"Is 3D printing viable for 6mm" Topic

I've heard resin is best for the smaller scales, but what little I've seen of the 6mm printed stuff out there, I'm not impressed.

Is it an issue of getting a higher priced 3D printer or is the tech just not there yet?

Thanks

The tech is there for sure. Some stuff I have seen is very nice BUT you have to plonk down quite a bit for a good enough printer….

I've been printing some pretty tiny things on my Elegoo Mars, latest was a carronade for a friends Constitution model measuring about 8mm in length

I've printed 3mm figures and the blocks are recognizable as infantry and cavalry. CR-10 printer on super-fine settings.

I would say no, from what I've seen.

I've been churning out 6mm stuff in my Monoprice Mini Delta and on 0.07mm layers, I'm getting acceptable levels of quality.

Here's a T34-85 and a Studebaker I printed today.

I just picked up a roll of Hatchbox grey and I'm having more stringing than the roll of Priline I just finished.

I've also done picoarmor models and they've respectable when painted up.

From what I have seen the tech is there but when I looked at the model of printer that printed the minis the prices were $400 USD+ just for the printer. It would take printing a LOT of miniatures to make up that initial investment.

From what I have seen the tech is there but when I looked at the model of printer that printed the minis the prices were $400.00 USD USD+ just for the printer. It would take printing a LOT of miniatures to make up that initial investment.

Mini delta is sub $200 USD (what I have), but it requires a bit of tinkering to get great results.

In late November, Josef Prusa is releasing the Prusa mini for $350. USD The price is a bit higher than comparable Chinese clones, but Prusa printers are like the Apple of 3d printing, in that they are a bit more expensive out the the box, they also work great out of the box with minimal tinkering. With a 180mm^3 build area, and optional .25mm nozzle, this should be the one stop shop for mini printing.

link

Martin….your photo isn't showing, at least for me.

I'll try a different host.

T34-85 and Studebaker on 40mm^2 basing

Even at just under $200 USD it would still take a LOT of miniatures to make it come out even. For those that want to make custom pieces it is still the only way to go (except perhaps shapeways and the like)

Even at just under $200.00 USD USD it would still take a LOT of miniatures to make it come out even. For those that want to make custom pieces it is still the only way to go (except perhaps shapeways and the like)

I've had my printer for about a month, and using back of the envelope math (about 1.5 cents CAD per 6mm vehicle, 30 cents per 15mm vehicle), I'm approaching break-even when using my printer, and it has made certain lists affordable such as the 1945 Soviet motorized rifle brigade. It also helps that I love odd-ball and paper only kit, but everybody has their own break-even point.

Yea, I'm on the fence about picking one up. Currently, I'm just starting down the 6mm path and I can't get over GHQ's detail level. Nothing 3D from what I've seen can top it, and I'm not sure I'm going to amass that much 6mm to warrant the investment.

If I branched out to multiple scales, then for sure, but I'm not sure I would.

Appreciate the comments and pics (thanks Martin)

Yea, I'm on the fence about picking one up. Currently, I'm just starting down the 6mm path and I can't get over GHQ's detail level. Nothing 3D from what I've seen can top it, and I'm not sure I'm going to amass that much 6mm to warrant the investment.

That would be SLA(resin) printers. Those babies cost about 500$, and the resin is is more expensive than plastic filament for the type of printer I have, but you're looking at about 10x the resolution. Further downsides are that you'll have to deal with resin, and that means fumes, chemical disposal and other equipment to properly cure the model.

The website Wargaming 3D has a great series of blogposts if you're interested in printing your models.

link

Cheers,
Martin from Canada

To answer the question you asked in your subject, 6mm works very well with 3D printing. I do not know about equipment or techniques but have bought aircraft from Shapeways. Whatever it truly is the results of "smoothest fine detail plastic" the results are amazing. There is no "layering" and the wings have all the appearance of reasonably scale airfoils. In another non shapeways application I bought tanks with gun tubes about 1 mm in diameter which are, under low magnification, circular and despite the very round surface of the equipment again without layering and no faceting.

