Hello Dakka homies
I have been 3D printing since 2020, it was my pandemic lock down hobby. I am now also a returning war gamer. Started war gaming back in 1991, and been off and on since then. I have tons of old hammer models and other miniatures from games that do not even exist anymore! So, I decided to get back into war gaming, which means I also started to use my 3D printers for war gaming things. I have both a filament printer and a resin printer. If you are curious which to get here is my personal take (this is my opinion) on where the printers are good and where they are not good:
Filament:
- good for strong durable items/parts you want to print
- don't have the detail of resin printers
- print all layers on a bed from a single nozzle (dual nozzles exist, I have no experience with them) meaning printing bigger things is likely slower than resin
- larger prints for terrain might be more suited for a filament printer as they may not require super high resolution detail, and they can print stronger parts/models
- filament is cheaper than resin
- can be a pain to learn how to use, level the bed/build plate, and definitely have a learning curve (but all 3D printing has this)
- filament is less picky about environment variables since all heat comes from the nozzle to melt the filament while printing out each layer
Resin:
- Best used for high quality high resolution prints, and more suited for war gaming miniatures
- resin is more expensive
- resin has higher requirements around printing environment, like: ambient temperature, humidity, etc are factors on how well resins perform
- most resin manufacturers post a spec, which will include what temperature range they tested the spec at. This should be your starting point when first using that resin
- Resin printers use UV light to cure the resin into a polymer chain reaction, across a wide UV light screen. This means you can print more at once, versus a single nozzle printer that is common in filament printers
- Resin is semi toxic and needs to be handled with more care
- model orientation and supports work vastly different from a filament printer. Learn how to angle/place your models on the build plate and use supports in a way to minimize "visible support holes" on the model's surface
Before you begin printing, you will need a workspace to print from. Here is what I recommend you figure out before you buy a printer:
- do you have enough space to keep your printer, and space for post processing and cleaning and maintenance of your printers?
- Know all the materials you will need to print: like IPA alcohol, proper tools like pliers, files, sand paper, lint free towels, nitrile gloves, etc
- Get all your safety gear first, and you can order all of it off of Amazon if you have no local stores near you. Masks, gloves, IPA, eye protection, etc
- get a UV flashlight if you are doing resin printing, you will want to cure your wasted resin before you can dispose of it, These are all over amazon and pretty cheap
- ensure you are in a well ventilated area. If I did not have space in my garage for my 3D printers, I would probably not be printing that much since I don't have space in other parts of my home currently that would work
- know all your local laws on waste management, not every local place has the same guidelines for wasting filament and resin
- NEVER POUR RESIN DOWN THE DRAIN
- watch many YouTube videos, but also be cognizant that a lot of YouTubers are simply showing you what has worked for them, and that may not work for you. So, don't take what they say as a scientific law of 3D printing, but take it as advice from someone who has been doing it for a good amount of time. I have found conflicting and non functional solutions from YT videos, as well as things I would consider sage advice
- the "green stuff" epoxy putty tape is your best friend for prints that have any sort of partial failures. Like Bob Ross said, "happy little accidents." I keep all my partially failed prints and use them for conversions. spare parts, or repair them with some green stuff epoxy putty.
some links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kHcsTG9QsM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtN3szkTo7o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjdRHM6TFuA
science behind 3D printers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ht4tbCiFxeM
You will have print failures, probably a lot in the beginning. This is to be expected. Don't give up or get fursturated, it is a part of the process. Over time you will learn how to tweak slicer and print settings to adjust them to your specific printer and your specific printing environment. Always check the manufacturer's website for spec on filament/resin on what the proper settings that they recommend as a starting point. you may need to tweak this as you progress, but these specs are the best place to start in my experience. I have had enough failures to the point where I can now see a print fail and I can kinda already guess why it failed and fix that problem and reprint it successfully.
For me, I had to adjust my ambient temperature a lot where my resin printer is. I ended up buying a small line of sight space heater. It is a tiny one, with some temperature controls on it, pointing right at my printer. This was due to my garage being around 60F and optimal printing temperature for the resin I am using is more around 75F. This greatly improved my print quality and success rates after I adjusted the temps. I only keep it on while printing, and I have a portable thermostat sitting on top of my printer so I can measure the temp and humidity around it. I will likely only need this during the winters as most of the year the ambient temps are going to be with in the desired range. So, again, your workspace is a huge factor you must think about before getting your printing setup.
From there, you can look at recommended exposure times and things like that (layer counts, etc) from folks posting STL files online. Remember, no two printers and no two resins operate the exact same, so you might have to do a bit of trial and error to get a print down right. The good news is, most slicer software programs can save these settings for you. Some apps like Lychee (
https://mango3d.io/lychee-slicer-3-for-sla-3d-printers/) have features where the community can share print and resin profiles. So, you might see profiles that have been tested by dozens or more community members with ratings of their results. This is just crowdsourcing desired printer/resin settings for certain things. So, there are lots of things to learn and explore. This can also be a good place to start with your resin/printer settings
What does it cost?
This is a bit of a loaded question, because it is hard to pinpoint a cost and a return on your investment into 3D printing. I will say that my filament printer I mostly print parts for random things and on occasion use it to print larger models that are more aligned with terrain pieces. I get value from this because i like to do it, it is a hobby. Filament is pretty cheap too, and the printer did not have a crazy entry price (Ender Pro 3, $300 retail at the time I purchased it). My resin printer, a Phrozen Mega Sonic 8K definitely had a much steeper price point, and I sorta went overboard. From my experience with my FDM printer I already knew I sorta wanted a bigger print bed. The Ender Pro 3 is a great beginner FDM printer
IMO, but when I wanted to print mass items or bigger things I sorta wished I had purchased a larger printer bed printer so I could do larger single prints. So, this is how I came to the conclusion I wanted to purchase a large print bed (or build plate on the resins) which led me to my purchase of the Phrozen Mega Sonic 8k. For me personally this was 100% worth it as I have been printing entire full build plates for my war gaming needs. However, you can easily get just as good quality from one of the smaller Phrozen 8k printers, or the smaller Anycubic 8k printers. On 8k vs 4K printers, if you want highly detailed miniatures I do recommend the 8k, but I feel the difference is not always noticeable as it depends on the details of the model you print. So, while I went a bit overboard, because I wanted a bigger plate and also want to print movie props and large models I went with the biggest printer I could buy. However, you can get a great 8k resin printer from what I have seen for the $400-$600 range.
So what it cost vs what return you get is relative for what you want to use it for. The filament I buy is about $25ish per a spool, and the resin I buy is around $35-$40 per a 1KG bottle. I was able to print 10 full "space ogres" models with bases, arms, accessories and everything I needed on a single print. It took my entire build plate to print, the print took about 5 hours, and cost me around $9.50 for the entire print according to my slicer software (Chitubox was used for this print). I have no idea how accurate the slicer programs are at price estimation, but that is what it told me based off of the volume it took to print, and the cost of the bottle. So, there is an initial up front cost, but over time you can see returns on things you can print for a lower cost of buying them. When it comes to terrain building, you can definitely print things for terrain on a budget. I took some STLs from thingiverse that were specifically terrain bits designed to fit on empty aluminum cans, and the results were great. I just bought some balsa wood, picked up some cheaper larger volume acrylic paints, and then 3D printed some parts to add to the curved surface of some empty cans.
here are some results:
all pics here
https://imgur.com/a/dPnx3Ii
