Noob Q's: How do I find a place to print miniatures? What to expect? And more

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Mothra@mander.xyz⁩ to ⁨3dprinting@lemmy.world⁩

Originally asked in the TTRPG community and was suggested to ask at a printing community, so here I am. Hello.

I’m looking for someone or some place (Australia based if possible) that prints miniatures. I’d be supplying the file. I’ve never sent anything to 3d print and I must be awful at searching because I can’t find a single site that has like a rough quote for minis. Of course I understand they would give me a different quote once I supply a file, but so far I have absolutely no clue on what to expect. $20? $150? Do you get a better deal if you print multiple items? Does it matter if they’re different or all the same?

That, for starters. Next - what material should I be getting these prints on? (I hear that’s resin?)

What resolution/parameters do I need to keep in mind for my files?

Does anyone have any recommendations for Australia?

Thanks

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Comments

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setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
I would say to go and check out independent local game stores. It’s not uncommon for people to run 3D printing as a side hustle, and game stores tend to have boards where people put up flyers or cards.

You want resin for 28mm characters. FDM, the alternative leaves noticeable printlines and not what you want if you’re paying for a mini.

In U.S. pricing, I’ve found these individual print people charging $1-3 USD for a human 28mm figure. Part of the idea is paying less than it costs to buy figures out of the box.

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- Mothra@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  I’ll snoop around my local game stores. Thanks!
  
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dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
Just yesterday I created !printmything@lemmy.world for this very purpose, so I’ll plug it again. Well, not miniatures specifically, but rather a place for people who haven’t got printers to ask for help from people who do.

I’m not in Oz so I figure shipping to you would be quite prohibitive. But you might be able to connect with someone in your country, who can ship printed stuff to you more cheaply and – importantly – without having to fuck around with customs.

The go-to wisdom is that detailed miniatures are best printed with a resin printer. You can do it with a traditional FDM (filament) printer but it’s harder to get the small details reproduced, and FDM printers can’t print in midair so you either have to be very careful to take that into account with your design or do a lot of work with removing and doing the finish work around printed supports. So you probably want to find somebody with a resin machine.

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fufu@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
You want a resin print with a layer height of around 0.02mm. The material should have some flex and not be the cheapest brittle resin so your mini survives a fall from the table. Prices depend heavily on the size and volume of the model, the Material used and if it is presupported. Hand supporting costs alot of time and will make everything much more expensive.

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otter@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
Check your local libraries, or search for maker spaces

For example

librarysearch.melbourne.vic.gov.au/…/MAKERFAQ?HOM…

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- Mothra@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  Makerspace huh. I’ve heard of it, but didn’t know it would be useful for this! I’ll look into it, thanks
  
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CameronDev@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
If your willing to wait, and can accept some shipping time, there is: jlc3dp.com

They’ll quote you on the site, and will advise for materials and costs.

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j4k3@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
Do you know how to design for a printing process?

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- Mothra@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago
  I got someone who’s going to help with that although truth be said he doesn’t have experience with the resin types. Do you have any resources you’d recommend, since we’re at it?
  
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