Cergorach wrote:I wouldn't really consider a 72 hour printjob unless it's a single item. But there's a huge gap between 2.5 hour print jobs and 72 hours 4-8 hour jobs during the day, 8-12 hour prints during the night. Might do longer if I need to go out for the day (but first need to install Octoprint, a webcam, a smoke connector, connect the remote power manager and possible a remote triggerable foam bomb ;-).
While there are many great things about DLP/SLA printing, the resin isn't one of them. It's pretty messy (less so if you can afford something like a Form 2 with a cleaning/curing station) and quite expensive in materials. Making 28-32mm terrain in DLP/SLA resin I wouldn't recommend. Depending on the material, it will probably be more fragile then PLA as well. for minis and smaller scale vehicles it's ace! You might even do larger pieces as masters for resin casting...
Many beginners make the mistake of loading their print plates up. I've seen so many dragon tiles lost because their printer messed up when if they did smaller jobs it would have been fine or less of a loss in terms of time. That is so true though, about $300 later of extra accessories when it came to RPi, Octoprint, webcam (PiCam), network power switch.
Resin mess isn't as bad as people make it. It is the equivalent of saying, "I don't cook because there is such a mess". I know it is apples and oranges but you aren't throwing resin around, it isn't splashing all about, flying around like an explosive (which is how some people make it sound). That said, like anything, it is toxic to drink and touch (depending on resin) and should always practice proper safety. After the first week, you get the hang of the things to where I rarely even need gloves any more because there is no drips. But that is part of the cost, if you buy cheap and quick vs more expensive and good there are differences in machinery and resins.
I swore I'd never need or use a Form Cure or Form Wash station. They were expensive so, no need to invest in them when I can do them by hand and have my own two-stage wash station. For months with the Solus and EnvisionTECs, things were great. Then I ended up getting a Form2 which came with it. Now I don't know how I lived without it. Not so much the cure station, it is useful for making sure I get a uniform cure because of the timer and heater vs simply just using a Nail UV Cure DIY box. The wash though not only lets me clean my stuff well but I never touch the resin at all.
Comparing a Moai vs Form2; I shake my resin cartridge, put in my bracket, pop the top and it auto fills for me. If there is an obstruction it'll stop. It heats the bed, even has a wiper blade to clear the bottom of the VAT. I take the print plate off, put into form wash, never touch the resin. It gets cleaned. After it dries it pop it off without getting any resin anywhere. Not all units are like that though, the EnvisionTEC, Moai, Solus, D7 you need to manually fill the VAT but I can do many prints before needing to do that. The VAT is pretty easy to pour without spills, especially if you have ever changed oil or added oil to a car.
Cost is relative to what you are printing and the purpose. If you compare a resin terrain piece to PLA terrain, PLA will always be cheaper. There is no changing that. And if you are someone who is happy with print lines on terrain, then great PLA is the best choice. However, if you aren't, that means sanding, primer+filler, sanding before you get to the paint time vs just print, wash and paint (after it dried). Does depend on resin as some resins require extra UV curing, others do not though. For example base Form2 resin doesn't require post-processing curing, it will make it more brittle, however, the flexible resin does require 30 minutes of curing. The cost for flexible resin is roughly the same for base resin, there is also a HIPS equivalent resin but that is more expensive (I wouldn't use that for terrain). The flexible does great with tile pieces, a rampage piece 4 clips, floor, and wall is about 20.34ml of resin which is $3.05 worth of resin. I'm ok with that considering how much post time I'd spend on a piece. I have tried XTX expoxy coat and ABS/acetone vapor but not happy with the loss of detail.
Now cosplay pieces is a different story, I'll print that in ABS/PLA and sand for hours. Smaller pieces and accessories are done in resin though. Larger pieces for our 1/6, 10th scale resin garage kits though are printed first, then traditional resin casts. Almost all our miniatures production though have gone digital with printing because it is less labor intensive than resin casting.
I'm not sure they are going to get any cheaper than what they are currently. There is a lot of hardware packed into the machines and the price isn't always just about hardware as it is software as well. Duplicator 7 ($499), Anycubic Photon ($519), and Peopoly Moai ($1295) are pretty much the bottom pricing for hobby printers. They are decent, work pretty good, but do require some tinkering just like most FDM/FFF to a degree. I doubt you'll ever see the Form2 drop in price. You could buy a Form1 for cheaper now, but the Form2 just replaced the Form1 price. You could get a used Form2 for cheaper but it is still going to be a couple grand.
Unless hardware, electronics, etc start dropping in price the printers are near their basement price. Almost all the SLA/DLP printers do not make money off the printer sales, that for a good portion their loss leader. They make their money on the resin sales. The cost to manufacturer resin vs the sale price is big, the markup is huge that they make a killing from resin. EnvisionTEC 1L bottle is about $450, while a Formlabs 1L bottle is $150, there are resins cheaper at $80/L which is about the basement for them. Cheaper resins also have other issues, quality control, smell, in some cases more toxic.
The real future in 3d printing, although it is still a few years off will be
SLS printing. There will be a slight drop with DLP/SLA once certain patents end, it won't be as big an impact as it was with the FDM/FFF printer market though. There will be a big boom for
SLS printers when their patents end, only because of the mess, powder vs liquid. The powder is still toxic, but not so much to touch as it is to breath-in but it is easier to clean up, store, transfer, and
SLS have less of a failure rate compared to SLA/DLP. The current issue with
SLS is dealing with the porous nature and cost though.
I will say this... every printer I've bought, even the $50K ones, paid for themselves within weeks if not in a couple months with minimal effort. There is definitely not a shortage of people who want stuff printed out for them. ^_^ It also works out great if you get together with a gaming club or group.
That said for those that don't have printers, normally buy terrain anyways then platic Rampage is awesome. Simply because of the clips, making the terrain better than Dwarven Forge in my opinion, easier to make buildings, solid pieces and not worrying about someone bumping the table. I expect them to also be ligher than Dwarven Forge which is another plus. Either way I'm still picking up some as well.
I not even interested in checking the laser printer upstairs if it has paper and don't ask me to keep checking what's cooking in the oven. 
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