About a year ago I bought my first 3d printer, a FMD Anycubic i3 Mega. It is a very nice machine that requires very little assembly, so it was kinda perfect for a total novice. I liked it so much that about half a year later I splurged some cash and got a DLP Anycubic Photon. Since then, I've been mostly fething around with stuff, and I'll use this thread to post some of it.
I'l start with one of my forst forays with the i3 Mega: Some walls for Newcromunda!
warboss wrote: The quality possible on the FDM printer surprises me (in a good way!). I always think of those as only really being usable for the larger scenery.
If you print slowly and the printer is well calibrated, you can do very minute stuff... and if you use a smaller printing head (which I haven't, I'm using a regular 0.4mm one) you can do stuff that compares very well with low def DLP printing.
Still, each printing tech has its best case uses, TBH, and fdm cleaning is much, much harder IMHO, at least when talking about minis.
Some more FDM tests:
Map scale Leopards (low quality [meaning, high layer size for fast print] prints):
Macross Q-Rau:
Macross Gnerl:
Macross Armored VF:
Epic scale Deimos Predator:
40k scale Deimos Rhino:
MWO Atlas:
Generic-ish sorceress mini from Thingiverse (face turnes out kind of crappy but that might be the smoothest print I've made on the Mega):
warboss wrote: How much prep time per fig would you estimate the infantry sized figs (up to the various mechs) take to get them to those states?
It really depends on the mini in question. If it has been designed with FDM printing in mind, supports will be minimal and you'll be mostly smoothing things out. For example, from the above the sorceress, and the goblin are almost as-is.
In other cases the pieces will have been split for ease of printing or poseability, which will make prep lenghtier but will get you good results (of the above, the Gnerl and the Q-Rau were split):
In other cases, though, you will need supports, which means that you will need to remove those supports... and the more complex the mini is, the harder to remove those are. This was the case of the Armored VF above, which came out from the printing bed like so:
Cleaning this one up was a fething nightmare, let me tell you. That one might have been what finally prompted me to splurge and get a Photon. And boy, does it make a difference!
OTOH, resing support cleaning is really easy in comparison ^_^
Thanks.. and, yeah.. wow... that veritech looks sisyphean in terms of the cleanup. With your photon, do you have an option as to what size connection to the actual model you can use for the supports? (to minimize the possible damage to surface detail/cleanup effort) I'd be curious if for smaller 25-35mm infantry sized figures printed in one piece if that affects print stability. In regards to your earlier comment about nozzle diameter, this video popped up in my youtube recommended feed this morning and might be of use. I've only watched a few minutes and apologies if it covers stuff you already know. The first 6 minutes are basically warnings, precautions, and reasons why you shouldn't change to a smaller diameter nozzle but there is a noticeable difference in the quality of the baby benchy boat model at the 6:30 mark. It's a bit of a moot point though as you've already got a good resin printer though and not worth spending almost 24 hours to print a 35mm figure.
warboss wrote: Thanks.. and, yeah.. wow... that veritech looks sisyphean in terms of the cleanup. With your photon, do you have an option as to what size connection to the actual model you can use for the supports? (to minimize the possible damage to surface detail/cleanup effort)
Yeah, both the official Anycubic slicer and Chitubox allow multiple support sizes, as well as automatic and manual placement, and you can combine support sizes in the same print. Chitubox have more detailed options, though.
I'd be curious if for smaller 25-35mm infantry sized figures printed in one piece if that affects print stability.
Can't say I've had much of a problem with them.
In regards to your earlier comment about nozzle diameter, this video popped up in my youtube recommended feed this morning and might be of use. I've only watched a few minutes and apologies if it covers stuff you already know. The first 6 minutes are basically warnings, precautions, and reasons why you shouldn't change to a smaller diameter nozzle but there is a noticeable difference in the quality of the baby benchy boat model at the 6:30 mark. It's a bit of a moot point though as you've already got a good resin printer though and not worth spending almost 24 hours to print a 35mm figure.
One of the usually overlooked perks of using a smaller noozle is that supports are far easier to remove. But yeah, they come with their own sets of problems, and given the costs, well... honestly speaking, I feel it's best to use FDM printers for what they're best at.
Now, as I said, I ended up getting a resin printer too (it was on sale at the time), and boy, does it make a difference! These were my first prints, and the quality absolutely blew me away:
(The fething gun cannon is fething hollow! At that size! That's bonkers)
(Again, just for clarity )
After cleanup, I ended up with this:
I didn't stop using the FDM printer, of course. I just... started using it for other stuff. Like custom dice:
After my first prints using the newfangled Photon, I continued doing some more tests:
And then I started to try and push the limits of the printer further... until then I had only printed stuff at 50 microns per layer, which, as far as it goes, is actually the thicker recommended layer height. So next I tried to print the same model at 50 microns and again at 20 microns, to try to see how much of a difference would that make. Yhis is the mini I tried it with:
Primed, because that green gak doesn't really takes well to photos:
Now, first things first: 50 microns is more than enough definition for most things, and works really well for minis. But still, as you can see the difference is noticeable in photos (almost not at all with the naked eye, though). And it is even moreso when you actually zoom in:
I wonder how the recently added anti-aliasing would affect the 50 micron layer. I'd imagine that it wouldn't do anything for the 20 as I can't see any layer lines there. Were the orientations on the print bed the same for both?
50 microns seems to be approximating the surface texture of lead free pewter castings. 20 microns approaches injection plastic or resin casting. Thanks for blogging this.
It's been a bit more than a month, and well... I've been doing stuff ^^
With the advent of the new Adeptus Titanicus I had already been mulling around the idea of doing some Epic stuff, and the Apocalypse ruleset kinda set me to do it, as I felt it could be worth to test it that way. So... I started with these:
Those are regular Epic size, but honestly... I feel they work well enough with AT, really:
They also paint up really, really well, IMHO:
Automatically Appended Next Post: The logical step, then, was Armigers of course
...and then I thought smaller:
Just out of the vat and still wet. I could have filled more the bed, but well... that's a 2-hours print, so...
This is what they look like just of of the cleaning. The detail is insane, and I've printed those at "low" detail settings!
Yeah, I know they don't look like much unpainted... but they do gain a lot with a lick of paint:
Those were painted in about 5 minutes and what it took to dry the wash.
I still haven't painted any Epic infantry using the Mars, so not so far
Automatically Appended Next Post: Once I saw that a Horus Heresy Space Marine force was pretty doable, I turned my eyes again to ye olde anvil of the Emperor:
I love how they look side by side with marines:
The bases, by the way, were printed on a fdm printer
Once again, a tiny bit of paint works miracles:
After seeing that infantry was withing my grasp, I started to churn more armor. Firstly, some Chimeras and more russes:
I... kinda made a whole buncha them
I love how they look, TBH:
And then... well, then bigger stuff, you know:
For size:
This is all I've ended printing, armor-wise, but I still have only assembled like one third of the infantry I made...
MDSW wrote: What great work - the resin printers do such a good job. You have an excellent armored force!!
Do you find the resin cost with all you have printed a bit much or is it manageable?
IME, more than manageable. All that, plus about thrice as many infantry more, plus all the supports, plus some other assorted stuff for a friend's boargame might have been... maybe half a liter of resin. Or about €23.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Lately I've been playing a campaign of Maho Shojo, an upcoming PbtA RPG about magical girls that's going to be released sometime this year. We had a blast. This was our team, the Uber Fraus, with a mythical norse theme:
Last week I tested the Lancer RPG for the first time. It's a very interesting, tactical mech combat RPG with deep customization, and we got hooked. And well, one thing led to another and...
I started with these guys
(btw, contrast paints over metallic coat gives a lovely metallic color)
Then I went "eh, why the hell not", and started testing out sizes, and... (the current Btech box mechs are there for size comparisons)
Automatically Appended Next Post: And this is my very first "own" miniature. I posed this one using the destophero beta using their current assets, and I'm really happy with how it looks, and with what it means for the future. I mean, I "designed" this in the morning and had the mini by lunchtime! That's bonkers!
(the closed fist arm din't print correctly, though. I need better supports there)
Great!! The design feature you have is great, as i have not jumped into that aspect yet, but it would have taken my Ender 3 the better part of the workday to print that in the highest resolution.
MDSW wrote: Great!! The design feature you have is great, as i have not jumped into that aspect yet, but it would have taken my Ender 3 the better part of the workday to print that in the highest resolution.
In this case I printed it at 50 microns per layer, and it took about 2 hours and a half to print, which is not bad. Of course, printing 6 would have taken exactly the same time...
