3d printers for minis and terrain.

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there was some very serious stringing on the Temple of Set, as you can see from the pile of bits next to the coke can. I've since altered my settings a bit

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and what is on the printer (friday morning release) - this is more than half a roll of filament, but the detail will be good (.12mm is solid for FDM) and it'll be strong (3 walls @ .8mm, 10% infill)

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That is the most overbuilt banana holder I've ever seen. Seems like it's going to take up a lot of space in the kitchen.
 
After some hardship with it, I just upgraded to a direct drive. Currently trying out my first serious print, but so far, I have noticed no serious issues, and I should be able to print TPU
 
TPU?

So by direct drive am I correct that's getting rid of the Bowden tube?
 
TPU?

So by direct drive am I correct that's getting rid of the Bowden tube?

TPU is a rubbery material. Often it is used to make phone cases. And yes, it getseid of almost all of the Bowden tube. There is a tiny (2”) piece there. This allows TPU to be printed because you have much Greater control - no flexing, better force for pushing filament, etc. we will see how it is in the morning.
 
TPU is a rubbery material. Often it is used to make phone cases. And yes, it getseid of almost all of the Bowden tube. There is a tiny (2”) piece there. This allows TPU to be printed because you have much Greater control - no flexing, better force for pushing filament, etc. we will see how it is in the morning.
I've heard that the extra weight right there at the print head can cause issues. Please do report back if there is any truth to that.
 
I've heard that the extra weight right there at the print head can cause issues. Please do report back if there is any truth to that.

well i printed part of the Hero Me mod last night and didn't see any of the ringing issues that I've heard about as well. I also did a couple of level tests and a speed test. The last is where I would have expected it, and it was fine. I did spend some extra time tightening the eccentric nuts to get it really solid.

thus far, it has been a good upgrade. just working on stringing settings.
 
A recent print, now upgraded to direct drive and some fine tuning of things. clean up has been with a tooth brush

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A recent print, now upgraded to direct drive and some fine tuning of things. clean up has been with a tooth brush

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Looks really good. Is there still some stringing?
 
a little bit, but not much. mostly gone
Is this sort of like photographing painted minis? Up close with a camera my minis look horrible but at arm's length they look great.
 
Is this sort of like photographing painted minis? Up close with a camera my minis look horrible but at arm's length they look great.

somewhat, yes. with the stringing, i cleaned off a bit more of it and I think it looks very good. it is really hard to get it super smooth at a .4mm nozzle. I'll have to move to a .2mm to really do something like this. It's designed more for resin, but i'm pushing my limits a bit.
 
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most recent Kickstarter that I backed, Vikings of legend. It took a while and a printer mod to make this go correctly. .32mm, .08mm nozzle, default Cura settings pretty much. Should paint up really nice.
 
Not looked in on this thread for a loooong time. I'm so impressed by your results, Bunch Bunch and Raleel Raleel !

Still not taken the plunge,but Antenociti's workshop now has 60+ vehicle STLs for sale, including jeeps, hiver cars, walkers, tanks, APCs, dropships and cargo shuttles. Need to re-focus my efforts!
 
Well I did it. I worked 232 hours in 14 days so I said to myself, "self you need to treat yourself to something nice" then I told my wife she was getting me a 3D printer for my birthday and ordered a Prusa Mk3 which should arrive in October (birthday is November).

I'm sure I will have a billion questions. Now I need to get back to working with Fusion 360 and clear away the mind cobwebs.
 
Already have a question :tongue:

Enclosure, yes or no?
Not necessary for PLA and PET, but yes for ABS. It’s there to keep The temperature consistent In the environment, which can be done in other ways.
 
Plexiglass is adequate? I shouldn't have trouble whipping something up, probably useful to keep dust off the machine as well being in the basement.

Thinking about putting in a small through the wall vent fan, but don't know if fumes are really an issue.
 
Should be fine. Fumes are not an issue unless you are very sensitive or are doing ABS.
 
Plexiglass is adequate? I shouldn't have trouble whipping something up, probably useful to keep dust off the machine as well being in the basement.

Thinking about putting in a small through the wall vent fan, but don't know if fumes are really an issue.
Mine is plexiglass. Like Raleel Raleel says for PLA it's just cosmetic. If you do ABS you probably want to get a fan and duct and vent it out the hout
 
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Here's some minis I printed. I did almost no printer optimization.

I do have some weird problems. Look at the dragon warriors on the right. The left arm fails to print properly maybe 20% of the time. Flimsy/thin swords/staves routinely break. But that mind flayer I love. Same with the Minotaur. Some stuff is awesome. Some is meh. Some sucks.
 
Sorry for the lack of response but I've had minimal online time other than with my phone lately.

Those figures look great, I'm looking forward to diving into this at long last when my printer arrives.
 
Sorry for the lack of response but I've had minimal online time other than with my phone lately.

Those figures look great, I'm looking forward to diving into this at long last when my printer arrives.
I have made a few upgrades. Self printed fan cover, all metal extruder, upgraded set springs and an enclosure.
 
Just incase those interested in the Dwarven Forge tile pieces aren't aware of this alternative I'll post this.

Hirst Arts

It's a company that sells molds to make your own individual tiles and stones (and other bits) out of dental cement. The molds are really expensive IMO but of of course once you own the mold you can make and remake as many bits as you want.
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Seems like the better (albeit more time consuming) option in the long run.

Also their forums seem to have allot of fans/owners sharing tutorials/patters on their builds.

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I have some of those moods and I have a 3d printer. I have way more 3d printed tiles than hurst because if you dial in your printer it's just too easy to make tile batches
 
I have some of those moods and I have a 3d printer. I have way more 3d printed tiles than hurst because if you dial in your printer it's just too easy to make tile batches

How do you find the striation on printed items from your printer?

