Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Not sure if this is the place for this, if not, sorry and please fix post.
.
I was at a local gun-show in Raleigh NC, and guess what was there; http://www.plastibot.com/
.
This company lets you take a class, and/or build your own,...
.
Seems mainstream is closer than we think.
.
This may be old news...

It's a shame their gallery has such low-res pictures. I'm worried they've done that on purpose. :(

Usually, these options are all such low resolution or overall low quality that they can't be used for anything except the most basic prints. Toys, knick knacks, small tools.

It will be many years before 3D printing at jewelry grade detail will be available for a consumer price.

And we really don't need people to post about every crappy 3D printing system trying to cash in on its popularity.

 Vertrucio wrote:
Usually, these options are all such low resolution or overall low quality that they can't be used for anything except the most basic prints. Toys, knick knacks, small tools.

It will be many years before 3D printing at jewelry grade detail will be available for a consumer price.

And we really don't need people to post about every crappy 3D printing system trying to cash in on its popularity.

.
1) Yes, definitely toys, nick-knack, and small tool quality.
.
2) Who on this "wargame" site is making jewelry? There are many reasonably priced 3D printers available out there (jewelry quality), this one is just one of the least expensive I have seen (considering it cost less than a GW 40K 2000 point army)

.
3) Err why not post about every single 3D printer? This site and many other sites are for information about war-gaming, which includes modeling. If you do not like it, then it is your prerogative not to read the post, since I clearly labeled it 3D Printer.
.
IMHO Makerbot is the front runner for desktop, especially with the scanner they sell...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Malika2 wrote:
It's a shame their gallery has such low-res pictures. I'm worried they've done that on purpose. :(

.
Yes, the "Poseidon" image you can see the lines, Makerbot quality from about four years ago.
.
Just thought it was interesting...

Cause this is still a printer that uses technology that was 20 years ago state of the art (though admittedly cheaper now)?

Prints from this printer still take ages, need heavy cleaning up and greenstuffing and replacement parts for the printer are not that easy or cheaply to come by.

I.e. reporting about every low-cost 3D-printer is like reporting about every regular ink-printer. Nobody really cares until one really needs one.

And jewelry quality is the quality usable miniature prints really need to be useful.

The best thing that I've found so far is a 300 USD complete system. Good resolution (for todays values at least), decent material and serial production.

There are cheaper printers out there (my record: 100 USD) but they have disadvantages (such as only soft materials and you dont want your land raider to behave like really soft rubber or pay twice the price in materials cost).

Build your own 3D printer?
http://reprap.org/

RepRap is humanity's first general-purpose self-replicating manufacturing machine.

RepRap takes the form of a free desktop 3D printer capable of printing plastic objects. Since many parts of RepRap are made from plastic and RepRap prints those parts, RepRap self-replicates by making a kit of itself - a kit that anyone can assemble given time and materials. It also means that - if you've got a RepRap - you can print lots of useful stuff, and you can print another RepRap for a friend...

Decent printers these days start at 10K,everything below is just a toy for experimenting with the basics.

There is a reason printers delivering masters for miniatures are still in the 7-digit range.

Like Duncan_Idaho said, you can put 300,500, 1000 or 5000 in a 3d printer, it won't get you even close to the precision wargaming demands.
It may be usefull to print stuff like scenery though... but 1000$ for crappy scenery, better buy some resin done by pro like tabletop world.
Oh, and also you need a .stl file of what you want to print... and even on the great internet there isnt much of those.

And for 3D scanning ... well look on the reviews of the makerbot Digitizer on amazon they say it's useless, blurry, when not total failure. And those people tried to scan 20cm high stuff.

3D printing may be the future, but we are not in it yet.

It actually is he future, but for the pros. And as with DTP, it will stay pro if you want good results.

Orly? There was a guy who made himself some custom Imperial Guard models. Search for "3D print guard" or something like that. The results were pretty nice allready. Yeah, we still have layer lines to take care off and the precision is not entirely there yet, but give it a couple of years and you'll be able to make your own miniatures.

As for the availability of .stl - go to thingiverse and enjoy the show. There's more than one reason to have a 3D printer, folks. It won't take long until most everyone has one of those things at home.