And this is my very first "own" miniature. I posed this one using the destophero beta using their current assets, and I'm really happy with how it looks, and with what it means for the future. I mean, I "designed" this in the morning and had the mini by lunchtime! That's bonkers!
(the closed fist arm din't print correctly, though. I need better supports there)
Spoiler:
I like it. Is that a heroforge style plug and play service or have you branched out into 3d modelling?
And this is my very first "own" miniature. I posed this one using the destophero beta using their current assets, and I'm really happy with how it looks, and with what it means for the future. I mean, I "designed" this in the morning and had the mini by lunchtime! That's bonkers!
(the closed fist arm din't print correctly, though. I need better supports there)
Spoiler:
I like it. Is that a heroforge style plug and play service or have you branched out into 3d modelling?
Heroforge style but currently much more involved (I had to close that empty hand, and each digit has three joints... >_>. The second iteration of DesktopHero is very much in beta yet, so the amount of assets is quite limited, currently.
Fajita Fan wrote: I love those Epic tanks for AT and Battlemechs sooooooo much!
Thanks! I'm really happy about how they turned out, tbh. Epic was something that I always liked to get heavily into, but at the time I got there GW prices were kinda stupid high...
Also, I just printed these feudal world IG regiment troops:
I'm trying to fill up as much of the building plate as I can, for this kinda stuff:
Also working on a City of Tarok cottage:
Automatically Appended Next Post: A very fast and dirty paint test:
Looks great, Albertorius. Were those at 50 microns? You can definitely see the difference in the details with models purpose built for printing as compared with the more shallow details on my first test print.
Fajita Fan wrote:I really wish I could get my hands on a resin printer.
It's not really all that expensive anymore... at least when compared with starting a new GW game, for example
warboss wrote:Looks great, Albertorius. Were those at 50 microns? You can definitely see the difference in the details with models purpose built for printing as compared with the more shallow details on my first test print.
Those have indeed been printed at 50 microns, and yeah, being made specifically as minis makes a world of a difference.
I'm working on getting my office a resin printer, we have the money but it's hard sometimes getting people to spend on money on my toys *AHEM* work devices.
Fajita Fan wrote: I'm working on getting my office a resin printer, we have the money but it's hard sometimes getting people to spend on money on my toys *AHEM* work devices.
I've ended up basically assembling a workshop at home for this stuff >_>
This weekend I've printed a couple of Marauder Destroyers, scaled for AI. They are... big. Like really fething big. Like "it almost doesn't fit into the printing bed" big:
I really like the end result, though, and it was all a single piece:
And even with the amount and size of supports I added (I think I put a lot more than needed, and most of those were big ones), the backside has printed beautifully:
...and, as far as printing things that are currently sold, if there is a 3D stl file out there and you are not mass printing to sell everywhere, that works for me.
Honestly, mass printing for selling is not really very appealing to me, given printing times and all the cleanup you have to do. As far as "existing things" (I mean, the Marauder above is actually a design from scratch) it will also help me do things like changing the scale.
Lik,e for example, this weekend I've disassembled my fdm printer to give it a much needed maintenance. I've also changed the hotend and the stepper motor, oiled it, cleaned all the muck... you know, stuff. After reassembling it, I made some test prints to check calibration.
But well, cubes are sort of boring:
I liked how they ended up looking (for fdm I mean) so I decided to do a full bed print:
Now I sort of want to print all of the rest in color-appropiate plastic and hang them up my wall ^^
Very cool! On some of the emblems, you might try if your slicer has an 'enable ironing' setting, as when I use it in Cura it smooths out the top of prints just like glass - takes it a bit longer to print, though...
Looks great and definitely a testiment to the strengths of having a solid 3d printer for larger projects. How much time did that biggest battletech placard take to finish?
Everything you do is pretty impressive, and I this really is starting to look like the future
Thanks for the kind words
I agree, we're currently living in the freaking future, and I personally am loving it.
warboss wrote:Looks great and definitely a testiment to the strengths of having a solid 3d printer for larger projects. How much time did that biggest battletech placard take to finish?
The big one took about 11 hours, but that's only because I printed it using the "extra quality" settings I've prepared to print scenery, meaning small layers (0.12mm) and slow movements. I probably could have printed it in half the time using the regular settings and it would have looked more or less the same.
Your 3D prints are really fantastic - quite a production line going - very impressive!
Just picked up a Photon here and starting to have some luck with it - curious - what resins have you had the best results with on yours? Your prints seem crisper on the detail vs. what I have done with mine so far.... Thx!
petrov27 wrote: Your 3D prints are really fantastic - quite a production line going - very impressive!
Just picked up a Photon here and starting to have some luck with it - curious - what resins have you had the best results with on yours? Your prints seem crisper on the detail vs. what I have done with mine so far.... Thx!
Thanks!
Well, I've found that usually the most important thing tends to be finding the sweet spot in curing time per layer for the resin you're using. Too long and your prints will look coarser, big bigger layer lines. Too short and you might end up having to scrap a failed print off the fep.
It's a bit of a trial and error thing, but for the Photon there's a "latitude test" that you really should use for every new resin you wanna use:
Follow the instructions there and find out the sweet spot for your printer and resin. That will help, I assure you.
Personally, I've had some problems with a batch of Anycubic resin that they sent me expired (so that wasn't really a surprise) and sometimes with the more transparent ones. I've got the best results using Elegoo fast grey resin (and the new "ABS-like" formula they're using) and the FunToDo white. Between those two, I'd pick Elegoo because you can get it off Amazon next day delivery at a very competitive price and because the sweet spot in time is much shorter (7-8 seconds per layer for the Elegoo at 50 microns versus 12 for the FunToDo).
Albertorius wrote: [Personally, I've had some problems with a batch of Anycubic resin that they sent me expired (so that wasn't really a surprise)
If you're referring to the date on the bottle, that's the manufacturing date, not the expiration date. Resin is good for at a minimum of 2 years when properly stored, so no resin produced by Anycubic has yet expired.
I'm not discounting you may have gotten a bad bottle, of course - it happens.
Albertorius wrote: [Personally, I've had some problems with a batch of Anycubic resin that they sent me expired (so that wasn't really a surprise)
If you're referring to the date on the bottle, that's the manufacturing date, not the expiration date. Resin is good for at a minimum of 2 years when properly stored, so no resin produced by Anycubic has yet expired.
I'm not discounting you may have gotten a bad bottle, of course - it happens.
Well, if it was the manufacturing date, it was made in the future, as it was a month after I got it... Problem is I didn't actually check until a while later, as I was using other bottle.
Nevertheless, I stand by my contention that as Anycubic has only been manufacturing resin for about a year and a half, nothing they have produced has expired due to old age; and I don't doubt at all you got a bad bottle, it definitely happens. If it was improperly stored hot enough prior to you receiving it, I think that would do it regardless of when it was manufactured.
By the way, have you ever tried the bio-resin made by eSun? It's pretty terrific - strong, easy to use, just a little flex so it's not brittle. The downsides are the bottles are awful and it's an absolutely hideous color... but we paint our prints so whatever.
Nevertheless, I stand by my contention that as Anycubic has only been manufacturing resin for about a year and a half, nothing they have produced has expired due to old age; and I don't doubt at all you got a bad bottle, it definitely happens. If it was improperly stored hot enough prior to you receiving it, I think that would do it regardless of when it was manufactured.
Well, I'm not really sure either way, but it really, really doesn't print >_>. I can say that I'm storing it properly, but other than that... yeah
By the way, have you ever tried the bio-resin made by eSun? It's pretty terrific - strong, easy to use, just a little flex so it's not brittle. The downsides are the bottles are awful and it's an absolutely hideous color... but we paint our prints so whatever.
No, I haven't yet: So far I've used Anycubic, FunToDo and Elegoo resins.
I'm pretty interested in eSun's water washable one, as it would make my life much easier.
MDSW wrote: Any reasonable sources for the eSun water soluble resin? I saw the great Youtube review, but am having trouble finding available, like on Amazon, etc.
Nothing so far outside from Aliexpress, I'm afraid.
Man, great thread. I am almost set on getting the Mega next week when the Chinese have their massive sales on 11/11 and it will be below 200€. The Photon stuff looks ace, but resin is nasty stuff, right? Do you have your printers in your living area?
PS for anyone reading, the Photon is 260€ on Amazon.de right now. You could literally get both the Mega and the Photon for the cost of 2 new Necromunda starters
I keep my printers in an upstairs bedroom, and when I am actively printing, the door is closed and there is a fan in the window venting outside, so the whole room is negative pressure.
