I really want to get back into 40k Painting. I have been considering a 3D printer. Should I get a 3D Printer? Does anyone with one like theirs?

Cats

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Basically just the title. Mini painting made me quite happy and felt very calming during the few months I tried my hand at it a couple years back. I don't play the game but I really enjoyed painting cool creatures and robots when I used to do it just as a relaxation and OCD-satisfying type exercise.

I was watching some of the videos by the big painters in the youtube painting scene and seeing a LOT of really, really nice 3D printed models, more so than I even knew was possible (I thought all 3D printers still had those garish lines in the product apparently this has been conquered) I am a little worries about the potential fragility/finicky nature of a 3D printer as I am notoriously bad with sensitive tech items...

If I could produce high quality miniatures successfully, I would gladly invest in a 3D printer, as long as it wasn't a massive headache.

Please enlighten me on all of your 3D resin mini printing informations

Thanks :]
 
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There's also desktop CNC machines. You can do a lot with a mini desktop router. Personally I'd love to have a 3d printer and a mini CNC. Between the two you can make pretty much anything. I've never used a 3d printer, but I have worked with CNC machines and making shit with a machine and a computer is cool as fuck.
 
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I wouldn't call them a massive headache but 3D printers are pretty annoying to set-up. The payoff is huge though. Even some of the "outdated" 3D printers pump out incredible designs and once you got everything set up the price is ridiculously cheaper than the official GW prices. If my tech illiterate friends that couldn't put together a compuer on their own can set up a 3D printer and use it regularly with no problems then you can too.
 
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resin printers smell bad, and you're going to want resin with good resolution if you're printing out miniatures. so have an area you can dedicate to that where it won't offend you.

also consider the cost to buy into this. will you really print and paint enough to overcome the costs of the initial investment of the cost of the printer and resin, or would it just be cheaper to buy the miniatures from GW? there's also a lot of costs that are hidden too. paper towels (you'll need a lot) other supplies, etc. Time is also a factor, it takes a long time to print and cure and then clean up.

not trying to dissuade you from getting into it, but take it all into account. for some, it makes sense, but for a lot of people it isn't worth it.
 
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Twinkletard said:
not trying to dissuade you from getting into it, but take it all into account. for some, it makes sense, but for a lot of people it isn't worth it.
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no no this is great. I wanted to hear discussion of all the pros and cons etc. I knew there were bound to be loads of em. Is it hard to learn how to use it well?
 
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Cats said:
no no this is great. I wanted to hear discussion of all the pros and cons etc. I knew there were bound to be loads of em. Is it hard to learn how to use it well?
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I don't think it's hard to learn; there's tons of youtube videos and websites that will help you out, but you will spend a lot of time trying to get things set up and configurated. Your first prints will likely be screwed up as you work through issues too. Once you get the hang of things, you'll come to understand the printer you get and what it's capable of doing and what its limitations are.
 
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Yes. Resin printers are amazing. Though over the years I think the real value of them is not so much copying GW minis (which it can, assuming accurate files are made), but that you can make whatever flavor of proxy you want to instead. There's a slew of interesting variations out there.

The largest difficulty is calibrating your settings...though this is true for even filament printers. I see too many people buy a printer and then go on places like FB and ask "Guys, what settings do I use?". Don't do that. You're going to have to waste a bit of resin up front to make test prints and to really dial it in.

2nd up is learning how to do supports correctly. Lots of creators provide presupported models now, but some (like the necron and tyranid 1:1 copies I have) aren't...so you have to do them yourselves. Autosupports from slicers still generally suck imo.
 
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Just Some Other Guy said:
The largest difficulty is calibrating your settings
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This is what I figured. Just setting it up...seems like so much work. I would be willing to invest the time and effort into learning it if it lets me print the way I am seeing it work for others. The notion of being able to go around online and find people's sick designs and then download them and print them right at home is one of the neatest and most fun things I think I have seen in a while now.
 
Cats said:
The notion of being able to go around online and find people's sick designs and then download them and print them right at home is one of the neatest and most fun things I think I have seen in a while now.
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Yeah this is the real fun of it. You can also get into doing your own customizing. I kitbashed some of my own proxies (such a a leman russ/ malcador fusion) and then doing stuff like "I want my vanquisher cannon to be longer" etc.
 
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If you want to print minis you want Resin and not FDM.
FDM is for big stuff, props, structural pieces, and such.
Resin is high detail, minis, busts and such.
FDM/PLA printers leave big lines on prints where resin can basically eliminate them.

I hear the "elegoo Mars 4 ultra" is pretty good for $309.
Granted I have no experience with resin printers, or minis in general.

I assume a printer and resin would be cheaper in the long run if you were making full armies, there is also a market for selling figures if you're particularly good at painting.
Edit: I can't spell
 
This is what you do. Make casts of your Warhammer 40k or whatever. Then mold your own either out of plastic or metal. I would think plastic would be easier. It's probably cheaper than buying a 3D printer to make them. I think they are pretty expensive. At that point you have to figure out if would be cheaper to just buy the shit from Games Workshop.
 
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Cats said:
I would be frightened to see what sort of creature would be Grown...cat DNA and 40k ork resin...a night mare would emerge...
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I figured you for a Chaos player given your persistent aura of eldritch madness. Orks was my second guess though.
 
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Night Crawler said:
This is what you do. Make casts of your Warhammer 40k or whatever. Then mold your own either out of plastic or metal. I would think plastic would be easier. It's probably cheaper than buying a 3D printer to make them. I think they are pretty expensive. At that point you have to figure out if would be cheaper to just buy the shit from Games Workshop.
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Good resin printers (you want resin for better resolution than FDM) can be had for under $250 if you look around. Then you just need the design files and resin, vs having to continually make molds, heat/pour metal, etc. And no faffing about with skimming off slag or residue sticking to crucibles, etc.

Metal molding requires more heat, but you can just pour it. Molding plastic at any kind of quality usually requires injection molding, which if you're going that route you might as well just get a printer.
 
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