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I too feel that when the good quality printers will reach the 3-2k point they will be open to wider market, not really "household item", more enthusiastic hobbyist/ early adopter category, but will make it possible for store owners and small companies to have their own, for various purposes.

I envision that in our hobby this technology will be mainly used for niche models from big companies and niche companies, clients ordering X model from the wargame store that is a slow mover and the model gets printed on site, or X company that is not big/ known enough to warrant a store self space, could very well be on a folder near the counter and models be printed on demand.

This could also happen with terrain or add ons for boardgames/ wargames, for example boardgame X offers print on demand "3D counters".

Of course this could also happen for home users ordering stuff to be printed on their own printers.

I really do not see a "GW sized" army been 3D printed, but the odd character that people might not really buy much, the X vehicle (add ons or complete if a printer can print it under a working day) or a few models from the X obscure skirmish game from Z company.

I feel that the speed can be improved quite much from the speed of today, but still it will be slowish making traditional casting methods more preferable for fast moving products.

 -Loki- wrote:


Okay, show me a 3D printed model with detail equivalent to this. Or this. Or this.

I don't necessarily want miniatures with the level of detail shown in the above examples. The biggest complaint I have with my grey knights is how they are overly detailed. Many miniatures from different companies are over-detailed right now. Your earlier example of an Infinity figure is much better in my opinion. Most of that line has superior detailing without being overly busy.

I have been hesitant about just what a 3d printer can do until seeing the venting on the missile launcher in underfire wargaming's post. While I am not into the overall style of the model, the venting looks great, and I don't think I could find a finecast model with that detail without some kind of bubbling.

 paulson games wrote:

I would be curious to see how much of a time difference there is between the solidscape machines and perfactory styled ones.

The difference is huge - Solidscape is at least 4 times slower (but support structures are not an issue). Still direct comparison does not make sense in this matter as Envisiontec and Solidscape use completetly different technology, method to build models.
Which is kinda my point - I doubt we can see huge speed progress without changing the method (simplyfying a lot - with jet tech it comes down to the speed at which the jets can move, in case of "light cure" systems how long you have to leave the layer exposed to light before it cures). There are 2 (ok, 3 if you treat sintering as separate one) main methods that have not changed much in a while.
It's like with regular printers - ok, maybe my home laser printer has nicer casing and is smaller than the one I used in 90's but it aint't faster .

 paulson games wrote:

I also wonder if somebody will figure out a way to design a machine head for the printer which can put down multiple layers in a single pass which would shorten the build times. Or if they can somehow layer the solid parts with one head while doing the fine details with a secondary one allowing them to use greatly differing sized nozzles.

It may be possible that they come up with a completely separate process at some point that makes any of the jet system antiquated. Some of the medical printers have some really amazing technology behind them but when they can go for as much as half a million per machine it'll likely be unavailable for households even with massive price reductions.

That would be tricky - as each jet would have to operate independently on all axes. Wonder how moving the jets would have to be worked out - typical xy rails would be impossible.

Appreciate the input Przemas. So your raw prints are in wax then? They look great, but definitely don't sound like they would work as play pieces.

It's not a big deal for us - prints are only prototypes, "masters" you can say. Their only purpose is to make production mould for resin or metal.
But I can see your point - wax is rather fragile. One of the reasons we always offer resin copies to our customers whenever they ask to sort out 3d printing for them .
As mentioned wax printing has one nice thing - you don't worry about support structures as they are being dissolved without trace in a ("not so") special bath.
On a side note - atm we're thinking about other solutions too. In a week or two I should be able to share more .

Thanks again for responding. I ask, because I see someone holding up that picture as an example of how "we're a few years from printing out our own armies". But you have validated a lot of information I researched into with these printers. They are able to print out figures indistinguishable from traditional sculpts, but they are slow and not necessarily in a material you can use for table play. And at the price points I have seen for many of these printers, I do not see them coming down in price to the level people think they will come down to in a several years. I see them remaining somewhat expensive. People are talking about how they will be $100 US like an inkjet printer, but their current price is at a level that they will very likely be a couple thousand like some of the high detail printers.

On the masters, do you create a "master mold" from the wax pieces and create production molds from that? Or do you simply print out a new wax set to create a new set of molds?