I'm not sure that resin is any less safe than FDM printing, which is more unsafe then previously thought - a study recently found FDM printing emits significant levels of VOCs.
So regardless of which you get, use adequate ventilation. For the resin printing, you also want gloves - getting uncured resin on your skin can cause allergic reactions at a minimum.
I have the I3 Mega, the Photon, and the Photon S. They're all great printers.
The green resin that came with my Photon I thought smelled powerful bad, yet the Eegloo Gray resin I went with after some suggestions smells not bad or near as strong - oddly I kinda like the smell of it but maybe I am weird lol
So changing resins may make a big difference to you on that front. For my part I have it in my basement workshop and that contains the smell just fine.
Yeah, I find the Elegoo grey smells a bit like the nail shop when I take my wife to get her nails done. I have an Elegoo Mars resin printer and it only smells briefly when you remove the lid. I cut a piece of plastic sheet to drop over the resin vat when the cover is removed to keep anything from falling into the resin and keeping any fumes down and it works great. I have it in my large game room next to my desk where I work all day long and I smell nothing while it is running.
I can't say enough how much I love the Elegoo Mars printer, along with my Ender 3 Pro, I can handle anything I need with amazing details - both are the best printers IMHO at their price point available.
I am ready to try some SainSmart resin soon, as they say the smell is not bad either
Automatically Appended Next Post: Actually, I currently use the Elegoo Grey ABS-like and really love the still slight flexibility when cured - it will not shatter if dropped. I have some SainSmart coming so hope it does act similar - anyone had any experience with SainSmart? It is on sale, so it was a cheap and highly reviewed alternative.
lord_blackfang wrote: Man, great thread. I am almost set on getting the Mega next week when the Chinese have their massive sales on 11/11 and it will be below 200€. The Photon stuff looks ace, but resin is nasty stuff, right? Do you have your printers in your living area?
PS for anyone reading, the Photon is 260€ on Amazon.de right now. You could literally get both the Mega and the Photon for the cost of 2 new Necromunda starters
I have everything in a dedicated room, but the brands I use leave almost no odor... most of the odor comes from the cleaning alcohol, truth be told.
Automatically Appended Next Post: So I wanted to try and make a bigger print using the resin printer. As big as possible. So seeing as I had the files, I tried this:
...unfortunately, as you might notice, there was not enough resin left in the vat when I put the middle to print, so... yeah >_>
I'll have to redo that part, but I'll use that unfinished one for scenery, I think.
Looks great! What settings did you use and which printer? I'm running low on resin and need to get some more which is why I haven't printed much recently other than adding to my bag of (misprinted) shame. Plus I have two minis that I cobbled together that did work out that I have yet to paint and I promised myself that I wouldn't get too far behind in that regard.
warboss wrote: Looks great! What settings did you use and which printer? I'm running low on resin and need to get some more which is why I haven't printed much recently other than adding to my bag of (misprinted) shame. Plus I have two minis that I cobbled together that did work out that I have yet to paint and I promised myself that I wouldn't get too far behind in that regard.
Let me see... the sides were done on the Photon at 10 seconds per layer (probably could reduce it to 8s, but eh). The body, turret and sponsons were done on the Mars at 8 seconds per layer, both using Elegoo grey resin.
A while ago I bought a plastic Contemptor dreadnought from Ebay. I have yet to paint it, and its lack of poseability made it kind of too similar to the one I did paint, so I thought I probably should spruce it up a bit, and change the weaponry too, to booth:
I printed a couple of kheres assault cannons for it, but I was printing a full Contemptor on the other printer, so I changed the weapons around (that's why it has two different colors of resin):
I should probably try to remesh the design sometime, as currently it's a little bit too blocky (you can see the triangles pretty well in some of the round parts)
I should probably try to remesh the design sometime, as currently it's a little bit too blocky (you can see the triangles pretty well in some of the round parts)
I'm always surprised by this when I download files from places like Thingiverse. Unless you're specifically going for a polygon look I don't understand why everyone doesn't use the most triangles possible for detailed models? Is it a software limitation I'm not aware of depending on what you're modeling in? Or just a filesize consideration? It just stinks that even if you've got the best printer some models are going to look like 3D models because they're designed that way for no good reason.
Just about to buy a Mars as there pretty much the only affordable printer in thuk.
You mentioned elegoo new water cleanable resin was wondering if you had used it yet and how you found it, also is it still low odour like there normal resin?
Thanks
warboss wrote: Nicely done. You definitely do a great job with the supports (or lack thereof).
Oh, no lack of supprts I assure you ^^:
I tend to put a fethton of supports, probably way too many ^^
Automatically Appended Next Post:
SeanDrake wrote: Just about to buy a Mars as there pretty much the only affordable printer in thuk.
You mentioned elegoo new water cleanable resin was wondering if you had used it yet and how you found it, also is it still low odour like there normal resin?
Thanks
I got the bottle a couple hours ago, so I haven't tested it just yet .
And this is how it looked right after rinsing it in warm water with a drop of dishwasher and brushing it with the provided brush (yeah, the bottle comes with a brush for that ^^):
The cleaning process was so much easier that it's not even funny, you guys. It is a bit more expensive (49.99 euros a 1 liter bottle), but... you know, you won't be expending money on IPA anymore, so it's not actually that much more, and its so, so, SO much easier. I'm thinking I'll probably swap to water washable entirely from now on, if the quality is consistent.
This is the big guy after butting supports and filing it a bit:
It would only need a bit of green stuff to seal the holes and it would be good to go.
Great looking print! It's probably time I got a new bottle of some kind of resin myself and I'll consider the water washable one. I had been focused on a clear one for the visual effect of being able to print some clear parts (like lightsaber blades and such) but it is tempting to just be able to wash in water as well.
Flinty wrote: Thanks for the review. I had seen the water washable stuff come up... that makes resin printers basically a no brainer
Any idea what the new elegoo price point will be? Worth waiting for?
I've been hearing 300 euros. If you don't mind much waiting, and don't find a very good deal coming Black Friday, I'm sure it will be worth it. If you can find a Mars for cheap, well... it's really great.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
warboss wrote: Great looking print! It's probably time I got a new bottle of some kind of resin myself and I'll consider the water washable one. I had been focused on a clear one for the visual effect of being able to print some clear parts (like lightsaber blades and such) but it is tempting to just be able to wash in water as well.
I've gotten an elegoo transparent resin bottle on a flash sale, I'll see how it goes. Unfortunately that one's not water washable >_>
Automatically Appended Next Post: I've been forwarded this:
I've used both gloves and a cleaning vat for cleaning, but... Something to think about. Basically, use gloves and everything, make sure you cure it completely befor handling, and make sure to cure the leftover resin in the cleaning vat before throwing it out (after that is mostly inert).
I've gotten an elegoo transparent resin bottle on a flash sale, I'll see how it goes. Unfortunately that one's not water washable >_>
As usual, LMK how it goes! I was looking at that and possibly the anycubic ones. I'm curious how good (or bad) the translucent resin without obvious color looks with a light wash coat to give it some color.
How's the smell on the water washable resin, since it seems to print well? I was thinking about picking up a printer to play with now that the costs are getting pretty reasonable, but the back room I'd be using it in isn't as separated as I'd like and the resin odor isn't something I'd want floating around.
Trimarius wrote: How's the smell on the water washable resin, since it seems to print well? I was thinking about picking up a printer to play with now that the costs are getting pretty reasonable, but the back room I'd be using it in isn't as separated as I'd like and the resin odor isn't something I'd want floating around.
Not too bad, but IMHO a bit more noticeable than the regular elegoo grey, which is almost non existent.
Hmmm given I also am going to have to setup my printer in my spare room would I be better off waiting for the pro?
As from what I have read a lot of the improvements are qol and safety features, like a carbon filter and better air tight seals to stop fumes/odour and being quiter and quicker.
SeanDrake wrote: Hmmm given I also am going to have to setup my printer in my spare room would I be better off waiting for the pro?
As from what I have read a lot of the improvements are qol and safety features, like a carbon filter and better air tight seals to stop fumes/odour and being quiter and quicker.
I'd say that unless there's a very significant prince difference you'll probably be better off with the pro, if only because it has an improved led matrix.
Also, I fast painted with Contrast paints one of my last prints:
warboss wrote: Nicely done. I wouldn't have guessed that was with contrast paints. That sounds like it's a back handed compliment but it's not meant to be, lol.
