I wouldn’t recommend water washable even though it’s cheaper not using IPA it’s more cumbersome and possibly expensive to dispose of it. You can just dump it down the drain
Comment on what budget 3d printer would you suggest for a beginner?
overzeetop@lemmy.world 1 year ago
im looking into making mini figures and painting them
Boom, right there should limit your section to SLA/resin printers, not FDM as most people here are suggesting. At $100 budget you’re down in the absolute basement of printers, and will have to find a machine on sale. Good news for you is that this is the month of sales (Black Friday month). You are looking at either an Anycubic Mono (out of production, I think) or Mono 2 when they go on sale - I’d expect to see it between $99-119 sometime this month. (there’s a monoprice mini SLA printer for $70 out there, but I don’t know how good it is)
There are two things to know about resin: the liquid used is toxic, so someplace with ventilation and a supply of cheap latex/vinyl/nitrile gloves are a must, as is a workspace which can be easily cleaned (they sell silicone mats…its a good idea; you might try ordering misc stuff from TEMU for your accessory list to save some cash) and a roll of paper towels is going to be necessary. The second is that standard resin requires 95% or higher isopropyl alcohol (IPA) to clean the prints, and to clean up the machine parts. That can get expensive, too - so SKIP IT and get Water Washable resin. It will cost more, but the ease (and lower odor) in clean up will be worth it, especially if your parents would rather you not be slinging flammable IPA around the house.
You do NOT need a dedicated wash and curing station. It’s a luxury you can’t afford, so just skip it (for now). There are lots of videos about how to clean parts using a two-bin or three-bin method and they just use cheap dollar-store plastic bins or used buckets (do not use tupperware you eat from…water washable is still toxic, okay?). Then, just set your prints in the sun for a few minutes - it even works on a cloudy day (clouds only block a fraction of UV).
You should be able to make table-top sized miniatures for painting in one go, or make them as two or three parts for bigger models. The detail you get out of an SLA printer will be worlds better than an FDM (extrusion) printer and require a lot less sanding, filling, and misc post-processing prior to painting.
Fogle@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
overzeetop@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Normally, I would agree. For a teen living at home and (based on the price range) without a dedicated space, I think it’s the preferable of the two options. Having known someone severely burned by an errant spark around IPA, and with the added complications of disposing of contaminated IPA, waterborne is the lesser of evils. I 100% agree that I should have pointed out that “water washable” doesn’t mean rinse/clean off in a sink that leads to a private septic or public treatment system.
QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Great advice. I would add one thing, people upgrade their printers all the time and sell the budget ones they started with on eBay/FB Marketplace, etc.