3DPrinting
3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.
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Not answering your question exactly, but consider this:
Creality Ender 3 Pro (common entry level PLA printer) - $236
Elegoo Mars 3 Pro (common entry level resin printer) - $194.99
I own both for different reasons. As many will tell you, resin for minis, PLA for terrain.
Here is the best PLA mini I ever printed:
You simply cannot get the level of detail you would desire for mini painting from PLA. I know others out there have done better than I have in the above photo, but it still pales in comparison to an entry level resin printer.
Edit: I have a photo of the same model printed with resin, but having a hard time uploading it for some reason.
What nozzle and layer height were you printing with? I’ve printed a few minis with a 0.2mm nozzle and 0.08mm layer height and the results look much smoother than what you had…
Exactly this. I still use a 0.4 nozzle and the results are more than satisfactory.
These figures were all support-free designs by EC3D, and are a joy to print.
At 0.08mm layers, you can feel the lines with a fingernail, but can't see the from more than a few cm away.
This was probably 2 or 3 years ago, but I had a .2mm nozzle and .08 layer height as well most likely.
My pla prints have always looked rough, no matter what tutorials or tweaking I do.
Dude, that looks rough as hell compared to any resin print. I don't get why some people just have to cope so hard over this, resin is just better for detail, it's not a comment on your print skills or whatever.
Oh, I agree, resin prints are much more detailed. I just wanted to provide another point of reference for FDM mini prints, since the parent commenter’s FDM prints looked… rough.
Did you print him on his back with a 0.4 layer or what?
On his back, but 0.2mm
Yeah print from bottom to top. That gives you the best resolution
That's what I typically do. This was an odd case where I had failed half a dozen prints already, and ended up getting a successful print with a different orientation.
Yeah fdm is not always the best or the easiest to get successful prints with. It takes a lot of supports and patience. Also try dropping layer height to .12
Microcenter usually has a new customer deal that has an ender 3 pro or v2 for $100 btw