Hahaha ^^. Well, I'm trying to use Contrasts in a bit more controlled way, to see how much I can get out of them, so that's good xD
I may also hold out for the pro. The array should give better definition at the edges (effectively giving it a bigger build area for minis) and hopefully the inbuilt carbon filter helps with fumes.
Argh... so there is a really good deal.on The epax x1 and I was going to get it, but now there is the elegoo mars pro.coming out. Does anyone have any opinions on which would be better? The Mars Pro I can probably get for.cheaper than the x1, but the robust build and purported z stability and pre-levelling of the X1 is of intest to.me.
Well, not really knowing how the Mars Pro will turn out, but knowing for a fact that the x1 is a great machine... only possible problem is that it uses a propietary film instead of fep, which might be harder/more expensive to replace.
Another good option would be the kelant s400 which is both bigger format and really reliable. The d200 is also a great option, having much more potent LEDs which makes it way faster than the Photon/Mars.
Been testing a novelty filament, of the "stone effects" variety:
I... might need to test it on an actual building or scenery stuff, but... I really wouldn't mind putting something like that directly on a table, with no (much) further processing. And that would be fabulous.
As long as you're looking for a clean looking stone that has kept up, I think that works just fine as is without any further processing. If you're looking for something more worn in like an ancient temple or stonework, a copious dirty wash of cheap craft paints and some glue and flock would do and only take a minute or two for big pieces.
warboss wrote: As long as you're looking for a clean looking stone that has kept up, I think that works just fine as is without any further processing. If you're looking for something more worn in like an ancient temple or stonework, a copious dirty wash of cheap craft paints and some glue and flock would do and only take a minute or two for big pieces.
Yeah, that's more or less the idea. I really need to test this further....
I've been busy working in a book this christmas holidays, so I haven't been printing too much stuff... until this weekend, that is, in which I've been mainly testing some stuff from Patreons, but also something different.
The different thing being a mini designed with online tools to be a Shadowrun decker:
...yeah, the skin colored resin doesn't really "do" photos >_>. Let's try with a bit of ink:
Well, not perfect, but better, and at least you can see a bit of it and the 'deck.
Then I tried to print one of The Makers' Cult Patreon new Vase Mode Terrain models, seeing as they print really fast by dint of being vase mode:
This gate is really big, yo
And as it's printed completely hollow, it printed in about 2.5 hours and used like, 40 grams of plastic, if that. To print this as they are supposed to I'd need to use a 1mm nozzle, but I made do with my regular 0.4 one.
Then I printed some Reptilian Overlords' Heretic soldiers:
...once again, skin color doesn't like photos, so there:
They are amazing, TBH, even if I still need to print the shoulder pads!
After that? Titan-Forge Miniatures' Samurais:
I call this one Hida Sumasshu ^_^
Truly beautiful minis, tbh, and they look to scale well with other minis I'm interested in:
I'd say that was a productive printing weekend. I like the shadowrun mini as well. Ok, boom(box)er! Is that his cyberdeck? I don't know which era of SR you play or is he a 2074 hipster who turned his commlink into a retro cyberdeck?
Does Titan Forge sell stl files? I've been a fan of their komainu samurai cavalry for a while.
I've started painting the stuff I have from SW Legion, and I found Skullforge Studios, a Gumroad store that sells gorgeous alternate models and unreleased stuff, so I bought these three to test:
Leia in rebel commando garb:
Mara Jade:
And an Imperial field officer:
As I said, absolutely fantastic. I'll be buying more stuff in the near future, for sure.
...and as I was already filling the printing bed, I also printed the Mando:
MrH86 wrote: It's crazy how detailed the models are, the tech has come so far.
Also remember: this is a print made in a $250 machine and not even at it's full resolution: that's printed at 50 microns/layer in all axis. It can go as low as 10 microns on the Z axis.
Show off! In the time you've been doing this, I've only supported half of a 40mm tall model. Lots of great Star Wars figs there. Do you they have "counts as" fan rule for them in Legion?
warboss wrote: Show off! In the time you've been doing this, I've only supported half of a 40mm tall model. Lots of great Star Wars figs there. Do you they have "counts as" fan rule for them in Legion?
Oh that was one day
The new units and special characters do, many are just "count as" stuff, to avoid duplicates and such.
That's actually quite a good job of it, especially on the boots. The difference between black cloth and polished black leather comes through very well.
The only thing I would suggest is either going in with black and cleaning up the highlights and deepening the shadows, or giving it an overall black glaze to accomplish much the same goal.
Vulcan wrote:That's actually quite a good job of it, especially on the boots. The difference between black cloth and polished black leather comes through very well.
The only thing I would suggest is either going in with black and cleaning up the highlights and deepening the shadows, or giving it an overall black glaze to accomplish much the same goal.
Still, nice job regardless!
Thanks! I might just give it a whirl, but as I said, I kinda got bored halfways and just wanted to finish ^^. Honestly, I think it has to do with the fact that I can just print another one and do it again if I so decide.
bbb wrote:How easy is it to remove the supports? These look fantastic.
It really depends on type of supports, density and placement. Positioning a mini for printing and adding supports is a learning skill, I've found. That said, using hot water and clipping the supports right after cleaning (even better, when they're still hot and pliable from the hot water) and before the UV hardening it's the best way, IMHO. Then, afterwards, you just do cleanup and filing.
For the supports I opt for the thin ones only and on sturdy areas before curing you can just pull them all right off. If attached to delicate parts you can snip with small pliers (Elegoo Mars gives you a great pair) - All in all, so much easier and cleaner than FDM supports.
bubber wrote: do you need a pc to run a 3-d printer? I use a chromebook most of the time. I do have a pc but haven't turned it on for 3 years or more.
Generally, yes.
The software that slices the model and prepares it for 3d printing is run on a computer and sends the data to the printer. Very few printers can do all that on their own.
Hey was referred by Albertorius to check this out and glad he did. I have skimmed and read most the updates I guess my questions are, to get 28mm to 50mm scale figures and bits would a DLP Anycubic Photon be a good start? Is it a resin printer and is this specific printer able to print tanks(40k size not Epic scale)as well? Also are the files that are used for printing scalable?
I see that 20 microns has the level of detail I want and was shocked by the quality, as many have already said haha.
Edit: haha okay I have looked through the thread and seen most of my questions were answered. But now I ask just as a personal preference is the DLP Anycubic Photon of the DLP Anycubic Photon S LCD a better investment for a beginner? Because I am tempted by the S model but don’t want to overspend if possible. Ironically I am cheap wargaming, or I try to be.
Musselman wrote:Hey was referred by Albertorius to check this out and glad he did. I have skimmed and read most the updates I guess my questions are, to get 28mm to 50mm scale figures and bits would a DLP Anycubic Photon be a good start? Is it a resin printer and is this specific printer able to print tanks(40k size not Epic scale)as well? Also are the files that are used for printing scalable?
I see that 20 microns has the level of detail I want and was shocked by the quality, as many have already said haha.
Edit: haha okay I have looked through the thread and seen most of my questions were answered. But now I ask just as a personal preference is the DLP Anycubic Photon of the DLP Anycubic Photon S LCD a better investment for a beginner? Because I am tempted by the S model but don’t want to overspend if possible. Ironically I am cheap wargaming, or I try to be.
Glad you found it interesting
IMHO, the Photon S has the advantage of a slightly more powerful led and a sturdier z axis, but other than that... dunno, I'm not too fond of it. For the price, I'd check out the Mars Pro instead.
I have a question for Albertorius. Your Marauder Bombers were very impressive, with some crisp detail. I'm starting to get back into Star Wars Armada and I'm discovering that stock levels are pretty low across all the major online retail outlets. In your opinion could an Anycubic produce Armada scale ships at a roughly equivalent level of detail compared to the retail offerings? I know a lot of the Imperial ships have recessed details along the sides or engine areas, so I'm not sure how well a 3d printer would handle those. Ideally I'd just buy retail but God knows how long it'll take Fantasy Flight to do a reissue.
Das_Ubermike wrote: I have a question for Albertorius. Your Marauder Bombers were very impressive, with some crisp detail. I'm starting to get back into Star Wars Armada and I'm discovering that stock levels are pretty low across all the major online retail outlets. In your opinion could an Anycubic produce Armada scale ships at a roughly equivalent level of detail compared to the retail offerings? I know a lot of the Imperial ships have recessed details along the sides or engine areas, so I'm not sure how well a 3d printer would handle those. Ideally I'd just buy retail but God knows how long it'll take Fantasy Flight to do a reissue.
