning curve

These are his go-to options for materials:

Resins

Mix the 8k resin with Siraya Tech Tenacious to make it a bit bendy,  15% mixed into the bottle

After the print, this is what he does:

Pure simple green, let dry, pure acetone, let dry.

Then you’ll take it to a sink and run some hot water in another tub. Let it soak for 10 secs then remove the supports. Might need some clippers to help get the fragile areas.

Need a funnel with a sieve too

In case you have failures you’ll need to empty the vat

 

[pagan8thParticipant 12932xp 0]

Went to My Mini Factory and found loads of free samples to download and did so.

Installed Blender which is not the most intuitive software and managed to import an STL file. After some fiddling around I figure how to zoom and rotate…

Not all the STL are pre-supported so I guess I’ll need to figure that out.

Presumably I should combine STL files into a single file that I would transfer to USB and plug into a 3D printer.

Been using computers since the 1980’s and I’m computer literate, but this feels very confusing to me.

[kiranamida 5791xp 0]

To prepare the file for the printer you need a slicer software (which literally slices the object into the many layers that will print one after the other).

I have no idea if Blender comes with this functionality but I make use of Chitubox personally, only becuase it’s free and simple which works for me. This let’s you open the files and arrange them on the plate before it goes through and produces the file you’ll put on the USB and your printer will use (exactly what file format depends on the printer but it will tell you when you get you printer). Most of these, Chitubox included, let you tell it what printer you have and sorts out the plate size and file settings for you.

[pagan8thParticipant 12932xp 1]

I put everything in the shopping basket and clicked buy… and then five minutes later had second thoughts and cancelled the order.

Rushing in to the purchase is unwise. I want to look at the software, learn how to use it and decide if I want to commit.

So instead I got my airbrush out and started working on Afrika Korps… until the airbrush got clogged and I had to figure out how to fix it which took a while. All fixed now. Bases coloured. Drying now before I add more colour.

Frustrating that technology is often so fiddly to get working right.

[grantinvanman 2502xp 0]

Airbrush for the win!

I too have loaded a cart with a 3D printer and materials (all that I posted in the reply was quotes from my buddy), and then chickened out.

There will come a time when I will get one. I’m just not 100% there.

Also fully pre-supported is the way to go for the stl files.

Forgot about the Slicer part, too. And yes, it’s load onto a stick, plug and play, from what I know. It “seems easy” but my buddy warned me about being ready for failures.

 

Oh, add: HEATED TENT. Failures tend to occur when the temp isn’t right so a heated tent enclosure (which also acts as a fume hood) is essential. Especially since you’re in the UK and it gets cold-ish in winter. Here in Canada, my garage is heated, but I would still use a tent!

[pagan8thParticipant 12932xp 1]

It gets cold-ish here in summer… until it gets too hot for us of course… but that only lasts a month 🙂

In the end it was temporary sanity that saved me from buying. I have so much to paint and adding more seems like madness.

Maybe when I retire and have time to experiment with the 3D printer I’ll go for it. Until then I always have etsy and for what that printer will cost me (and that’s only including the first bottle of resin) I can buy maybe a 100 minis from etsy.

• This reply was modified 3 weeks, 3 days ago by  pagan8th.

[grantinvanman 2502xp 1]

Yeah, that’s kind of where I landed with the 3D printer idea. I think on this we are on the same page.

Although I buy from companies not Etsy; and when I need a 3D print I just get my buddy to do it.

I have been haemorrhaging money with my Harley project, I haven’t been able to buy much else. It’s like they have a burn pit in the middle of the dealership, and you just throw your money in until the fire is hot enough to get you a new part! Ridiculous.

I did go for a ride today to test the new (old) bike though, and GODDAMN it was fun. All smiles. Worth it.

[pagan8thParticipant 12932xp 0]

I don’t have a ‘buddy to do it’… so etsy.

Although etsy may not be the fastest way to get minis as it can take a few weeks, I’ve always had good customer service with them if there was a problem, probably because it’s a one person print studio.

Always buy from UK obviously as the shipping from overseas can be a problem and normally if you buy enough at one time the postage is reduced per item, or sometimes reduced to zero.

More I think about it, less practical 3D printing becomes. If you buy the STL files and only print one of them, then by the time you add the cost of resin and electricity it’s probably not that cheap.

If you’re printing scatter terrain, or don’t mind having an army of identically posed minis then it might be good value, but if you print one mini just to paint, or for an RPG, or as an army leader, then the cost would be higher. And I’ve not taken into account the failed prints either.

I suppose that’s why a lot of people sell 3D prints in places like etsy, to offset the costs of their own needs.

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