How long before you can 3D print a 3D printer?

It is still way cheaper to produce a good printer with traditional methods than printing it. It is possible with high-end models, but why bother if I can get it cheaper the other way.

@Imperial Guard

It takes so long to clean up the support structure and fill in the lines that modelling one from scratch takes about the same time. Also printing time for one 28mm mini is still in the hours. Then there is the issue of being able to create CAD-files for the minis. It takes hours and people normally don´t tend to give away that many work-hours for free.

Printers might get cheaper, but interface, CAD and quality print-heads still cost a lot and it will rather take decades for those prices to come down. The machine is not that expensive, but the know-how to get what you want is immense.

Free printing files... Most free files will produce trash since they ignore basic printing requirements. As soon as a good-looking file really produces something worth being printed there is a prce tag attached.

 Elemental wrote:
How long before you can 3D print a 3D printer?

Allready possible. Half the "affordable" models i've found on the net can replicate themselves, all you need are some commercially available parts like screws and maybe e-motors and the wires.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Duncan_Idaho wrote:
It is still way cheaper to produce a good printer with traditional methods than printing it. It is possible with high-end models, but why bother if I can get it cheaper the other way.

@Imperial Guard

It takes so long to clean up the support structure and fill in the lines that modelling one from scratch takes about the same time. Also printing time for one 28mm mini is still in the hours. Then there is the issue of being able to create CAD-files for the minis. It takes hours and people normally don´t tend to give away that many work-hours for free.

Printers might get cheaper, but interface, CAD and quality print-heads still cost a lot and it will rather take decades for those prices to come down. The machine is not that expensive, but the know-how to get what you want is immense.

Free printing files... Most free files will produce trash since they ignore basic printing requirements. As soon as a good-looking file really produces something worth being printed there is a prce tag attached.

Well, good thing that Garrin never heard anything about that because he models as much as he can (40k stuff) and offers it for free. The models seem a bit on the raw side, but serviceable. But that's probably as much printers being unable to deliver better results anyways. And once the printers are capable to deliver the quality you can actually put into the cad file, you'll see tons of good models.

eflix29 wrote:
Like Duncan_Idaho said, you can put 300,500, 1000 or 5000 in a 3d printer, it won't get you even close to the precision wargaming demands.
It may be usefull to print stuff like scenery though... but 1000$ for crappy scenery, better buy some resin done by pro like tabletop world.
Oh, and also you need a .stl file of what you want to print... and even on the great internet there isnt much of those.

And for 3D scanning ... well look on the reviews of the makerbot Digitizer on amazon they say it's useless, blurry, when not total failure. And those people tried to scan 20cm high stuff.

3D printing may be the future, but we are not in it yet.

.
yes, tend to agree after looking into it more, maybe for vehicles, looks like German Zimmerit texture...
.



Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Kosake wrote:
Orly? There was a guy who made himself some custom Imperial Guard models. Search for "3D print guard" or something like that. The results were pretty nice allready. Yeah, we still have layer lines to take care off and the precision is not entirely there yet, but give it a couple of years and you'll be able to make your own miniatures.

As for the availability of .stl - go to thingiverse and enjoy the show. There's more than one reason to have a 3D printer, folks. It won't take long until most everyone has one of those things at home.

.
table-top quality paint jobs and a little rough, sure, not for golden demon, lol...

eflix29 wrote:
Like Duncan_Idaho said, you can put 300,500, 1000 or 5000 in a 3d printer, it won't get you even close to the precision wargaming demands.
It may be usefull to print stuff like scenery though... but 1000$ for crappy scenery, better buy some resin done by pro like tabletop world.
Oh, and also you need a .stl file of what you want to print... and even on the great internet there isnt much of those.

And for 3D scanning ... well look on the reviews of the makerbot Digitizer on amazon they say it's useless, blurry, when not total failure. And those people tried to scan 20cm high stuff.

3D printing may be the future, but we are not in it yet.

These are Epic models. So a head is probably smaller than a pouch on a 40k model.

The Euro cent in the picture is a tiny bit smaller than a Dime.