It would very much depend on the models you use for the print, tbh. If you get good stl files, the current crop of dlp desjtop printers are more than enough to pull it off.
IMHO, the Photon S has the advantage of a slightly more powerful led and a sturdier z axis, but other than that... dunno, I'm not too fond of it. For the price, I'd check out the Mars Pro instead.
Thank you for clearing that up, yes the Mars Pro does look like a better option, cheaper and if it can produce the quality of models that you have shown then seems to be a good investment. Especially if it can be used for tanks?!
15mm tanks, probably. 28mm, unless its bigger than the standard Mars, you can JUST about get a russ hull in there, better if its in parts, but that's gonna be a long print.
Vejut wrote: 15mm tanks, probably. 28mm, unless its bigger than the standard Mars, you can JUST about get a russ hull in there, better if its in parts, but that's gonna be a long print.
Ah thank you for letting me know. I really have zero experience with a 3D printer so any advice is helpful. Okay so might still have to buy some standard tank kits but at least custom guns, doors and accessories can be done. Damn was hoping to save money on those primaris repulser and executioner tanks
Vejut wrote: 15mm tanks, probably. 28mm, unless its bigger than the standard Mars, you can JUST about get a russ hull in there, better if its in parts, but that's gonna be a long print.
I've personally printed a couple of predators with the Photon, and I've seen many IG ones printed as well. It is a longish print, but not really any longer than you'd need with fdm... but, well, way, waaay smoother ^^
For the Preds, I needed to print in parts: first the main body, then the sides, one at a time, then turrets and sponsons all at the same time, so that's four plates, each running for about... 5-6 hours maybe.
So today I had a lot of work... that, fortunately, I needed to do at home, so I decided to put the printers to work ^^, and I printed some scenery for Epic/AT
I started printing some of Troublemaker Games' STL Kickstarter files, and boy, they do look sweet (one of the grey ones, the one at the top left, didn't print correctly, not sure why, but the rest printed perfectly):
I also printed a very neat multi level building I found on Cults3D:
It does look very good... but man, have I been spoiled by the resin printers: you can see a lot of stringing (due to speed and to that I printed too hot), I got slight warping on the underside of two of the three, and even at a brisk 45mm/s the three sections took almost 5 hours... so I also printed it on resin, as they are really light, being hollow:
I printed two sections at a time (might have been able to fit three, I think, but... eh) and each building plate took about two hours and a half... and even doing a bit of a slapjob cleaning the grey ones (...I got bored ^^), man, do they look sweet.
I also realize that being hollow, I could print a fethton of these with a single bottle... enough for a full table, I think.
So, I'm making up for the lost time... at least for the little while I can stay at home (meaning, it's over until next time )
I painted a base of marines to see how they en up, and I'm personally very impressed:
Closer!
Seriously, these guys are tiny
I also printed some Sicaran Venator tanks:
And really... it makes you realize how fething tiny the old Epic plastic vehicles really are... they're actually quite a bit smaller than the infantry!
Honestly, the 40k Rhino mini is ridiculously small (I mean, there's no way 10 marines fit in there, unless they've been mashed to a pulp first), but these Rhinos make me think of clown cars:
...so given that the Venator is at the "correct" Epic scale (meaning, the AT one, which is actually the same as the Epic infantry one), and that I have AT stuff and I'm painting it and all, I printed some AT scale Rhinos, which honestly, looks like it's the scale that they should be:
White resin photographs like gak, though, but hopefully size is evident:
I honestly believe that these look very good and "right" ones besides the others.
They do make the old ones look like clown cars, though :
More stuff!
Command bases!
Troublesome Games' STL files!
Turrets!
Extra tiles for their buildings!
...honestly, the tiles didn't turn out perfect, but that's mainly because I'm printing them using HIPS, which means I'll be able to glue them with the rest of Troublemaker Games' ones using plastic glue, which is just really cool ^^
Also, the small ones fit inside the big ones and are designed to fit the turrets too
Those tiny marines are so cute! I'm really impressed with the detail on such tiny little models and I'm guessing it's even better in person when you're holding them in your hand.
warboss wrote:Those tiny marines are so cute! I'm really impressed with the detail on such tiny little models and I'm guessing it's even better in person when you're holding them in your hand.
Arakasi wrote:Tiny hazard stripes
CaptainWaffle wrote:Looking great. I'm hoping to get into epic or warmaster stuff with my resin printer too. Amazed at your tiny stripes. Steady hands!
Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll wrote:Those infantry are amazingly painted for how small they are! You must have a VERY steady hand!
Thank's guys ^^. More than a steady hand, I have not much space to work with there, so the lines look good xD.
And yeah, the level of detail for something so small is amazeballs, given that I've printed them at home. Having stuff designed for 3d printers instead of ripped from games and the like os for other types of production make a world of a difference.
Finished one of the Sicarans... it's a bit of a hack job, but I wanted to see how they'd look (also, after a certain point you hit diminishing returns FAST):
Kayback wrote: Why do you print them at an angle like that?
Yes I realize a 3d printing forum is a better place to ask noob questions, but I'm here.
Both to minimize the area that is printed on every layer (thus making it less taxing and easier to succeed) and to try and make the layers less noticeable.
Ok, so I'll be prepping some of the stuff I printed to see if I actually play with it.
I've opted to use it for Epic: 40.000, in part because I've always felt the system is much more elegant than Epic: Armageddon is (I mean, yes, stuff is more abstracted, but at the level of play that is Epic... well, I'd much rather see the game do that instead of trying to be 40k writ large), but also because list building in E:40k allows you a much, much greater level of personalization, in no small part due to that very same abstraction, which at the same time makes the detachments much more special... and also allows you to map 40k armies into E:40k detachments, which I've always found very cool.
So that's what I'm starting with: mapping and painting all the painted HH Iron Warriors I have:
...which translated into these Epic units:
(There is a Contemptor, but those aren't at home right now, bear with me )
That translates into this Epic: 40k detachment:
LOYALIST IRON WARRIORS GARRISON (326 points)
Commanders - Space Marine Captain (Detachment HQ): 50 points
Main Force - Legion Terminator Squad (1 base): 19 points
- Legion Marine Squad (2 bases): 30 points
- Legion Marine Squad (2 bases): 30 points
- Legion Marine Squad (2 bases): 30 points
- Legion Heavy Support Squad (2 bases): 40 points
- Legion Heavy Support Squad (2 bases): 40 points
Support - Siege Tyrant Terminator Squad (1 base): 20 points
- Tactical Support Squad (1 base): 10 points
- Tactical Support Squad (1 base): 10 points
- Tactical Support Squad (1 base): 10 points
- Tactical Support Squad (1 base): 10 points
- Legion Dreadnought (1 unit): 27 points
It's not really an ideal detachment, by any means, but it should be decent on the defense, and I could always airdrop it (either via drop pods or flyers) or add a whole lot of transports.
I also could simply split it up to be more "optimal", but I find that I'd kinda prefer to use "field" formations, meaning stuff that you could see yourself fielding as 40k armies or that would logically be the purview of a single commander.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Two layers of shades to give them the proper metal tone:
Looking great! Those stripes and lens glares are great for bringing some life and character into the units. Do you intend to keep the bases simplistic or add some shrubs or debris on them?
Definitely small, but look good. Little bit of print lining on the hood, maybe a bit of liquid green stuff/Vallejo filler putty? Only really see it on the 2nd or third look, though, will look pretty good on the table!
I can see the print lines also, BUT let’s remember these are extreme closeups of super tiny models. At regular arms reach and definitely at table length I don’t think they will be noticeable.
I will hold off on printing any epic stuff until there’s actual word on the game. I never got into it years ago, so I don’t have to worry about mixing sizes unless I start now and things change with the release.
The dire avengers guns look a bit large to me design wise, but maybe once they are painted it will look more inline with the 40k equivalent.
Today I've been testing some different stuff, namely presupported minis from some Patreons that are starting to offer them.
I started testing some of Artisan Guild's last month release, Wasteland survivors. Bear in mind, I did all of these in a single print:
The only thing I've done with these so far has been cleaning them and ripping the supports off with my bare hands, nothing else. One of them had a misprint on a leg, but all in all, I'm pretty impressed.
Then I did these, also a single print; these from the same Artisan Guild set:
And these from the guy who's doing the supports for the Peculiar Companions' Patreon:
IMHO, the Artisan Guild's supports are superb: the minis print real well, and the supports peel off basically effortless. The other set is not quite as good, but it is still very good. I think that this is probably the next step a lot of Patreons are going to end up doing, as it gives real value to it.
those are some nice prints, almost makes me want to look at a resin printer. I still have a lot to learn with my Ender3, but glad to see the differences.
