3D printing - my story

[martin goddard]

I am writing this here as a beginner's report for general interest.
I have not achieved any expertise yet.
The printer was bought to make counters for PP games.
It was not bought to commercially produce figures or scenery.
Do note that what I say here are just personal notes from a novice who has  a very specific printer requirement. This will be of interest?

I have bought an FDM printer. This is the more basic type in terms of reproduction quality. Not a problem for what I want. A resin printer would give better quality result. The FDM printer is not smelly or messy in any way.
 Much better for me.

The printer. Bought a BAMBU (chinese). It would be nice to have a  British competitor. The printer is excellent in terms of its control screen and functions. The control screen really is a big help. Marvellous.

The printer sits on a table permanently. I don't think it could be a "get out, put back" piece of equipment. Too big too heavy, where could it go?

Bad things
1.One potential problem will be repairs as there is no network of printer repair/spares shops.
2.Needs space for printer and bits.
3. Prints can takes hours.
4. Printer can jam up, which can take a lot of investigation.
5. Chinese technology is obsessed with collecting  personal information.

Good things
1. Finished print is ready to be used
2. Finished prints are light and strong.
3. A model can be scaled bigger or smaller to suit the need.


Files
Files to make models can be bought on line for cheap prices. These are STLs.
Some of these files print badly or do not scale down (get smaller)  well.
Avoid kits, as there is a lot of printing for no real wargamer advantage.
The Bambu software is very good at manipulating bought STL files. Recommended.

Recommendations
1.FDM (basic printer). Bambu is good. Mine is a P2S  £800.
2.Buy an enclosed spool holder, as the filament (printing medium) is water sensitive (it sucks it up).
3.Buy some cheap and SIMPLE STL files for a test.
4.Print in one colour only, initially.
5.Buy good quality scrapers ( to get the model of the plate).
6. Buy a spare plate.
7. Use USB sticks to move files from computer to printer.
8. Printer will be outdated in 12 months?


martin

[JonT]

Very interesting, Martin! I know a couple of folks with Bambu printers like yours, and they seem to be getting very good results from them.

Is this what you use to make the AK47 counters?

Good luck at Salute tomorrow, hope the games go well, sorry I won't be there this year!

Jon.

[PeteW]

Good to hear you making progress with this. If you have not already found it, the process within Bambu maker to convert a simple image file to a STL is really handy for making tokens as the image can then be added to a blank shape.

P

[martin goddard]

I have not made anything much yet with the printer Jon.

I had not seen that  Pete. Can you tell me/us a bit more?


martin

[PeteW]

Martin  - on the home tab in BambuStudio one of the options is MakerLab, and within that there is a app to convert an image to a keychain. The clever part is you don't have to make keychains, rather you can convert an image to a STL which can then be added to other stl files. Here is the PP logo converted via the app and added to a cylinder primitive.   



drop me an email address and I'll send you the STL

P

[Sean Clark]

Ooh. I like that!

[Martin Smith]

Impressive, and scarily clever.....😯

[martin goddard]

Thank you Pete

Can you send it to peterpig@btinternet.com


martin

[Administrator]

If you want to see next steps . Here is how to convert a picture to an STL. So, literally design your own soldiers

https://cdn.meshy.ai/landing-assets/home/meshy-use-case-hero-3d-printing.webm

[PeteW]

peterpig@btinternet.com

just emailed it across - do shout if there are any issues.

P

[Sean Clark]

If you want to see next steps . Here is how to convert a picture to an STL. So, literally design your own soldiers

https://cdn.meshy.ai/landing-assets/home/meshy-use-case-hero-3d-printing.webm

That is amazing.