Epic Ork army completely 3D printed http://brumbaer.de/index.php/epic-armageddon/35-orks
Epic Steam Punk Space Marines army completely 3D printed http://brumbaer.de/index.php/epic-armageddon/37-tinkerer
Epic Airfield with buildings, vehicles and planes completely 3D printed http://brumbaer.de/index.php/3d-printing/29-airport
Infos and many more models http://brumbaer.de/index.php/3d-printing

Very nice, and a good example of what can be done.
But, which printer did you use?
What resolution is that printer capable of?

This is from your links:

I use a B9 Creator. In contrast to the common hobby printers which use layers of plastic sausages to built up the model, this printer uses liquid resin, that is cured with light to be more exact the blue and uv spectrum of light.

That's quite a hefty bit of kit, then. More than most of the cheap printers people are mentioning above.
The B9 site lists the cheapest to be $3,700.

I'm only debating the categoric it can't been done, because everything is so bad.

It's like saying you can't paint a picture with an airbrush, because you know/choose to use spray cans (some can do so even with cans).
Invest in a spray gun, a compressor and decent paints and it gets much easier, but is more expensive.

3.7k is definitely quiet a sum
On the other hand that's 750 packs of cigarettes over here. Less than my father used to smoke in a year.
Just look at what some people invest over a year in pimping their cars, or buying a bike, or whatever - but this is the category of investment you have the printer to compare to, not a box of miniatures.

For many people it's more a question of priorities than of affordability - and of course club members or friends could pool resources.

Most will decide that it is not worth to buy such a printer, but it doesn't mean they couldn't - probably by not getting something else.

Anyway.
IMHO the first question is not whether you could buy one, but whether you should buy one.

If your goal is to copy existent models, you shouldn't.
In addition to the despicable lack of regard of others work, the technology isn't there.

If you have two or three models you want to do or are not sure whether you have the skill to design your own models, you shouldn't buy one. Better use shapeways or such, until you're sure it's something you want and can do.

If you want to save money, you shouldn't. While a single miniature might be cheaper to print, you can buy a lot of miniatures until you cover the cost of a printer.

If you always wanted to do your own stuff, have plenty of ideas and want to do things nobody else does. If you have the 3D skills or are convinced you have them and if you are not afraid of the learning curve. Go for it.

I just wanted to build one for the hell of it. A project in its own right.
That was 5 years ago, and I didn't get around to it.

Like you say, if you want it, prepare to pay for it. It's not a _lot_, but that 1 printer is the entire amount I've spent in wargaming over 4 years. I could have saved a lot of that wargaming money by printing, but it wouldn't have payed for itself just yet.

You seem to be getting a lot out of yours, and you knew what you were getting into. Those models do look good, and you've used it to build whole custom armies.
You went for it, and looks to have done you well.
For others, it depends what they want.

There is also Printrbot
http://printrbot.com/product-category/3d-printers/

and

Peachy, the $100 3D printer
http://www.peachyprinter.com/

 Elemental wrote:
How long before you can 3D print a 3D printer?

I envision this is like pointing a mirror at a mirror.

So far most hobbyist FDM printers (see OP) have not had the z-resolution to make sufficiently smooth layers to be used for miniatures. SLA printers (also known as DLP), have a much higher z-resolution making them better suited for high detail models. These printers use a digital projector and a vat of resin for their prints. Most hobby FDM printers, including the RepRap, have a max z-resolution of 100 microns; a high quality hobby SLA can get 1/3 of that or superior making for a much smoother print.

Really, a bigger issue with trying to print your miniatures, is having the digital model to print and being able to trouble shoot problems when they arise. A friend has a mid-grade FDM and tried looking for and downloading STL files to print (what the digital file that is used for most printers - like a jpg for photos); some of the designs were very bland; some looked decent, but didn't print well; one looked like it would work, but it was too big for his printer to work with; the list goes on.

I'm not trying to discourage people from trying to print there own stuff, but 3D printing is not to the point where it is the panacea everyone raves about.

 Kosake wrote:

 Elemental wrote:
How long before you can 3D print a 3D printer?

Already possible. Half the "affordable" models i've found on the net can replicate themselves, all you need are some commercially available parts like screws and maybe e-motors and the wires.

That's how Reprap wants you to use yours, if you get one.
They have a section of their forums just for the loan or sale of parts printed with their printers. You just need the flashy bits, as Kosake says.

