"3DPrinting 28mm Fantasy Figures" Topic

I think it was an excellent step by step. Thank you.

It confirms what I already believed that – for me – 3d printing at that level (at home with a $300 USD printer) is just a non starter.

If I bought figures with that level of clean up required – and that level of finakl finish – I'd send them back (or put them in the bin).

I'd be very interested on some analysis done as to how much these cost (in plastic first, let's ignore the cost of the printer and the ‘free' designs) and how much time was spent in clean up.

I suspect – as my time is most definitely NOT free – that these would work out to be very, very expensive figures.

Unless the designs are so brilliant and unique that I simply ‘had to have them', I would rather just buy some actual figures.

In five years time*? Who knows… but then we'll all be wearing silver suits and jet packs at that point so I‘ll cross that bridge (fly over that bridge) when I get to it!

John T

* When what is currently a $10,000 USD printer might well be $300 USD

Clean-up? 5 minutes per figure?

Cost? One figure uses about 1.3m of filament, which roughly costs $0.13 USD

I printed mine without support and got much better initial print results. They seem to require little to no support, though I did get a little bit of oddness between the legs, but it was easily filed out.

I still wasn't happy with them enough to put on a table. The model makes a big difference, and I think the Dragonlock figures just aren't there. Look up Dutch Mogul on Thingiverse. He does a really good job with his miniatures- and splits them in half for better print results.

Great report on printing these out. Thanks for helping educate those that aren't using this technology yet.

For me those figures don't pass muster. Too much work to clean them up to my acceptable level and overall they just look rough. The cost is right though but as John mentions my time is worth something as well and that needs to be factored in.

I was just at the workbench cleaning more of these models, and I've changed my process a bit.

The strings and wisps mostly pull off by hand. I need a blade only if I can't get a grip because something is in a hard-to-reach spot.

I still recommend a sharp blade for cutting PLA, but for most cleaning issues, a dull blade does quite well as a scraping tool.

I'm not saying these figures are perfect, but I don't want to give a false impression that they are difficult to clean up. Also, other printers may give better results. (And if you are a printer manufacturer and want me to evaluate your printer, drop me an email!)

What is the difference in print resolution for a $1,000 USD machine? Is there a big difference?

RebelMike

Sometimes, no difference at all, just extra features: larger print area, heated bed, built-in scanner, wifi, built-in engraver, nozzle temperature control, etc.

The Nobel 1.0 – link – uses a different technology, can get 25 microns per level but only 300 micron printing precision. So it's four times better vertically, and three times worse horizontally than the Da Vinci Jr 1.0…

About three months ago I started researching 3D printers for our hobby. I called most if not all 3D printer companies in the United States to see if their printer can give me the quality that I was looking for. Most of these companies have $300 USD printers that tout they can print. Yes they can print but is it what we are looking for.

I quickly came to the conclusion the answer was no. In order for me to find a printer that I wanted I needed to up my budget. I soon discovered Wanhao Printers. In particular their Duplicator 6. This is a $799.00 USD printer that does give me what I want. It prints vehicles that I've designed as well as buildings and terrain. I was so happy with this printer I bought two! My business quickly changed and I ordered three more. I Now own two D6, two Wanhao Duplicator 5 minis; for bigger print areas and their newest model the i3 plus. In the next month or so I am buying a third D6.

I have had such great success I decided to start selling them through my store.

I want to be a contact for the miniature gaming community and a point of trust and knowledge for these printers. I want people to know that yes this technology is available and it will do what we are looking for.

If you have any questions about the printers and my experience please feel free to message me on here, email me at spakot@gmail.com and or message me on Facebook. My name is Tim Spakowski

Here is my store and here are some videos of the Duplicator 6 in action.

The new i3 plus sells for $499.00 USD and is a great starter printer. I use that for my 20mm vehicles and buildings.

link

I hope this helps and encourages others to take the leap of faith.

Rebel Mike,

From my experience there is a difference. Between the nozzle size, the quality of the parts and the stability of the printer itself. A lot of the smaller sub $300 USD kits do not provide the detail that you are after.

I do not use my printers for printing miniature figures. I use them for terrain and vehicles. I print them from 1/300 to 28mm. Please feel free to email me at spakot@gmail.com and I can show you some pictures of the prints.

Thanks for doing this, and for being persistent. Your initial problems were what I expected, but you worked through them and got better results than I expected. More importantly, the trail has been blazed, people can see what's involved and follow or not. I think I'm going to wait a few years, I already have tin to paint for that long anyway.

If you want to print miniatures at a more and less store quality you should go for a SLA or DLP printer. With these you usually work at about 25-50 Micron on the Z axis which gives a much smoother finish.
I have a LittleRP DLP printer (about $1,000 USD with beamer) which I've mainly using for jewellery masters. But it can also do miniatures. You see a few 28mm samples here: link – these are at 38 micron z and 50 micron xy. So finer is still possible

I'm in the middle of finetuning the settings but when I get around to it I'll print some and will send you some pics. Could take a little while though as I'm pretty busy.

Honestly, I agree that there's a marked difference between the $300 USD and $1,000 USD printers. I have two printers, and older Replicator 2 (it was $3,000 USD just 5 years ago, so that shows you how quickly the tech price is going down as the capabilities go up) and a Cel Robox printer which goes for $1,300. USD

I didn't think a heated bed made a lot of difference, but in reality its huge. My Replicator 2 doesn't have a heated bed, and I routinely get curling edges from the lack of heating as larger items are printed. I do not have this problem on my Robox, which has a heated bed.

Materials, as I've come to find, make a huge difference as well. ABS, PLA and more advanced materials all have different printing properties that take experience to understand and adjust to.

Models, and how they are built, are a huge part of things as well. Some models are well suited to 3D printing, others are not. Just like casting, with filament deposition printers, you have overhangs to worry about, and the angle of build makes a huge difference.

When I find time, I will have to publish pictures of items that I've printed so you can compare.

Resin holds the best promise for detailed figures, and I'm seriously looking at the Little RP printer.

Just keep in mind that the Little RP is a do it yourself printer. You may be spending a bit of time getting the thing under control. Not totally a plug and play machine unless 50 micron is enough for you. :)

Really useful information guys, thanks!

Bill mentions 2 hours for printing a single lizardman in the article. For those of you who have some experience with various systems, does that sound normal?