Shapeway uses completely different technology than desktop 3d printers such as FDM (the type that uses filament) and SLA (the type that uses lasers and resin). They mostly use selective laser sintering, where a laser selectively melts (close enough) small pellets of printing material on each layer. Since this is formed layer by layer in a supported bed of printing material, you don't really need supports, and thus allows for higher levels of detail – especially with regards to undercuts.

The downside to SLS printing? Machines start at about 100k.

SLS machines start at around $10 USDk not $100 USDK …

link

Thanks all. I'll just stick to GHQ as it's going to be cheaper and less fuss :)

SLS machines start at around $10.00 USD USDk not $100.00 USD USDK …

So the price have gone down, but still not affordable for hobby printing outside of places like Shapeways.

3D printing is not really a cost saving venture, look at it more of a better way to scratch build. I have a Monoprice mini Select V2. It would print 6mm. I do 1/144 so bigger than 6mm but it would do some stuff in 6mm. It depends what you want and whether you are more a painter or a gamer.

Personally I gave my GHQ stuff away they were rubbish as far as I was concerned, fine detail yes but far too soft to take the stress of weekly play.

Would a home printer be better than GHQ play wise, no contest as GHQ were the worst! Agreed the £D printer detail would be less my printer really won't do a gun barrel thinner than 0.7mm. However who cares at 4 ft!

For minis 3d printers will – for a long time to come – be defective in quality to casts and injection.

For terrain, especially buildings, they are the way to go, as the costs per unit are so much lower then physical models.

Here is a set printed for 3mm (1:600), costs are below 10c for the set.

PUster, can't agree. I am getting rid of my 1/144 metal it's heavy, prone to damage during normal handling and the paint chips far more often than on 3D printed models. Add to that metal often has way to much flash and multi part models rarely fit well. They can't retain there turrets without gluing. As war-games models metal no longer cuts it for me.

I mainly meant miniature figures, though for tanks I also go for plastics or resin if they are available. The amount of work I put into painting usually dwarfs the acquisition price – though I admit that when I play I can hardly tell from sheer looking wether my opponent fields printed or plastic tanks. Its the barrel that is most telling.

I assume that if there is another generation of printers getting better and easier to use, most stuff will be printed and the market will change considerably. Add an achievable good color printer, and its only about how much you can shelf.

I am getting the first resin prints for my 1:285 houses soon. I will put up pics when I have them, but what I saw on the handy they look quite well. The printer is an Anycubi for well below $300. USD

Meanwhile, there are some painted printouts from my wifes campaign in this update that show that for buildings the 3d-printer is somewhere between sufficient and perfect. I really love the "red townhall".

link

Hello ,

I print 1/285 scale on a Ender 3 plus at 0.08 layers and there are no visible layers on the model I have printing panthers and tigers which look as good as moulded miniatures , the machine cost me £138.00 GBP delivered
It cannot do 6mm infantry though but otherwise it's fantastic
I buy stl's from Wargaming 3d
wargaming3d.com
They have various models for sale

@Tooosey2, any particular settings you run with beyond layer size? Infill? Retraction? Lots of top layers? Still waiting for my printer to be delivered but hoping to do some 6mm vehicles.

Got any pics?

I too would be interested in the settings that you use, toolsey2! I have an Ender 3 that I want to use for terrain. I'm super happy with my AnyCubic Photon for vehicles, however.

Well this is a T34-85 at 1/600th scale, so I would say yes..

link

I'll bet that in a year or two resin printing will be cheap as FDM is now, and when that happens 3mm and 6mm will be entirely viable.

The printer I used for the 1/600th T34 was £300.00 GBP I'm doing a Berlin or Bust II 1950 game, and in three weeks it has already paid for itself, including the resin, IPA and gloves.

Are not RESIN printers cheap enought already? you can buy a ELEGOO Mars or any other number of brands for a couple hundred dollars or so, plus or minus. Almost the Same price as a Ender3?