Well, minis can be printed at really good quality. I myself do use a printer for masters. But those printers are in the 7-digit range and most gaming companies do not have them in-house for that reason. Comapnies like Hawk or Spartan who also print their master models send them away for printing. The only company that has its own printers is GW.

The B9 Creator is a nice model but still in the 5K+ range and the fluid is not that cheap. And the fluid can only be used for one printing run and then needs to be removed, so you better print a lot in this one printing run. Also this way it takes ages to rpint and the bulb for the projector has only some hundred hours and is not so fond of being switched on and off. So be prepared for quite some replacement parts to order. And not the cheap ones at that... Also you again need to remove the support structure by hand which the more expensive do for you by using two different printing materials. Also, this is one heavily modified Creator and normal price for such a printer would be 10K+ in retail.

Admittedly the prints look nice, but he used mainly basic shapes which look much better than other shapes. The detail I get from rented printers is way above the one shown in those pics. Imagine the detail on the X-Wing fighters and you are closer to what I get.

As with DTP and lasercutters, they are only worth getting when you really get a lot mileage out of them.

Btw. all the printers described here are old technology that has 20+ years on the market. Really nice prints that are on master-level are either laser-sintered (which still is a little bit rough in the more affordable 5-digit range) or printed with dual-head 256-jet printers (which are in the 7-digit range). stereo-lith is nice, but uses up a lot of fluid and is phased out more and more.

 Duncan_Idaho wrote:
Well, minis can be printed at really good quality. I myself do use a printer for masters. But those printers are in the 7-digit range and most gaming companies do not have them in-house for that reason. Comapnies like Hawk or Spartan who also print their master models send them away for printing. The only company that has its own printers is GW.

Can't comment on the machines GW uses, but I would assume you can expect a machine that costs 200 times as much to give the better results. On the other hand the prints I get from the B9Creator are at least as good as the models I get from Shapeways from the same STL. And their machines should be in the 6 digit range.

 Duncan_Idaho wrote:
The B9 Creator is a nice model but still in the 5K+ range and the fluid is not that cheap.[\quote]
Depends on what's cheap. Resin used by Envisiontec, a company that lists GW as customer, start at 339$ per kg about 3 to 5 times as much as the B9Creator resins.

The resin for the Creator is between 60 and 120€ per kg depending on manufacturer. The stuff I use is about 100€ incl. taxes and P&P per kg. That will give you about 200 40k Space Marines. That's 50 cents (resin cost) per Marine. Care to tell us what you pay to get a Space Marine sized miniature printed ?

 Duncan_Idaho wrote:
And the fluid can only be used for one printing run and then needs to be removed, so you better print a lot in this one printing run.

Good guess, but utterly wrong. The resin is in a Vat and is not spoiled by printing. What's not turned into a model stays usable and and can be left in the Vat between prints. I've left resin in the Vat for over a week without printing. If you leave it for a day or longer you will have to stir the resin before printing, but that only takes a minute.
I’ve got the feeling you didn’t inform yourself on the B9, you just assumed what you know about other DLP printers would be fitting the B9 as well.

 Duncan_Idaho wrote:

Also this way it takes ages to print and the bulb for the projector has only some hundred hours and is not so fond of being switched on and off. So be prepared for quite some replacement parts to order. And not the cheap ones at that...

Some hundred hours is ok, if some is 20 or more.
A bulb should be good for more than 2000 hours. So depending on your milage, you will need a new bulb every year or every other year. Staying with Marines you can print 6 at a time, let's say 4 hours. That's 2000 / 4 * 6, results in 3000 Marines per bulb. Cost about 200$ that's 7 cent per Marine, bulb cost. Let's double that, because you have a misprint and double it again, because you do not print 6 Marines every time. So that's less than 30cent per Marine rather generously calculated.
Yes it takes ages to print, 4 hours for 6 Marines, plus 30 minutes to cure them. Care to tell us how long it takes, to sent the stl, off, have it checked, the model printed and sent to you ?
So about 0,3$ bulb, 0,5$ Resin, $0,2$ cleaning stuff $0,2$ power = 1,2$ times 2 for printer and whatever I've forgot. So a Space marine will cost you about 2,4$. That's 24$ for a squad. Price will not vary much by equipment only by volume. So a devestator or veteran, will cost about the same, a Terminator will be perhaps 25% more expensive, depending on the number of models you can print at the same time.