I ask as last time I looked at them (year or so back) even the top end home printers still you could see all those little line layers on the finished product. Those really bug me.
 
How do you find the striation on printed items from your printer?

I ask as last time I looked at them (year or so back) even the top end home printers still you could see all those little line layers on the finished product. Those really bug me.
Raleel Raleel can probably talk more to it as I think he has his dialed in better than I do.

I don't tune mine much because I don't care enough.
Here's a side by side of my Hatchbox grey PLA Fat Dragon tile next to some Hirsch dungeon wall made with grey Merlin's PXL_20201211_012739888-01.jpeg
 
Honestly, that looks good. I’ve done those terrain pieces with .8mm nozzles and .32mm layer heights. Yea, there are lines. No one cares at my table. They are not display pieces, and speed is far more critical.
 
Honestly, that looks good. I’ve done those terrain pieces with .8mm nozzles and .32mm layer heights. Yea, there are lines. No one cares at my table. They are not display pieces, and speed is far more critical.
Mine is with the stock .4 nozzle and Tom Tullis' Terrain Cura profile.

I have replaced the leveling springs because I really hate levelling every couple days. I replaced the plastic feed mechanism with an all metal one because it was getting worn down.
I need to rerelocate where I have my spool feed because it's requiring too much force and screwing with my prints. The stock location seems pretty good actually.
 
I look forward to the day that home 3D printers can not only match the quality of say a storebought GW fig but also print with multicolours.

Prolly a good 20 years a way I'd imagine.
 
I look forward to the day that home 3D printers can not only match the quality of say a storebought GW fig but also print with multicolours.

Prolly a good 20 years a way I'd imagine.
Resin can already do the quality I think you want. Multicolor exists already for FDM printers. I'm pretty sure I can buy a four color head for my printer now.

If I were going to guess I would see them coming up with pigments you could inject into a plastic either as a mixer before the head or in the head itself. 20 years seems too far away. Five seems too close for it to be decent.
 
I look forward to the day that home 3D printers can not only match the quality of say a storebought GW fig but also print with multicolours.

Prolly a good 20 years a way I'd imagine.
Resin can already do the quality I think you want. Multicolor exists already for FDM printers. I'm pretty sure I can buy a four color head for my printer now.

If I were going to guess I would see them coming up with pigments you could inject into a plastic either as a mixer before the head or in the head itself. 20 years seems too far away. Five seems too close for it to be decent.

heroforge already has one. Yes. It’s expensive ($200k I believe), it exists. 7-8 years, it’ll be household pricing.
 
heroforge already has one. Yes. It’s expensive ($200k I believe), it exists. 7-8 years, it’ll be household pricing.

I always estimate long on timelines. I am still waiting for my flying car and rocket boots from my childhood!

How far have 3D home printers come in the last 5 years would you say? Top of the line from 2015 vs 2020?
 
heroforge already has one. Yes. It’s expensive ($200k I believe), it exists. 7-8 years, it’ll be household pricing.

Do you have any links to picks (I believe ya, just didn't find any myself) of the miniatures that printer makes? I did a lazy google but not sure I found anything accurate/definitively that super printer.

And they'll have to sell, yeesh, like 40k miniatures (at $5 bucks a pop) at that price to break even! How long would it even take to print 40,000 miniatures on that snazzy printer?
 
How far have 3D home printers come in the last 5 years would you say? Top of the line from 2015 vs 2020?

Not sure I’m a great one to ask, but from what I’ve seen they’ve become a lot more reliable and cheaper. The new Mars printer is quite good. Price for that is sub $500 if I remember correctly. The ender 3 is like $150-$200, maybe less now

Do you have any links to picks (I believe ya, just didn't find any myself) of the miniatures that printer makes? I did a lazy google but not sure I found anything accurate/definitively that super printer.

I do not. Around the time of the Kickstarter I googled some very particular phrases they used and went digging. Stumbled upon a thing that had enough evidence to make me sure it was that one. It was $200K-$250k

And they'll have to sell, yeesh, like 40k miniatures (at $5 bucks a pop) at that price to break even! How long would it even take to print 40,000 miniatures on that snazzy printer?

The color prints are not $5 ;) the STL files are when they are on sale ($8 normally), but the prints are quite a bit more. Color plastic is $45. I imagine they can do batches, and probably a couple of hours for a batch. I know my buddies resin printer is pretty quick
 
I do not. Around the time of the Kickstarter I googled some very particular phrases they used and went digging. Stumbled upon a thing that had enough evidence to make me sure it was that one. It was $200K-$250k

Oh? they did a kickstarter to help fund the purchase of that super printer?
 
That and the UI development and new models for the parts of the mini. It was multi millions of successful. I have a coupon for it I need to use, but since covid I’ve not had a lot of reason.
 
I always estimate long on timelines. I am still waiting for my flying car and rocket boots from my childhood!

How far have 3D home printers come in the last 5 years would you say? Top of the line from 2015 vs 2020?

A long way, I've been looking at 3d printers since at least 2010. I was debating between a 3D printer and buying a small lathe for the projects I had in mind. In 2015 I ended up buying a small lathe for $1200, because the 3d printers in that price range were still pretty crude and it seemed like it was going to be a long time before a good affordable ($1000) printer would be available. There seems to have been quite a revolution in 3D printing around 2016 to 2018 when Prusa brought out the much improved Mk2 and Crealty came along with their very budget friendly printers. Prices over the last 5 years have plummeted while quality has improved. The $200 printers today are better that what you could get in 2015 at the $1000-1500 range. The market for sub-$1000 printers has exploded, I can't even keep track of all the brands and machines anymore.
 
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