Cost of the materialsįDM printers use filament spools that are relatively cheap and can last for a long time. This guide is for printing miniatures, mostly on a small scale (28/32mm), if you need to print other objects then the considerations may be extremely different. Here is a video where an FDM printer is shown in action:Įvery material and technique has its own advantages and disadvantages. The type of filament you use can greatly vary and which one you can use will depend from the printer itself. Each layer is laid down one at a time until the part is complete. FDM 3D printers work by extruding thermoplastic filaments through a heated nozzle, melting the material and applying the plastic layer by layer to a build platform. The most affordable and popular plastic printers are called FDM or fused deposition modelling, also known as fused filament fabrication (FFF). But this case we are not printing a documents, we are printing a miniature model. There are different types of materials and printers that can be used but the main concept is the same as your traditional office printer: you need an object to print (your document), a material to use to print (your paper) and an instrument to print (ink or laser). Let’s start with diving deeper into an overview of 3D printing. Plastic versus resin (and why I think Resin is the best for printing miniatures) File is from the Patreon Titan Forge Miniatures But getting started on knowing what can go wrong is essential to have a good start printing miniatures. Printing miniatures can seem really simple, and once you get the hang of it that can be the case. You need good ventilation, the right temperature in the room and you will get multiple print failures (not as much as with plastic, but you need to troubleshoot the printer from time to time). On the other hand, the resin is super toxic and can be a bit of a mess to work with. Resin printers are much easier to work with and the print quality is good (even for cheap printers). Plastic is good for big terrain and huge miniatures, but the quality of the miniature will not be amazing and the plastic printers can be difficult to setup, work with and troubleshoot. There are roughly 2 types of printers: plastic and resin. So just a quick rundown of 3D printing miniatures: The quick overview of 3D printing miniatures 11 Main failures when 3D printing miniatures in resin

3d printer small objects