 Duncan_Idaho wrote:

Also you again need to remove the support structure by hand which the more expensive do for you by using two different printing materials.

That's true. But the tip of a support is about .2mm. So if it's not in a critical spot and if you do not do a master for production, you just break them off and your done. 20 seconds per model ?
But I admit, I’d prefer to have a powder printer and no need for supports at all.

 Duncan_Idaho wrote:

Also, this is one heavily modified Creator and normal price for such a printer would be 10K+ in retail.

Which one is a heavily modified creator ?

 Duncan_Idaho wrote:

Admittedly the prints look nice, but he used mainly basic shapes which look much better than other shapes. The detail I get from rented printers is way above the one shown in those pics. Imagine the detail on the X-Wing fighters and you are closer to what I get.

I hope you get more detail out of a 7 digit machine.
Usually basic shapes are more „difficult“ to print as they make stepping lines and imperfections easier to spot.
In my experience the more organic and textured the better the stuff looks. The miniatures above are 6mm in size. The eyes sockets are less than .2mm in diameter. If you really want to go for it you can reliably print structures of less than .15mm, grooves even thinner.
But anyway the limitations of the models shown are more limitations of design skills, not limitations of the machine.
I always wonder what problem people have with the detail of those miniatures. The above tower interior is shorter than a 40k Space Marine.
Details like on X-Wing game models are no problem at all.
If I compare the above models with an ordinary 40k Space Marine, the structures on the Marine are coarser.
I put some unpainted models from the „bits box“ besides a 40k SM. The resin is translucent yellow, so it’s difficult to photograph. I converted the image to B/W to make the detail better stand out. You just can make out the profile on the bikes tires.
I printed the big head only. I didn’t design that model. It’s more organic, but lacking detail - but weird enough nobody comments on that, only on the lack of detail on 6mm miniatures


Send me an stl, I print it, and we can determine how big the quality difference between machines is. Better to show how bad the B9 prints are, than to distribute hearsay.

 Duncan_Idaho wrote:

As with DTP and lasercutters, they are only worth getting when you really get a lot mileage out of them.

Depends on how you define worth.
For some people it's much more important, to be able to do things at the spot and on short notice and being able to test things immediately than to save some $. If that wouldn't be the case rapid prototyping would be non existent.
I'm at least talk about hobby, so for me the printer does not have to "pay off" in the monetary sense. It is enough to allow me to be creative and to go where I've never gone before - and wouldn't be able to go, because I lack skills with green stuff.

A printer like the B9Creator, is not meant to rival a 7 digit machine, but it offers you the opportunity to produce miniatures, that most people will not realise to be homemade, at home. And the real bonus, for me anyway, it that you can produce miniatures of your own design.
If you do not have the drive to design your own stuff and learn how it's done, it's not worth buying one. If it's good enough for masters, depends on your demands - and the models in question.

Good guess, but utterly wrong. The resin is in a Vat and is not spoiled by printing. What's not turned into a model stays usable and and can be left in the Vat between prints. I've left resin in the Vat for over a week without printing. If you leave it for a day or longer you will have to stir the resin before printing, but that only takes a minute.

It is spoiled over time. The resin hardens over time if exposed to lightsources of a certain wavelength. You can use the same stuf during a print-run that´s not the problem. But reusing it and stirring it is not a good idea. Some guys had that idea, too, back then, but the masters fell apart during reproduction, so for masters this is a NoNo. For just printing it and then using it as a model it might work better, but you better use it up qickly. The resin hardens over time if exposed to lightsources of a certain wavelength. Its as with printer-cartridge refill, sounds good at first, but some inks/heads don´t take well to reuse. The cheaper ones more so.

On the other hand the prints I get from the B9Creator are at least as good as the models I get from Shapeways from the same STL. And their machines should be in the 6 digit range.

Which process do you use? there are 5-6 different ones Shapeways offers.

Also, the Shapeways printer would print a full army on your website in less then 5 minutes, the price also goes into speed.

