"3D printing - microns?" Topic

How many microns resolution is required to do justice to a 28mm model?

You want at least 37 in xyz. Most printers only list the z. The x and y are just as important. You can set the z to be 5 microns but if the x and y are 100 it doesn't look any better. If the resolution is lower than 37 you can model your figure in such a way that it still looks good. It just seems that around 37 there are no discernible build lines and thus zero cleanup.
(None of this applies to extruded plastic printers (fdm) onlybresin based.)

Thanks interesting! With the new printers that are doing painted miniatures I expect that has to be even finer detail?

Thisa is an emotive subject. We ManeouVer Group print our 1/144 vehicles at 100 microns (0.1mm or 0.004"). Some state that this leaves roo much stepping. This is a strage commeny to us.

At a show we lined up 1/144 vehicles on a road and asked punter to rate them as they srood on the gaming table where you would view them.

Top was injection moulded,

Middle was pretty much a ties between FD (toothpaste squeeseing) home priner and the Laser sintered. The former had a bit more surface texture but were sharper, the latter less surface texture but less sharpe detail.
Unequivacal last was metal casting.

So if you want to stare at 28mm from 12" it will proably look poor at 4 ft as the hyper detail will wash out at that didtance. But you may want finet than 0.1mm layers.
If you wany to actualy play withthem then 0,1mm is fine, 1/72mm tanks look fine at 0,2mm layer height as far as I an concerned.

You need to get samples to see what you want.

@UshCha – You can get away with that for vehicles as a player and on the table. However, if I tried to sell casts of those I would get a lot of notes back from customers and rightly so. Also the OP said a 28mm model and I assumed a character (Human, orc, alien, etc) and 100 micron would not produce a good looking model in that scenario.
So, in essence you are correct for your scenario, but I wasn't sure Wargamer Dave's motivation for asking, so I answered as a manufacturer! ;)

I was looking at 3D printers to see if there was anything out there that was inexpensive enough to purchase with an eye toward commissioning some sculpts to print for myself.

Also in general wondering how this is going to play out in future. At what point can someone scan an existing model and then 3D print more of them ?

I use Shapeways FXD for 35mm masters but FUD is OK as well. FXD is 16 microns, FUD 29 microns. FXD has a higher level of detail than metal figures, FUD is about the same.

I also tried figures to paint in WSF which is about 120 micron. These are reasonable but lack crisp edges on belts, lapels etc.

I have seen figures done on a Zortrax FDM printer at 90 microns which look reasonable. Zortrax is one of the more expensive brands.

Figures are probably a bit trickier than tanks. As stated above they need well-defined straight lines for painting anything with an edge. And thin objects like muskets swords and bayonets might not be thick enough for the printer to print.

The cheapest I have seen at least photosd of was Dougs Printabot simple metal.

TMP link

This was as far as I could see as good as ours at 0,1mm.

Commisioning figures to print I guess would be expensive £100.00 GBP to £150.00 GBP for an exclusive cadds model if you are lucky.

We pay £50.00 GBP for shared rights for 1/144 vehicles from Shipyards.

Printing is not for mass production. Its for a few off specialist figures or for matering. Home printers are not really suitable for masters.

As for painting, the standard is more of an issue if you want close ups. Wargames does not require close ups.