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Post by 6mmfan on Apr 4, 2019 8:03:19 GMT
Hi all
I've had a go at printing my figures on a FDM printer and here are the first results. My printer is a Anet A8 which is a budget FDM printer but I have spent the same price again on upgrades (AM8 frame, BMG extruder, E3D V6 hotend etc). Overall not great results so far, but still usable. Also printing something this fine has highlighted that the printer settings still needs tweaking, which didn't bother me as much on larger pieces.
Excuse the photos these were very hard to get good pictures of
I started with the new beta 2 to1 infantry as I like the extra detail on them.
Printing with a 0.4mm nozzle at 0.2 layer
Quite noticeable ridges between layers
Lots of stringing (spiderwebs) and blobs (over extruding)
Printing at 0.4mm nozzle at 0.16 layer
Less noticeable ridges between layers (smoother print) but still bad stringing and blobs
Since then I have tried a 0.4mm nozzle at 0.12 layer and that was better again but i don't have photos yet
And now I am trying with a 0.2mm nozzle and 0.08 layer height which is as small as my printer can go, but I need to get some photos!
Cheers
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Post by Zach on Apr 5, 2019 18:08:17 GMT
Are you using cellulose/wood/bio PLA? Earth colors are often based on it, and it gets a lot more strings than the other types of filament. I just had this experience myself (but after using the lighter trick they were quite acceptable). If you switch to a smaller nozzle, and small layer height you should get much tighter and less stringy prints! Looking forward to seeing the progress!
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Post by 6mmfan on Apr 5, 2019 22:12:19 GMT
No it is PLA+ by eSun Onto some of my first building attempts with a 0.4mm nozzle. Again stringing and lines but the cleanup on these is easy enough. The details have come out well and with a quick sand with 400grit paper these will paint up well. From a distance they look great
I haven't removed the brim (base part) on these properly yet.
Thanks
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Post by Zach on Apr 5, 2019 22:28:20 GMT
Nice! Yes, those are extreme close-ups, really. I've got some FDM prints of my buildings but not a *lot* of them. Most of my buildings have come from Shapeways, and then from molds I made of them. I made some molds of my FDM prints, but the lines are still visible, which doesn't bother me at all but it is somewhat humorous. Does your printer let you turn down the speed at which the nozzle moves? As you said though, if you can get a nice clean print with some minor sanding, these are totally fine. Any estimate on the cost per building from materials?
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Post by 6mmfan on Apr 22, 2019 5:16:00 GMT
My 2mm adventures have hit a bump as I broke my painting arm while mountain biking! I can continue to print models but I can't hold anything with my fingers and will need minor surgery.
Cheers Kieran
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Post by robh on Apr 22, 2019 14:42:14 GMT
Best wishes for a prompt recovery.
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Post by jdalton3au on Sept 24, 2019 1:01:47 GMT
Hi all, I use a Geeetech A10 FDM 3D Printer (cheap under US$200) but at 2mm prints look great, with none of the above problems. The printer is a .4mm nozzle, and I print at .1mm height definition using Cura slicer. Because there is better definition for my failing eyes at 2.5 mm I print at that. At 2mm there is not much indent between the massed figures, whereas at 2.5 mm it is noticeable, but not as much as the epic scale which are distinctly separate (and tempting) but the epic bases become quite a bit larger for 1:1, so I compromise and use 2.5mm. Images following of figures and some buildings. (BTW I use average quality PLA because I have heard bad reports about that Sun stuff.)
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Post by jdalton3au on Sept 24, 2019 6:48:37 GMT
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Post by jdalton3au on Sept 24, 2019 6:54:43 GMT
Here are the FMS buildings, which printed clean (I suspect 6mmfan's string problems are temperature of extruder or poor filament). The models are very sharp.
Attachments:
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Post by jdalton3au on Sept 24, 2019 6:59:15 GMT
And for comparison, here are some 1:1200 buildings from Thingiverse I use for naval games at 1:1000 and will suffice for the "distant hilltop" Spain terrain for the 2.5mm figures as well. The terrain boards are no where near complete yet! If these were printed at 1:900 they would work for Spain 2mm perfectly :-)
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Post by oldskirmishman on Sept 24, 2019 18:16:44 GMT
Not sure if you have tried this yet but if I turn up the temp from 200 to 210 I have very little stringiness.
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Post by 6mmfan on Sept 28, 2019 11:42:20 GMT
Thanks. Yeah my first attempts needed some adjustment. I found increasing the retraction distance helped. For figures I now use a 0.2mm nozzle with 0.08mm layer height. And for buildings I now use a 0.3mm nozzle with .12 or .16mm layer heights. Fresher filamnet helped as some old rolls warped and gave me lots of problems.
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Post by jtipp68 on Oct 20, 2019 14:03:16 GMT
Is there any interest in "trades" or exchanges where you find out you don't need a particular print and would like to swap it?
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Post by 6mmfan on Oct 21, 2019 2:22:05 GMT
Is there any interest in "trades" or exchanges where you find out you don't need a particular print and would like to swap it? Good idea but I'm in New Zealand, so the postage is probably too high.
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