Presupported sounds great. I may have to try one or two of the presupported prints from my Titan forge patreon pledge to see if the Ender can handle it.
Theophony wrote: those are some nice prints, almost makes me want to look at a resin printer. I still have a lot to learn with my Ender3, but glad to see the differences.
Presupported sounds great. I may have to try one or two of the presupported prints from my Titan forge patreon pledge to see if the Ender can handle it.
Don't. Those are presupported for resin, it simply won't work as intended on fdm. You'll probably get better results the usual way.
They look awesome! I just saw those Wasteland sculpts this weekend, love the whole set. Also it's been great seeing more and more presupported STL on the market.
Boss Salvage wrote:They look awesome! I just saw those Wasteland sculpts this weekend, love the whole set. Also it's been great seeing more and more presupported STL on the market.
Yes to both accounts. I'm seriously thinking about using the wastelanders as some sort of rebooted ratskins for Newcromunda.
Theophony wrote:Is that last model part of the Spaniards? Or where is she from? Very nice details.
The last model is Yennefer of Vengerber from The Witcher. You can find her here:
Automatically Appended Next Post: OK, so I've finished painting all the forces I needed for the Epic 40.000 intro game I'm planning on make my group suffer:
The SM force consist of three detachments in total: Force Adonis is the one in the actual field at first, it will be defending one of the routs to Baile Alpha's main settlements, after the arrival of the Space Marines managed to break the back of Waa-Gogard's forces:
But Gogard wanted to avenge himself on the beakies, so after haphazardly managing to fix and crew Skull Smasha, his battered Great Gargant, he launched it again after Baile Alpha's cities, taking by surprise the human forces:
After detecting the giant war engine's approach, Captain Adonis asked for reinforcements and ordered his troops to hunker down and slow down the beast's advance.
The Space Marines' High Command assembled reinforcements as fast as they could, and sent Forces Citus and Lentus to relieve the battered squads of Force Adonis:
Force Citus:
Force Lentus:
We'll see how it turns out, I'll probably be playing as Gogard, at least on the first game ^^
Arise, arise from thine ashes, oh tread of mine!!!
Ehem, so... the delights of having both desktop printers at home and poor impulse control ^_^
Last friday I got a squad of SW Legion's ARC Clone Troopers, now made using HIPS plastics, and honestly, they're a delight to work with... not at the level of GW's machining, but real nice, and the mixture of the plastic reminds me to tamiya kits:
Honestly, great little minis.
...and I am a HUGE Clone Wars cartoon fan. So, one thing led to another, and a weekend passed, and... well, this happened:
Everything printed at 20 microns per layer with x4 AA, too, so the minis are smooth as all hell, easily as good as most stuff in the market.
Nice! I love the Clone Wars era and set my old rpg campaign during it. I don't have any of the current Legion models but I bought a bunch of the WOTC prepaints to populate my npc collection. Are those from thingiverse or did you buy a collection from elsewhere?
We're you running both printers to get all that done at 20 microns in one weekend? Or have you gotten one of the new mono screens that print faster?
warboss wrote: Nice! I love the Clone Wars era and set my old rpg campaign during it. I don't have any of the current Legion models but I bought a bunch of the WOTC prepaints to populate my npc collection. Are those from thingiverse or did you buy a collection from elsewhere?
We're you running both printers to get all that done at 20 microns in one weekend? Or have you gotten one of the new mono screens that print faster?
The Photon is stored because I'm gifting it to a friend, so all that was done printing almost non-stop with the Mars over the weekend (6-7 hours per plate, with plates prety much full to bursting)
The stuff comes from two gumroad sellers: Skullforge Studios (Bad Batch, adult Ashoka) and Dark Fire Designs (all the rest), but I plan to print a lot of Velrock's droid stuff.
I haven't heard of the former but checked out the latter once because they had a nice set of phase one clone commandos. The stark white scheme comic book version of those (pre-video game) were my favorite. The Dark Fire stuff iirc came presupported as an option. Did you use those files or tweak/redo the supports?
warboss wrote: I haven't heard of the former but checked out the latter once because they had a nice set of phase one clone commandos. The stark white scheme comic book version of those (pre-video game) were my favorite. The Dark Fire stuff iirc came presupported as an option. Did you use those files or tweak/redo the supports?
Only files that came presupported were the heavy weapons, all the rest came without supports, but I redid them all anyways (I'm getting better at it, now)
Do you plan to play Legion?
A friend of mine is the line translator here, and I've been reviewing his stuff. I am interested in playing, TBH, but currently everything is... complicated enough that it won't happen in a while (we're being confined again and here in Madrid things look.. very much not good).
That said, my interest got piqued with the CW stuff.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Closeups! And stuff!
I also printed these two BARC speeders:
And a bunch of mandos (some more are printing right now):
Fantastic, those Mandos are really cool. Thanks for the names, my Brother is getting a printer delivered this week so will be putting them to good use as we are both massive Legion fans.
Would highly recommend the game, it plays really well on Table Top Simulator if you are not able to meet in person to play.
ingtaer wrote: Fantastic, those Mandos are really cool. Thanks for the names, my Brother is getting a printer delivered this week so will be putting them to good use as we are both massive Legion fans.
Would highly recommend the game, it plays really well on Table Top Simulator if you are not able to meet in person to play.
ingtaer wrote: Cheers for the link! If you ever fancy a game on TTS feel free to drop me a PM and we can see if we can arrange something.
Glad to help! I'll see if I can find someone more local, given that by your flag you're literally at the other side of the world ^^, but I might just end up taking that offer .
Some more closeups:
Good old cap'n Rex, original clone armor:
...and the modified, upgraded one:
General Skywalker:
Young Commander Tano:
Clone trooper squad, these are either shinies or god-dang vets from the start of the war (I'll be doing another unit of these so I have two):
And two squads of current-specs clone troopers. I'm thinking I'd like to paint them all as the 332nd company... which means I should probably paint one of the ARCs as Jesse:
Looking crisp as hell, great sculpts as well. Was aware of Skullforge, but Dark Fire are new to me, going to have to look them up when my Photon is up and running.
So, this weekend I did a test paint for the clone troopers color scheme:
Not a top shelf work, but it does work. The unit markings help make the minis more interesting.
Then I made two batches of B" Super battle droids, one at 0.05, another at 0.025:
The 0.05 batch has very small but somewhat noticeable circles (layer lines) on the top of the dome, a bit above the head. The 0.025 ones are almost completely smooth, but I think the half step hampered it, so I'll need to try it at 0.02
I did start painting the first batch, too:
...I mean, it was easy
In the meantime I painted one of the phase I units. This is after unit markings but before a light weathering:
Looks good and I like the paint scheme. The only thing I may recommend is to paint the tracks a different metallic color so that they differentiate more from the hull metallic color.
warboss wrote:Looks good and I like the paint scheme. The only thing I may recommend is to paint the tracks a different metallic color so that they differentiate more from the hull metallic color.
lord_blackfang wrote:Agreed! Man that is sharp. Who would have thought that Epic would just keep getting better and better after its death.
Thanks, and agreed! Epic is such a cool scale, IMHO. Much more adequate to actually depict 40k battles.
Anyways, agreed on the tracks. I've muddied them up to see how it looks:
I am getting a hard time trying to get a proper photo of this guy: on hand it looks much darker and the mud is quite a bit more subdued, but my crappy phone camera ramps it all up like a mf.
I literally made a profile to just reply to you in regards to your awesome Epic 40k prints.
I've ordered a Anycubic photon myself which has arrived, resin due tomorrow.
Are your recent 6mm iron warrior Infantry printed using this said printer?
If so sir, show me the way! If you could help give tips? Lol
I tried getting into Epic40k back in the early 2000's but it was discontinued.
Decided to focus on 28mm 40k when Epic Armageddon came out, this then went out of continuity.
Now with my huge interest wanting to get into 3D printing and sculpting these little guys have inspired me to get a Imperial fist force of my own.
I literally made a profile to just reply to you in regards to your awesome Epic 40k prints.
I've ordered a Anycubic photon myself which has arrived, resin due tomorrow.
Are your recent 6mm iron warrior Infantry printed using this said printer?
If so sir, show me the way! If you could help give tips? Lol
I tried getting into Epic40k back in the early 2000's but it was discontinued.
