I searched, and didn't find an existing thread, although I know a few people have one. Or two. I've finally reached the point where the cost of having something printed is going to exceed the cost of a 3D printer - In particular I'm thinking of the Prusa i3 Mk3 kit. However, I'm largely going to be printing things to paint, so I believe I'm right in thinking I need to look at printers from a layer height perspective more than anything. Could be wrong, not really sure. Print speed isn't so much of a concern, it'd be set going and just kind of ignored until it was done. Are they obnoxiously loud? I've seen people build sound deadened cabinets for their printers, and I'm wondering if that's strictly necessary these days. I'm also curious about post-print smoothing. Of course, being a bit of a modder I started wondering what the commercially available things are, and how best to reproduce them with less cost (If at all possible). So far I'm coming back to Polysher/Polysmooth PVB filament as the 'safest' way to do it, but that seems kind of lame and restricts me to the size of the unit they produce (Which I've not looked into, I confess). Being as ABS is susceptible to acetone, though, I did briefly ponder running acetone through an e-cigarette type vaporiser and some small pumps to blow the vapour around a container. Of course, this strikes me as dangerous because; A: Acetone. Nasty. B: No idea how e-cigarettes work. May ignite acetone. Many bad. C: Acetone is really nasty. And frankly, I'm starting to get overwhelmed with the resources and information available - I was hoping some of the Bit-Tech fonts of knowledge might be able to help distil it into something more manageable. I intend to, at some point, print something of a variety. Somewhere I have an SR71 model I'd like to print, but the primary motivators are these; With a consideration for future figurines, and no doubt some things for the Space Marine costume that I can't be arsed to make out of foam/resin (Such as the Imperial Eagle..) and so on. So. TL;DR questions; Any thoughts on printers I should look at, or any modifications/addons I should go for if I go for the Prusa? Best methods of post-processing filament (And indeed, best filaments if they're not all created equal), be that DIY or additional purchasing?
Don't expect that sort of detail at figurine scale with an FDM printer....Consider the Anycubic Photon, or the Peopoly Moai.
The price is due to it being DLP rather than laser-based. Resin is messier, smellier and more involved than filament...but for figurines you'd be much better off with it. Less headaches and post-processing to get the detail you'd need.
Yeah, I'm familiar with the wonderful world of resin-stink, assuming it smells anything like the usual commercially available two part resin. It strikes me as odd that something with more detail capability, albeit with drawbacks, is cheaper than the seemingly more common types.. Still, I shan't complain if it does what I want it to!
Probably cheaper due to it being a finicky photochemical process, using pretty darned expensive chemicals per unit print volume (and with a tiny print volume to boot). The resin is also perishable when exposed to UV, Oxygen, time, or if it thinks you're looking at it funny, so buying a larger batch to save money per millilitre can end up with a big jar of resin that doesn't work when you come to use it. It's also a manusl-process printer, so more comparable to the ~£200 hobby FDM machines than production-scale resin printers. If you're printing small high-detail objects though, it's definitely a better choice than an FDM device, and probably even better than a laser-sinter or printed-binder device (which would both be more expensive too).
Interesting. So, basically, the two types of device are somewhat specialised and there's no happy medium. Does anyone have any clues as to what shape ways use for their 'frosted ultra detail' grade stuff? Given the minimum wall thicknesses I can only assume it's SLA/dlp given the detail level.
It's a right-tool-for-the-job thing. All the shapeways stuff is listed on their site - https://www.shapeways.com/materials/frosted-detail-plastic - but a multijet printer will cost you somewhere between £Request a Quote and £You cant afford it. EDIT: There's also the Wanhao D7
I accept that - I was thinking happy medium for me, doing figurines and potentially AN- line retainers for car stuff. Not the end of the world to need both, though. Also, now I feel stupid, I couldn't find that page for love nor money! I did briefly look at the Wanhao while looking at the other two you suggested. I feel a comparison spreadsheet coming on!
Some are loud - the DIY or near DIY ones with acrylic/plywood chassis and cheapish steppers tend to be loud. A prusia i3 isn't quiet, but isn't obnoxious either. Put it on a rubber floor mat and make sure everything is tightened up and the rails are oiled. Acetone vapour box - aka a big tupperware container, a platform to hold your print and a swig of acetone in the base. Leave it in there somewhere warm and the acetone will diffuse in the box and over a couple hours smooth the model out.
