For the purpose of miniature wargaming, I’m considering getting into 3D printing because there are tons of amazing sculpts I’d love to get my hands on.
A couple of questions, though
I’ll admit I know next to nothing about 3D printing, but I could spend up to 300 eurodollars (or a bit more) on a 3D printer. Are there any key things to consider when picking up a printer? I don’t need the cheapest model, as price isn’t the main reason I’m getting into 3D printing. I care quite a bit about the quality of the finished models.
I live in an apartment, so does this even work logistically? I’m aware there are some health hazards with resin/3D printing—how serious should my concerns be about that? (That’s why I’m asking here and not in a 3D printing subreddit, where folks might be biased.)
Are there any recommended communities or YouTube channels for 3D printing? As I mentioned, I’ll be using this primarily for gaming miniatures and possibly wargaming terrain, not for other 3D-printable items.
I could offer some advice about FDM printers, the kind that use rolls of plastic filament. They don’t have the fume issues that resin printers do. I can’t help on the resin ones as I’ve never used one. I’ve heard that resin is better for small figures. Most of what I print are larger pieces for robotics projects, I’ve never really needed the fine detail that resin printers can provide.
I will say that regardless of type of printer, you want it on as stable a base as possible. A super-sturdy table with an entry-level printer is going to give you better and faster and more consistent results than an expensive printer on a wobbly table, because you won’t need to slow down the print not to wobble everything like crazy. This is more of a concern with FDM than resin, but it’s a good idea even for resin from what I’ve heard. I do a lot of FDM 3D printing in a fairly small apartment. I’m using a couple of older entry-level Creality printers (Ender 3 V2 and Ender-3 V3 SE) on a small ikea kitchen table with an all-metal frame and legs and it works great. I think I have the older version of this table but mine has square legs instead of round ones. But you get the idea.
If you do go with an FDM printer, don’t even bother with whatever slicing software is provided by the manufacturer. Just use Cura if your hypothetical FDM printer is supported (which it probably is). It’s open source, cross platform, has a great interface, and runs fast even on very limited hardware. I regularly use it on an older laptop with just 8GB RAM and an integrated intel GPU and it still works amazingly fast for preparing print files.
Another good idea for FDM printers is to use magnetic baseplates. My V3 came with that setup, but the V2 came with a glass plate that’s far more annoying to maintain and clean and use. I got one of these kits to retrofit the V2 and life has been a lot easier since then.
If you do get an FDM setup, please feel free to message me, I’d be happy to help!