Decided to focus on 28mm 40k when Epic Armageddon came out, this then went out of continuity.
Now with my huge interest wanting to get into 3D printing and sculpting these little guys have inspired me to get a Imperial fist force of my own.
Well, that is a ringing endorsement, thanks! ^_^
Yes, all the Epic infantry shown here has been done with either an Anycubic Photon or an Elegoo Mars. Currently I'm printing them at 0.02mm per layer with AA at 2. The layer time will depend on your printer and your resin brand (do some tests to find the sweet spot beforehand). As a general rule, do NOT try to print 28mm stuff downscaled, as the detail is not right and you'll end up with stuff way too fiddly and fragile to be of any use. If you to want to downscale stuff and print it at 6mm, you'll be needing to mod the files to thicken the delicate parts, deepen the details and do away with the fiddlest ones.
Also, Imperial Fists, eh? These are not mine, but I've seen it done
Spoiler:
Automatically Appended Next Post:
warboss wrote: Albertorius, you are entirely too productive with your 3d printing and therefore a jerk. Nice models yet again!
@Albertorius
Ah nice, I am completely new and wanting to learn from those who know best. So thanks! I have the Anycubic Photon too, so any help/tips would be awesome.
I am going to try doing 6mm Epic minis first as that's one of my initial reasons to get this printer.
I have a truckload of tiny marines printed and ready to go... other place (where the printer also is, btw, I'm just going through the printed stuff that I have here >_>, but I've finished all the tiny marines that I currently have access to:
So I've been confined to my parents' home for a while now, waiting for my mother to get her surgery appointment (as I'm the only family member that's not currently inmunodepressed I need to avoid contact with... basically everyone so that I can accompany her to the hospital... plus, as they are immunodepressed they have difficulties to go out and be with people, so they're lonely. Now I am too >_> ).
I'm getting a bit stir crazy cooped up here, as I'm used to be at my home, with my stuff and my printers, but at least I have been able to work from here and to paint when I'm not doing that.
Anyways, yesterday I braved the lock down the region is in to go home for a couple hours and get the Epic printed stuff that I had there:
That is a good haul of amazing looking models. I really hope the justified satisfaction of getting paint in that will help you get through the rest of the year. Good luck sir!
warboss wrote: Now that's a painting backlog! Is it possible to thin the thickness of the boarding marine shields? Even at epic scale, they're a bit chunky.
Not easily, no, they are sculpted that way. OTOH, the end result are really sturdy miniatures, so... ^^
Quick one today: some time ago I printed some Epic "space aelfs" out from thingiverse, as the designer wanted people to test them. They came out great, and afterwards he made a full posed set and thickened some parts. This is the end result:
It looks good regardless. About the only thing I may suggest to break up the metallics as you mentioned would be to use some appropriate decals like roman numerals or other miltary symbols on the wings or other large, flat surfaces.
lord_blackfang wrote: Those are good! How's the STL support for Epic Orks in general?
Well, not that great xD. There's some stuff (and I've printed some ) but usually are either very simplistic or not really for the scale.
These, for example, are from Thingiverse's user jazzmantis (and he has a lot of ork infantry), but they are designed for about 10-12mm, and the files are huge, with millions of faces, so I've had to:
- Scale at about 65% (I might have to thicken some stuff too, we'll see)
- Decimate the files to about 30k faces per model
- Add a more correctly scaled circular base, so that they fit better on the actual bases
- Supports! That's the hard one ^^
Hey I'm sure this is answered somewhere in the thread, but what exact model of the 3d printer did you use? I've been hesitant to jump into the market because I wasn't sure how the mini's would turn out but this thread convinced me it's possible to make good minis!
Kaptin_Grubkrumpa wrote: Hey I'm sure this is answered somewhere in the thread, but what exact model of the 3d printer did you use? I've been hesitant to jump into the market because I wasn't sure how the mini's would turn out but this thread convinced me it's possible to make good minis!
Most of what I've done I've done it with an Anycubic Photon original or an Elegoo Mars 1. Both are great, but both are "obsolete" right now, in the sense that are 2k color lcd printers. You should be looking at mono lcd printers, preferably 4k.
Kaptin_Grubkrumpa wrote: Well if they're obsolete they should be less expensive, right? Thanks for answering, this thread is awesome!
They are indeed (you can get a cheap resin printer for even $120, but I'm not sure it's worth it anymore.
See, the important, the really important difference, is the change to mono screens instead of color.
Color printers just use a standard LCD made for a phone. Importantly, this means it has Red, Green and Blue filters to create color.
However, the printers' light source is on the border of violet and UV. This means 2/3 of the filters block nearly all of this light, and even the blue one filters a fair bit out. This dramatically lowers the light making it to the resin, massively increasing exposure times required. It also means more light is absorbed, increasing damage done, shortening the lifespan.
Monochrome just doesn't have the RGB filters.
In simpler terms, it means you go from 8s exposure, to 2s, and 400 hours before LCD failure, to 2,000 hours. ( Approximately, these numbers are highly variable. )
Everything took a big jump, even the base Elegoo Mars, just before the holidays. You could get the 2k base Mars before for around $180, now it is $230 or so on Amazon. Let the market cool a bit and you should save some money any any printer you choose.
What printer are you using to get 20 micron prints? I've been trying to research these things and I've yet to find a single low cost resin printer which goes down to 20 microns (which seems to be the seet spot for my eyes anyway). Most of them only go to around 50 microns..?
tauist wrote: What printer are you using to get 20 micron prints? I've been trying to research these things and I've yet to find a single low cost resin printer which goes down to 20 microns (which seems to be the seet spot for my eyes anyway). Most of them only go to around 50 microns..?
20 microns per layer means thickness, the Z axis. Most printers are able to do steps of up to 10 microns on that axis.
OTOH, on a DLP printer the resolution on the XY axis (the resolution on each actual "slice" or layer of the print) is dependent on the definition of the LCD screen it mounts. For example, the original Anycubic Photon has a 2K 5,5'' screen, so it allows for a max resolution of about 47 microns on the XY axis. OTOH a Phrozen Sonic Mini 4k has a 4K 6,1'' screen that allows for a max XY resolution of 35 microns.
Albertorius wrote: After my first prints using the newfangled Photon, I continued doing some more tests:
And then I started to try and push the limits of the printer further... until then I had only printed stuff at 50 microns per layer, which, as far as it goes, is actually the thicker recommended layer height. So next I tried to print the same model at 50 microns and again at 20 microns, to try to see how much of a difference would that make. Yhis is the mini I tried it with:
Primed, because that green gak doesn't really takes well to photos:
Now, first things first: 50 microns is more than enough definition for most things, and works really well for minis. But still, as you can see the difference is noticeable in photos (almost not at all with the naked eye, though). And it is even moreso when you actually zoom in:
50 microns:
20 microns:
I was referring to the print examples in this post.. Here the 20 microns is looking great! so you can achieve this "20 micron" result even with a 2K printer? But I thought they only go to 50?, I'm confused..
tauist wrote: I was referring to the print examples in this post.. Here the 20 microns is looking great! so you can achieve this "20 micron" result even with a 2K printer? But I thought they only go to 50?, I'm confused..
Yes, as I said I'm talking about layer thickness here: what you see in the 50 microns pic is the more pronounced layering, stepping or stair effect that a thicker layer (50 microns per layer) has in comparison with a thinner one (20 microns per layer). But that's exclusively on the X axis, on the "height" of the print (not really the heigh of the mini, because you will usually print it at an angle, though). The XY axis, or the "screen resolution" of the print, is in both cases about 50 microns, which is the resolution of the lcd screen (2K).
In other words, in the 50 microns pic you can more easily see the separate layers of the print because they're thicker.
tauist wrote: I was referring to the print examples in this post.. Here the 20 microns is looking great! so you can achieve this "20 micron" result even with a 2K printer? But I thought they only go to 50?, I'm confused..
Yes, as I said I'm talking about layer thickness here: what you see in the 50 microns pic is the more pronounced layering, stepping or stair effect that a thicker layer (50 microns per layer) has in comparison with a thinner one (20 microns per layer). But that's exclusively on the X axis, on the "height" of the print (not really the heigh of the mini, because you will usually print it at an angle, though). The XY axis, or the "screen resolution" of the print, is in both cases about 50 microns, which is the resolution of the lcd screen (2K).
In other words, in the 50 microns pic you can more easily see the separate layers of the print because they're thicker.
