this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2024
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Asklemmy
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I'm excited to see the progress of 3d printers becoming more user friendly, reliable and inexpensive. I've been keeping an eye on the development of consumer printing and there are so many types of materials to print with at higher and higher details with less troubleshooting needed. I'm thinking I'll finally jump in this year but I've had very little time for hobbies lately.
I've been following 3d printing since the early 2000s, when it was all homemade machines printing with weed whacker line, slicers weren't a thing, and resolution was garbage. Now I have a resin printer that cranks out tiny detailed tabletop miniatures no problem. What a time to be alive.
what model do you have if you don't mind me asking? curious what's out there working for people from someone who would like to get into it but just hasn't (nor looked into it very much)
I'm still using an Creality Ender 3 for FDM because it was cheap and does the job, but a lot of great FDM printers have come out in the past few years at competitive price points. I use this for larger items where fine detail isn't important (tabletop buildings, terrain, vehicles, large creatures, etc)
For resin I've got an Elegoo Mars 3 Pro, but anything 4k is going to give pretty good results. Keep in mind though, resin is more involved than FDM. You'll need gloves and a VOC respirator to handle fresh prints, and I sprung for the wash/cure station to make my life easier. I use this for small prints with thin parts or fine details (character minis mostly).
FDM is where most people start to get their bearings, but if your use case is exclusively small detailed prints, it may be worth it to jump straight into resin. Just prepare for a slightly steeper learning curve.
I recently purchased a bambu labs p1s after many years of fighting with an Ender 3. I've printed so many things and not had a single fail, it prints so fast I actually don't know what to do next.. The AMS also opens up a whole new world, I've printed book marks (I know it sounds silly) but these things look amazing, something I never would have thought of ever. My only gripe is not having all the filament colours I want due to cost haha.
Yes! I grew up with Warhammer, and I can't tell you how many times as a teen I wished I could just make my own minis, or print something specific to add on while kitbashing.
Fast forward to today and I have a resin printer, unfortunately my free time is a bit less than it was 20 years ago so it doesn't see as much use as I'd like. God I feel old.