I had some custom-ships for X-Wing printed and the speed was like 25 Millenium Falcon like ships printed in under 10 minutes.

The resin for the Creator is between 60 and 120€ per kg depending on manufacturer. The stuff I use is about 100€ incl. taxes and P&P per kg. That will give you about 200 40k Space Marines. That's 50 cents (resin cost) per Marine. Care to tell us what you pay to get a Space Marine sized miniature printed ?

You wont get 200 28 mm marines out of it. First you need a basic fluid level in the tray, that can´t really be used up. Then you have to deduct the support structure that is way more complex for a marine. Also it would be a bad idea to create them mostly hollow, they need some internal structure to not warp. Then you have to calculate the energy needed for the printing time and with the Creator we are speaking about weeks to months for even 50 marines. Then you need to calculate in the time for designing the files and how much it costs. There is more, but you won´t get a marine cheap. And don´t forget to calculate in the failed prints.

Yes it takes ages to print, 4 hours for 6 Marines, plus 30 minutes to cure them. Care to tell us how long it takes, to sent the stl, off, have it checked, the model printed and sent to you ?

Approx 8 days, but that is because the printer is in the Netherlands. Postal takes some time. The pure printing time is a few minutes plus some minutes for cleaning away the support structure. Since it is cheaper to print, clean up and send away in bulk, we pool together and that takes most of the ten days, but it saves a lot of money.

A bulb should be good for more than 2000 hours.

At best, if you turn it on and off often it deteriorates way quicker. If you turn it on and leave it like that it will probably run for 2000 hours, but not the way the printer uses it. There is a reason stereo-litho pro-printers only use lasers and no lamps.

Which one is a heavily modified creator ?

According to your blog you upgraded it quite a bit, similar retail-printers are in the 10K range and if the upgrades were already included in your printer they would drive up the price considerably. What looks like a cheap upgrade at home can cost a lot of money when being added in retail.

Usually basic shapes are more „difficult“ to print as they make stepping lines and imperfections easier to spot.

Depends on the printer. If the printer has a high enough resolution they are easily hidable by aligning the object accordingly.
With the really cheap printers everything looks rubbish and especially basic shapes.

If I compare the above models with an ordinary 40k Space Marine, the structures on the Marine are coarser.

Well, SM are everything but not detailed. An Infinity miniature would be a better comparison.


In your case the printer gets its mileage cause you know how to do it and don´t have to invest as much as others to get good results. Those who start from scratch have a very step and often expensive learning curve.

I wouldn't say that either FDM or SLA printers are on their way out. High end jewelry printers are generally SLA, and FDM printers are generally the only ones currently available that can print in multiple colors / mediums. I would absolutely love an SLS printer, but that's not in the cards right now.

Well, the more expensive ones clearly not, but the cheap printer offered right now are really in the last life-cycle of that way of printing.

Those Epic scale models are great!

Please keep posting about every single 3-D printer that comes out so we can cash in on it's popularity.

I use the B9 printer for just over a year, so I have some experience with it, I do not have to rely on hearsay. I also have an Ultimaker 2 FDM printer, so I have some experience in that field as well. I tried Shapeways, but it didn’t suit me for different reasons, which doesn’t mean that it can not be the perfect choice for somebody else.
To keep the post shorter I did not quote. My comments are in the same order as the comments I reply to and I think, from the text it’s self explanatory to what is commented on.

Resin spoils over time, but it is not overnight or after each print as you suggest. It’s a bit like saying you have to throw ink jet cartridges away after each print, because cartridges dry out over time.
The resin easily survives a week in the machine, and this is not only my experience, but also from the guys casting jewellery, and if you know that you will not print for a while, you put it back into the bottle (don’t forget to filter) and I never had any problem with that. The stuff has an official shelf-life of a year, most likely more as nobody seems have to taken the trouble to really find out. Depending on the kind and number of projects I do, a bottle lasts one to three month.
The resin used is hardened by UV light. The resin is behind a orange perspex, which filters out most probably all of it. The risk that the resin dries out seems to be larger than that the resin being hardened

I used white and strong, frosted detail and ultra frosted detail.
White and strong has far less detail, and has a very coarse surface, which isn’t suitable for miniatures (at least 6mm), but is nice to touch and is great for walls/buildings.
Ultra frosted was ok, but the design software rejected many structures, which printed well on the B9, as too fine. I’ve heard that you can now ignore those warnings and print anyway, but I haven’t tried, so I can’t comment on that.