So even the in printers that only state 50 microns as their resolution, layer thickness is actually a very meaninful parameter as well; these two values form the overall printing resolution, and then the lift speeds and layer curing times affect how perfectly the print rendering itself occurs (values which are also synergistic with resin type and the size/weight of the model etc).. Ok, I think I'm starting to uderstand all this a little bit!
tauist wrote: I was referring to the print examples in this post.. Here the 20 microns is looking great! so you can achieve this "20 micron" result even with a 2K printer? But I thought they only go to 50?, I'm confused..
Yes, as I said I'm talking about layer thickness here: what you see in the 50 microns pic is the more pronounced layering, stepping or stair effect that a thicker layer (50 microns per layer) has in comparison with a thinner one (20 microns per layer). But that's exclusively on the X axis, on the "height" of the print (not really the heigh of the mini, because you will usually print it at an angle, though). The XY axis, or the "screen resolution" of the print, is in both cases about 50 microns, which is the resolution of the lcd screen (2K).
In other words, in the 50 microns pic you can more easily see the separate layers of the print because they're thicker.
So even the in printers that only state 50 microns as their resolution, layer thickness is actually a very meaninful parameter as well; these two values form the overall printing resolution, and then the lift speeds and layer curing times affect how perfectly the print rendering itself occurs (values which are also synergistic with resin type and the size/weight of the model etc).. Ok, I think I'm starting to uderstand all this a little bit!
Cheers
Exactly so, yes ^^. There's a fair amount of variables, and you need to account for the properties of the specific resin you're using, but honestly? It's not even that hard. IME, resin printers are much easier to operate and maintain than FDM printers, up until cleaning and post processing (and FDM supports are evil incarnate. They hurt).
Glad to be of help
Also, just finished painting Padawan Ahsoka Tano, or Snips
Those B2s look nice and chunky, the larger shoulders look a lot nicer than the FFG ones.
Nice work on Ashoka.
Do you fully cure the resin on the sabers? I have printed off a couple of saber wielders (Mara Jade and Revan) and found that its impossible to keep the sabers straight when I fully cure them, even after hot water bending they just bend back again and it really irritates me.
ingtaer wrote: Do you fully cure the resin on the sabers? I have printed off a couple of saber wielders (Mara Jade and Revan) and found that its impossible to keep the sabers straight when I fully cure them, even after hot water bending they just bend back again and it really irritates me.
It's fully cured, yes. I'm assuming it will depend on the angle you print it and how you position the sabers during curing, as that will lock it in place. Pretty sure that hot water bending will do little with UV resin, due to the layering (meaning, it should follow the layers and the way it cured as a "default" form, instead of the mold).
I have done hundreds of minis with super thin swords and such and never have a bending issue, unless I wait to do a full cure for a few days I noticed some may droop slightly and have to straighten before doing the uv cure, then they stay fine.
If you get excessive droop after printing, maybe try to increase your layer exposure by a half-full second or so - this will cure the mini a bit more before you do the full cure.
As far as the layer lines and what to choose, here is what I found out for my Elegoo Mars:
- Small and super detailed minis - .02-.03 and turn any blur or AA off.
- Not so detailed, but small minis - .04-.05 and set AA to 2
- Larger minis with good details - .05-.06 with AA at 2 or 4
- Very large minis - .06-.08 with AA at 8
Obviously the thinner the layer the longer it takes to print, but if they are small and you orient to shorten the height, it is not so bad. Another trick is you can generally use a shorter cure time when using thinner layers - for example when using the Siraya Tech Simple I go about 8 seconds when at .07-.08 and can go about 5.5-6 seconds when at .02-.03 layer. Hope this helps...
This week I've been finishing more tactical and assault marines to be able to field a full Battle Company:
So now I can do this, weeee ^^
The Rhinos were a failed print, actually; I didn't do the right times and the print is all layer-y... but as I've been separated from my printers for months now, it's not like I can print more right now, so they'll have to do I guess:
This week I've also painted some close support units of the holy orders of kboom and zchort:
They look amazing. Interesting to see the layer lines on the rhinos, but not on the vindicators. Do you churn the rhinos out on different settings, or are they just supported at a different angle?
Flinty wrote: They look amazing. Interesting to see the layer lines on the rhinos, but not on the vindicators. Do you churn the rhinos out on different settings, or are they just supported at a different angle?
Just adjusted the layer time settings correctly for the next print ^^
The metallic green is lovely, but possibly too similar to.your iron warriors in that its shiny metallic. The red is definately fundamentally different, and obviously fits the bill as a "red force" OPFOR, but overall I think the green is nicer.
Flinty wrote: The metallic green is lovely, but possibly too similar to.your iron warriors in that its shiny metallic. The red is definately fundamentally different, and obviously fits the bill as a "red force" OPFOR, but overall I think the green is nicer.
I'm liking it more too, tbh. It has the added benefit of being much, much easier to do. The above is literally a layer of metal and a layer of dilluted Akhellan Green, no highlights or anything at all.
...I kind of like the idea of having something that paints that fast xDDD
endtransmission wrote: Those all look great! If someone mentions the lines on the rhinos... just say it's the 40k equivalent to zimmerit
They're almost invisible, TBH, it's just that with the bigass zoom every single defect shows ^^
Automatically Appended Next Post: I'm almost finished with my Epic loyalist Iron Warriors project: Iron Warriors 27th Garrison Detachment, 34th Grand Company, 102nd Grand Battalion, 51st Expedition Fleet.
From the above there's only two Fellblades and two Storm Eagles to do. Infantry wise, I want to finish these:
Soon you will have enough to crush the false Emperor's forces! Mwuhahaha!! Nicely done.
Since you've printed so much 6mm stuff, I was curious what your thoughts were of some of the 3d models that seem like they're just shrunk down to the size from 28mm+. Every time I look at them I can't help but focus on areas that I don't think will print correctly (let alone resolve well even if they do). Have you tried test printing those types of models? This would be an example of the type I'm referring to (obviously Dark Angels and not Iron Warriors though).
My only personal experience was converting a Sons of Horus terminator into Horus and I thickened the hell out of that thing and it still barely printed out ok at 12-15mm tall.
warboss wrote: Soon you will have enough to crush the false Emperor's forces! Mwuhahaha!! Nicely done.
Since you've printed so much 6mm stuff, I was curious what your thoughts were of some of the 3d models that seem like they're just shrunk down to the size from 28mm+. Every time I look at them I can't help but focus on areas that I don't think will print correctly (let alone resolve well even if they do). Have you tried test printing those types of models? This would be an example of the type I'm referring to (obviously Dark Angels and not Iron Warriors though).
My only personal experience was converting a Sons of Horus terminator into Horus and I thickened the hell out of that thing and it still barely printed out ok at 12-15mm tall.
It certainly looks like most of that detail will not print as is, and it will mostly be a blob if it even prints.
Lately I refrain from trying to print such stuff clearly not correctly done, as usually the result is either underwhelming or unprintable.
Very nicely done! The angles on the print look very crisp and we'll defined, even more so than normal. Did you change anything in the settings of get a new printer?
Last week I bought Moonjammy's very excellent Warmaster Dark Elves, so I printed "some" over the weekend. Black and translucent resin don't really photograph well, so I primed some:
(...yeah, black primer kind of have a similar problem xD)
I also test painted a spearmen strip to see it a bit better:
As you can see, detail is great, at least as good as the original metal ones:
I also found at home three old orc army blisters, and let me tell you, they are magnificent:
Indeed, great detail and nice paint job on the witch/sorceress! There's a lot more that you can do at that scale, more than I would have thought. With the big vehicle focus on Epic, that somewhat shifts the baseline away from what is possible in infantry. I like that the marines are 8mm actual in 6mm scale as the ratio correlates with the relative heights in the fluff (8ft tall marine vs 6ft average human).
WOW that sorceress O_O I'm increasingly tempted to do up some 15mm KOW, since I've got too many 30mm ones at this point and 15mm offers a pretty rich world of minis to tap (ignoring all the 3D files I've never looked into for that range)
This weekend's tithe is some Cyberpunk 2077's characters from Papsikel's Patreon. Used the presupported versions with a couple added thick supports on the feet, just in case. Printed on translucent resin, so it's a bitch to take pics:
My main man, Jackie Welles:
Most annoying head-tenant ever, Johhy the donkey-cave :
Ozob Bozo, funniest straight up psycho ever:
...some cybered-up punk that will do well as an Escher ^^:
Thanks and good to hear that the pre-supported version was adequate (with the caveat you mentioned about adding more to the feet). Probably roughly 40mm if primaris sized... that's big!