"3D printed 6mm figures" Topic

German motorcycle troops on a 30 x 30mm base, illustrating the quality of what can be printed now:

Robert

Fantastic, did you print this yourself or buy it from someone?

FDM or resin?

I'm so on the fence about getting a printer myself, but I fear the hassle and clean up (if I went the resin route).

Those look pretty damn good for 6mm

I printed them, yes, but bought the OBJ file from Wargamers3D. The print is in resin. There is at least one water-soluble resin available now.

Robert

Thanks Robert

What printer are you using? How has the post process been? This is my fear with going resin. The potential fuss of clean up, disposal and curing. All that fuss/time for 1 miniature that takes several hours to print?

I have a Formlabs Form 3. It means I can print off a whole battalion in one run, for example. Post processing is fine but the FormWash is a big help. I give the model/s a rinse off first, which prolongs the 'life' of the IPA in FormWash.

Robert

So, your printer is pretty pricey. No way I could afford anything like that. I was considering the Epax X1. I'm guessing the print quality is going to be better on a unit like yours.

Most impressive. Certainly the future of wargaming figures.

I'm reconsidering an Epax X1 now. The more I read the more I'm reading that the post processing, clean up and fumes are over exaggerated.

Looks great! Good idea to print the integral base.

While that's a fairly pricey printer it's nowhere near some of the top of the line ones. I know a gaming company in our area that has some of the $75,000 USD dental printers and the detail they can do is simply amazing. I recently saw some samples of 28mm archers with bowstrings on the bows that were almost unbreakable.

There are several much lower cost printers, like the Epax X1, that can deliver similar quality prints. The print surface is smaller but once you get into this process then it doesn't matter – just takes longer to print the job lots.

Robert

Thanks for all the commentary here. Making my decision making a little easier :)

If I get a printer, it will be a resin printer for sure and the Epax X1 looks like it the most functional plug n' play unit in the $400 USD price range.

Cap'n,

I have the Epax X1. It is plug and play. I have been using it to print 12mm stuff. (Hanomags and Kubelwagen, doors and windows for a farmhouse). I have no complaints with the machine. Even though it was more expensive than other machines, I chose it because of quality of life benefits. (metal construction, dual rails, preleveled bed, and stateside customer service). Failures of prints have been of my doing.

The company's customer service is great. I emailed them this Sunday with a problem that I was having with my prints (a layer shift on 3 different models during three different print runs all at the same height from the build plate). They responded Monday morning, asked for pictures of the failures. After they got them, they asked for the file both sliced and the original. So they could run it on their lab machine. They just reported this morning that they had the same failure as I did, and they are tinkering with it to come up with why my print is failing, and fix it.

That's pretty awesome.

Thanks for that Nissei

I've read some great things about the Epax X1 and their support. How has the post processing been? Is clean up that much of a hassle? Any tips/ tricks? That is the printer I'm going to get.

Post processing is pretty easy once you have established a workflow. I have established the following post process:

1. Have shallow pan with IPA and a pickle jar with IPA ready.
2. Remove plate, and using spatula put prints in pickle jar. place plate in shallow pan, rinse, clean and wipe down plate. Set plate aside to dry. 2 minutes.
3. Using strainer in pickle jar agitate prints in IPA, and transfer them to beaker with IPA. 2 minutes
4. Put beaver with IPA in ultrasonic cleaner. run 1 cycle 5 minutes. Optional step, you can just do a second rinse in another pickle jar
5. remove prints from beaker, and remove supports 15 minutes for 4 144th scale halftracks.
6. place prints in UV chamber and cure for 20-30 minutes. Put plate back in printer and start next run while waiting for 1st run to cure.

Here are the halftracks. 3 days worth of printing. 3-4 halftracks per print run.

Robert,

Love the 6mm motorcycles. My apologies for getting the thread sidetracked from your original post.

My fault! And yes, that cycle is awesome. Great detail for a 6mm mini!

Took me a second to realize "IPA" stood for "isopropyl alcohol" and not "India pale ale".

Super cool minis, I'm really impressed by how detailed they look.

No problem at all, Nissei and captainglad69. Really pleased that the original post triggered the additional conversation. 3D printing is still developing and it is good to promote discussion, given the way that things are changing.

Robert

Some German cyclists:

Robert

Monk and Nissei, thank you….I'm now in the hunt for a resin printer :)

That's pretty awesome, I'm thinking of a printer for 15mm fantasy as well as may be some 10/6mm work

Monk, are these the 28mm STL's at Wargames3D.

Nissei, yes that's right. Very high quality OBJ files that can be re-scaled without affecting the quality of the figures, as you can see.

Robert

Russian WW2 M-30 120mm Howitzer, with crew:

Robert

Monk, I missed the last one. Do you have a source for a ZIs-3 AT gun. I haven't found one that was reasonably priced.

There are some free STL or equivalent files for the Zis-3 AT gun. Let me check and get back to you.

Robert

Here is the best example that I have found:

link

Robert

Any links to where the files can be purchased and downloaded from please?

Thanks in advance

Wow, amazing. Have you found any files for infantry? I'd buy or trade for resin 10mm infantry.

I have printed over 100 1/144 vehicles on my FDM printer, but it doesn't cut it for infantry.

Yeah,
I am too am looking for files

Those are gorgeous!