I do not care how fast Shapeways print. What I care about is the turn around time. I can print a sample in 2 to 8 hours depending on size. And I can print more than one at comparably (compared to Shapeways) low cost and I can print multiple poses in one run at relatively low cost. That is important for 6mm miniatures, because you (at least I) would not want to glue heads, arms, legs and weapons in that scale just to get some variety in poses.
And when I’m satisfied I print batch.
I would not like to wait 10 days to get a model, and than start to make a form, cast miniatures and have to remove flash and pegs.
But this is purely personal preference. I’m just not disciplined and anticipatory enough to design every miniature, so that it is perfect the first time. And waiting another 10 days to get the corrected model, would take all the fun out of the process for me. And I do not want to go through the from building/casting process, but again that is my preference and many people prefer to duplicate models by forms and casting.

The fill level is irrelevant. For one it’s less than 100ml and second It’s a one time investment. Once you reached that level you only top up, you do not throw that stuff unused away.
My Stompa is about 28mm and has a volume of just under 5ml. If a kg translates to a litre that will be about 200 miniatures. There might be a difference in specific weight, there might be spill and there might be misprints, but if you read my post, you will realise that I doubled the price per miniature to cover all those cases. Or in other words I calculated the price for 100 miniatures per bottle.
And yes I can print 50 Space Marines in a week with time to spare. I haven’t printed Space Marines, but enough other stuff much larger like buildings and obviously much smaller, running the printer for over 16 hours a day - because it will print also when I sleep.

The Bulb in my printer has 2k hours. So I’m pretty sure it holds at least that long Switching on and off the lamp will reduce lifetime, yes, but it is irrelevant. With print times of 2 to 8 hours, the lamp is switched on and off less than when you use your projector for watching videos. And nobody would spare a thought about frequency of switching on and off in that use.

My Creator is not modified. Usually you use PC or Mac to control the printer, I use a different computer (iPad, raspberry) than that to control the printer, but that doesn’t change neither the printer, nor the quality.
And I use two uv-nail-hardeners to cure the resin, which doesn’t influence resolution, but longevity of the model. They are probably 40 to 60$ each. But that’s „tools“ of the trade, like a frame for making forms. The same goes for PDMS vs. Silicone, Knife vs whatever you use to clean your miniatures, and paper towels vs. most likely paper towels.

I’m confused first you say the prints look so good, because there are only basic shapes (which is a bad sign) and now good basic shape printing is a sign of a high resolution printer (which is a good). Anyway I agree, print orientation can help a lot with stepping lines as can irregular surfaces.

We do not have to discuss the relative quality of a Space Marine. The statement I reacted on, was

eflix29 wrote:
Like Duncan_Idaho said, you can put 300,500, 1000 or 5000 in a 3d printer, it won't get you even close to the precision wargaming demands.
<SNIP>

and if there is any iconic wargaming miniature it is the GW Space Marine, and thousands of players find them suitable for wargaming. So if you can print a model that rivals or surpasses it’s quality you fulfil the pledge. And if you see that the tire on the bike has profile and compare a button to the SM features, I think you can agree that it surpasses the resolution of the SM. I’m not saying, you can’t do better models with more expensive or even cheaper machines or with green stuff or whatever other process you’re comfortable with, I only say you can buy a 3D printer in the aforementioned price range that will give results good enough for wargaming as IMHO proofed by the relative quality of those prints and an SM. That also does not mean that I claim that every printer in that price range can do so.

I agree wholeheartedly with the last statement. It is definitely not for everybody, but doing miniatures with green stuff isn’t either, and there is a steep learning curve. The investment only makes sense if you commit yourself. A halfhearted approach will only burn money and leave you frustrated. As I said before, if you’re not sure or if you do not have the continuous drive, use Shapeways.
It’s a bit like renting a boat or buying one. It’s not worth buying a boat if you use it only 4 weekends a year.