"What would you print using a 3D printer?" Topic

Thinking of custom printing – both on demand as well as one doing modifications – shift a kepi to a cap or add a canteen or perhaps delete the field pack

1 – anything so long as you have make or purchase the pattern and can print as is or be modified and then printed
2 – 6mm or less
3 – 10-18mm for massed armies
4 – 25-54mm for skirmish games
5 – Terrain
6 – All of the above
7 – None of the above
8 – other

8. 1/144th BMD-1 and BMD-2
9. 1/144th Marder 1, 1A1 and/or 1A2
10. 1/144th Jagdpanzer Raketes with SS-11 and HOT Launchers
11. 1/144th Spz 11-2 recon vehicle with 20mm cannon
12. 1/600th B-58 Hustler – preferably printed in metal, if the graininess issues can be resolved.

I'm sure there are others as well.

Probably not for most terrain items, unless costs for the printing can be brought way down.

I'be given this some thought myself. I'd like to use them to create figures directly from my imagination. No more hunting for proxy figs. It would also be useful to create custom parts for converting existing minis.

The only problems are a) I can't afford a quality printer (or even just a cheap one), b) I have no artistic talant that could translate my ideas into CAD models.

6.

Here is the deal. You will be able to make 3D copies of figures, buildings, everything. How the industry will cope with that? I don't know. But color printers allowed people to copy flags and yet they still sell new flags.

I've heard of people printing bases…

Royal guards France 1757
Dutch Was
Dismounted cavalry
Spanish guerillas 18 mm and civilians.
Some 13 th century men at arms , mounted and same dismounted.
WW2 brits for Burma 41-42 in 20 mm

Gold coins in case it work. Alchemy?

I'd rather have one of the larger 3d printers capable of printing in either concrete or metal, then print my very own fortress.

10-12mm snake rail fences

A regiment of the 3rd Bongolesian Light Guards ("The President's Own"). After that, I'm with mutant Q.

15mm/6mm Soldados de Cuera, ditto Indios with pre-Gunpowder weapons, ditto convertos some with weapons, most without, ditto Presidials, and other "rules specific" figures.

(2) I could go for vast quantities of Epic 40K (in its various incarnations) if the unit cost was significantly lower than originals from eBay. Titans and the like might be treated as a larger scale. But I don't know of any patterns nor the legal implications.

If I got that far, I wouldn't be selling, just painting up different chapters/factions, whatever.

(And then I remembered Battlefleet Gothic. Ditto.)

M41's in 1/48th scale and buildings.

Steve Jackson Ogres. Marks 1-6. Both sides. Also, Epic 40K stuff that is more in line with the Forgeworld sizing.

The whole IP/copyright thing would require licensing.

6
Whatever my current passion is whether it's 1/1200 scale airships or 28mm early 3rd century Romans.

A Heart.

1/56 tanks.

Spaceships. GOBS of 'em!
Because thegobspage.com

8. I'd scan some ECW re-enactors and have a set of masters made and printed so I could get 'new' figures at a size consistent with my old Minifigs.

It is already being done by hobbyists:

(Winterdale 2) War Cottage

Tables, tree trunks, and display cases in 28mm sizes

Miniatures, terrain pieces, and more

The 3-D printers are coming of age already. The figures, and terrain pieces they produce at the $300 USD printer mark, is quite impressive; by the way, nearly all of the items in the listed links were made using $300 USD printers… Granted, they do produce horizontal lines/ridges which are highly visible, but for terrain pieces, this is not really an issue. They can be smoothed out using acetone, and even acetone vapors, but it is not a very precise method. Things will only get better over the next few years.

With regards to printing costs, each of the pieces shown in the listed links, were produced for less than $3 USD per piece -- materials cost only, electricity, and the cost of the printers were not factored in.

In addition, the posters who are printing these gaming objects, are also printing dungeon terrain pieces compatible with Dwarven Forge -- at a mere fraction of the cost! Where DF pieces average $5 USD, or more, per piece, their home printed pieces are running less than a dollar per piece, for materials cost!

The hitch in 3-d printing, however, is the time required. a single 4" dungeon terrain piece can take 4-8 hours to print… Many such 'larger' pieces are printed overnight. Fortunately, these printers are largely, "Set it and forget it," once you get them dialed in. There are challenges to getting them tweaked into optimal printing, but it is not a huge challenge. Cheers!

You will be able to make 3D copies of figures, buildings, everything. How the industry will cope with that? I don't know

Yes… this is the same sort of thing I heard when computer technology came into the graphic design industry in about 1990. 26 years on and its still not quite 'print at the push of a button'.

…materials cost only, electricity, and the cost of the printers were not factored in

Concorde was really cheap if you left out all the development costs. If you work on materials cost only… resin items are about 5 cents. You need to compare like with like.

home printed pieces are running less than a dollar per piece, for materials cost

True, but with a $300 USD dollar printer you need to have printed 75 of them just to break even, in real terms.

The whole IP/copyright thing would require licensing

Depends what you are producing. The idea of 'scan in a 3D object and just print it at the push of a button' is still Star Trek territory; you are still going to need a 3D file to print from. there are three options:

1. Make your own file. Well, good quality 3D work is not for your novice. It requires not only good quality software, but also someone with the ability to use it. Making a box is easy. Making an accurate BMD-1 or Spanish Guerilla is another story.

2. Buy a file. There are good quality 3D artists out there who can make one for you, or have them available for sale. At this time, you are still looking at $50 USD-$500 for a file, so at the moment your first figure is about $250 USD-800.

3. Find a free file. Depends what you want – there are a lot of free files out there, but I have also seen a lot of free files of things that are distinctly wrong. A lot of them also have a cartoon/plastic feel to them, due to the minimum print sizes (and in part the skill of the artist). And inevitably finding the one thing you want will be the one thing no-one has done yet.

So… in real terms you need to factor in the initial capital outlay, the time investment, the origination cost, the material cost and the cleanup time to get to an even playing field.

In answer to the question, (6)… provided the quality was there, and the cost was effective when those factors are factored in. It's a long way off that at this time.

if they can do color napoleonics and seven years war hell any lace war without the squinting

Life-size Zardoz head.

I would print another 3D printer because then, wahoo, I'd have two 3D printers.

Love.

Wulfgar isn't wrong/exaggerating: printing your own printers isn't futuristic fantasy.

The first thing I ever printed with a 3D printer was a rubber monkey wrench. It was made as a single, solid piece. The adjustment screw worked and it flexed. It was kind of a standard "learn the industrial 3D printer" task.

If I had a good industrial one, I would laser scan family and friends and make us into minis. If I had a bigger house, I would print this.

Would it be possible to print molds? I'm not a big fan of plastic figures and I'd rather stick with pewter.

5 Terrain first The rest probably will follow but I have a definite need for particular pieces of terrain that I don't think would be commercially available.

x42

Would it be possible to print molds?

Yes. We did this all the time to cast low-volume parts that needed a material the printer didn't handle.

Nernies.