Arid Hills gaming wrote:As the post says, who here uses a 3D printer to provide them with scenery/scenic bases/diorama scenery?
What printer have you found to be the best? What pitfalls have you run into?
I do.
I have a Prusa Original i3 Mk2S, which is a type of FDM printer. FDMs are the kind that use plastic filament. Can't recommend it enough. I bought the kit version. Took me about 7 hours to build, but was actually pretty easy to do considering I've been assembling model kits for decades! The Mk2S is a little more expensive than some other kits (~600 USD right now), but has some nice quality of life features. It has a sensor that can measure the height from the print head to the bed. It also runs through a very quick auto-leveling thing before each print. What this means is that I don't have to do the nitpicky calibration that some other printers require. If you're willing to do the regular calibration, you can save some money at the expense of time. The Ender3 is a good option for similar quality, but more time consuming printing. Knowing what I know, I'd buy the Prusa again. If I buy a second, additional printer, it might be an Ender3.
In terms of pitfalls/things to think about...
1. You'll occasionally have a print fail. It happens. Clean the bed and move on. In the year that I've had my printer, I've only had a couple of fails. I've learned from each one.
2. Not all models can be printed effectively. Small details and overhangs can cause issues. After a few prints, you'll get a pretty good feeling for what your printer can and can't do.
3. FDM printers are great for terrain and larger models, like a
SM Dreadnought. They're not great for small things, like a Necron Warrior. For small, high detail, you'll want an SLA printer. Those are the ones that "pull" an object out of a shallow dish of resin, using light to harden the resin in very finely detailed layers. These printers are much more expensive per print and not really suitable for larger objects.
4. The quality/setting photos online are misleading. I thought I'd need a printer that could print at 0.05mm layer heights or better to get something passable. In practice, I print almost everything at 0.20mm layer height. With a decent paint job, it can be hard to tell that things are printed from 3ft away when playing a game. Using a 3D printed terrain piece or scenic base in a painting competition would require a lot of sanding and work to keep a judge from seeing print lines when looking closely.
5. You'll save money over time on the little things. I needed 5x 32mm blank bases last week. I just printed some instead of buying a pack from
GW (or whoever). Printing terrain can definitely save money over the official offerings and gives a similar detail level. I wanted to mount my Amazon Echo Dot on the wall. I found a bracket online for $5. I printed a similar one for next to nothing. I also 3D print all my tokens for various games. For the recent Kill Teams release, I printed a set of tokens and traded them to someone for the rule book. I then printed more tokens for myself. I already had some models to use from
40k armies. Net buy-in was $0. Yet another savings. I've printed out a couple of board game box inserts. Those usually run $30-40 a pop.
6. When I can't find what I'm looking for on sites like Thingiverse.com, I design them myself using Sketchup. It's very easy to learn and works well for basic objects like terrain or square edged vehicles (as an example, I made a wheeled Rhino). I've gotten a few tips on Thingiverse for my models, so there's maybe another $50 or so to offset the cost of the printer.
Hope some of my rambling helps.