The Wonders of Resin 3D Printing

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jus
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The Wonders of Resin 3D Printing

Post by jus » Sun Mar 28, 2021 8:06 am

So I got tired of waiting for cursed city to release and got resin 3D printer. I blame coronavirus. I shall have to print my own vampires

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..and it just arrived today. Welcome to my unboxing post.

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Right then, this bad boy is the Elegoo Mars 2 pro. I spent all of yesterday watching YouTube videos in preparation for my first print.

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Although watching it done and actually doing it youself are two different things. I tried to be as prepared as possible but I must admit I am an absolute complete novice.

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The resin I am using is a water washable type that does not required isopropal alcohol to clean. Warm tap water will suffice.
First test print is underway so I'll get back to you in a few hours. Fingers crossed. Initial thoughts are ...

1) The highly toxic liquid resin is somewhat nauseating if you sniff it directly, but otherwise not too bad.
2) The test print is a Chess Rook about the size of a Primaris marine and it says it will be done in 2 hours. Quite impressive as the earlier Mars model takes around 4 hours.
3) The process and variables are quite involved. There are many fun factors that need to be considered such as room temperature, exposure times, layer counts...not to mention the cleaning and curing.
4) I have whole patreon libraries of miniatures in the queue to be printed

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Primarch
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Re: The Wonders of Resin 3D Printing

Post by Primarch » Sun Mar 28, 2021 8:20 am

Cool! Good luck with the test run.
Painted Minis in 2014: 510, in 2015: 300, in 2016 :369, in 2019: 417, in 2020: 450

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jus
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Re: The Wonders of Resin 3D Printing

Post by jus » Sun Mar 28, 2021 11:01 am

@prim:

First test print. Sucess....and failure? The thin layer of plastic is the validation test piece that I thought didn't print but actually printed and the rooks that got fused on top of it during the second print. I think I'll keep it as a memento.

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Other than that, details look crisp.
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now that the tests are done, it's on to the exciting stuff.

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Hopefully they won't be a complete disaster

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Primarch
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Re: The Wonders of Resin 3D Printing

Post by Primarch » Sun Mar 28, 2021 11:14 am

Those look like awesome minis just waiting to be printed.

If you happen to make any spare copies... :D
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Re: The Wonders of Resin 3D Printing

Post by me_in_japan » Sun Mar 28, 2021 12:13 pm

That is all highly exciting stuff. I’ll be following this with great interest. I love the flexibility that 3D printing offers - so much cool stuff you can get that would’ve been impossible/too expensive otherwise. I’m curious - how much does one of those things cost? I’m not exactly in the market for one just yet, but my spider sense is up and tingling, so give it time and I may just crack...

*edit* just looked it up. Wow. That’s a lot less than I had thought. 35,000 on Amazon. Consider my eyebrows raised...
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eh, y'know. Stuff, and things

Wow. And then Corona happened. Just....crickets, all the way through to 2023...

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jus
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Re: The Wonders of Resin 3D Printing

Post by jus » Sun Mar 28, 2021 12:35 pm

The results. Success.

To get to the desired 32 mm scale is difficult. Shrinking the model in slicing software can cause loss of detail a bit. Still not half bad but not GW quality yet I'm afraid.

Further refinement and a higher quality resin, I am told, can drastically increase quality of details.

This guy's fingers broke off while cleaning. They printed on, but were tiny.
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and this guy. His arm didn't print. Not so big a problem for one with many bits.

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@prim: Don't worry, I imagine I will be printing many more to get the process right.

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Re: The Wonders of Resin 3D Printing

Post by AndrewGPaul » Sun Mar 28, 2021 1:38 pm

I suppose that’s the difference between being a good 3D artist and a good miniature sculptor - knowing what works at that small size.Most miniatures won’t have splayed out fingers for exactly the reason you found out, for instance.

MiJ, they seem to go for a few hundred quid in the UK, not sure what that is in ¥ these days.

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Re: The Wonders of Resin 3D Printing

Post by Primarch » Sun Mar 28, 2021 1:39 pm

I watched a youtube video on resin printing, it seems pretty amazing, though somewhat toxic? I hope you're taking all the necessary precautions.
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Re: The Wonders of Resin 3D Printing

Post by jus » Sun Mar 28, 2021 10:29 pm

me_in_japan wrote:
Sun Mar 28, 2021 12:13 pm
That is all highly exciting stuff. I’ll be following this with great interest. I love the flexibility that 3D printing offers - so much cool stuff you can get that would’ve been impossible/too expensive otherwise. I’m curious - how much does one of those things cost? I’m not exactly in the market for one just yet, but my spider sense is up and tingling, so give it time and I may just crack...

*edit* just looked it up. Wow. That’s a lot less than I had thought. 35,000 on Amazon. Consider my eyebrows raised...
Highly Exciting!

I would like to retract my earlier statement from yesterday about the quality not being so great. The surface of the resin is not reflective and so it seems harder to pick out fine details which is what we're all after.

After a cursory wash, the level of detail visbile is jaw droppingly incredible. Well beyond my expectations. Look closely and you can see the stars on his jacket not to mention to zipper.


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So that's six 32 mm scale miniatures every 2.5 hours ...the print used up 21 grams of resin and resin comes in 1kg bottles.

@Mij: yes that's the one. The Mars 2 pro is amazing and you should have both eyebrows raised! Keep in mind however that there are other upkeep expenses to consider such as Isopropal alcohol for cleaning, Nitrile gloves (alot), a wash station, a UV curing station. Not to mention as Prim said, you are working with a toxic hazard and will produce hazardous waste that can't go in with burnables and can't be poured down the drain.

But for Christmas everyday. It's worth it.

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Re: The Wonders of Resin 3D Printing

Post by Konrad » Sun Mar 28, 2021 10:55 pm

Holy crap, those are amazing. I took a look at a couple of vids a few years ago, and was impressed, but since then the quality seems to have gotten even better. Going to have to learn me Z-Brush. Pretty soon every nerd will have to have one.
And congrats, you got it to work on your first go!
Make me some skulls!
And like others said, be careful with that stuff. Seriously get a respirator.
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