3 Big Reasons Why You SHOULD 3D Print Your Minis (and 3 against it) 

I'll stick to both, but oh boy, 3D printing is really giving mini producers a run for their money! What do you prefer?

I'm starting to think that I should start a mini channel and get 12 free printers a year, then sell those for a profit.

Great video! Just a small advice for new people to 3D printing: The video might give you the impression, that you have to clean your vat from resin after every time you print. This is NOT the case. In almost all cases, you can just refill your vat, and keep on printing, just remember to stir the resin inside the vat a bit, if you have not been using your printer for a few days. Cleaning the vet is only usually done if you have some parts stuck to it, or if you want to switch to a different kind of resin. Also, very important: DO NOT leave your printer working or idle in direct sunlight, as the resin in the vat might cure.

The biggest factor affecting print lines and artifacts from slicing is getting the correct orientation. An angle of 30 degrees or so for most models (search for your printer and resin though) will mitigate these artefacts and make your supports mostly go on the back of your mini where they're not seen. But of course, an 8k screen is frankly amazing. It's truly insane that these are less than $1000 now. Amazing video, love your work!

Great video with a lot of useful information man! I've been on the edge of getting a 3D printer for so long, I think 2022 is the year....

Loved that printer montage - great work! Companies like Titan Forge and Arch Villain make is so easy to print and paint whole armies - for things like Kings of War, or even old school Warhammer they are perfect - great video mate

Just got an Ender 3v2 from the wife, LOVE it! It ain't able to print at the quality of this beast of a machine but there is alot of support and if you are willing to take a nice 6/10 to possibly 8/10 of a print, 3D printing in general can be worth it. It just takes time and plenty of patience as even a decent detailed with supports single 28mm mini can take hours to properly print.

Great video, can't wait to see all the minis you will print using this bad boy. Díky!

The paint job on that gold armor lady is just.....amazing. Hope I can get that good some day.

I got an Elegoo Mars 2 Pro this past summer. Didnt do too much with it for awhile, and then had to play around with it for a bit. Once I started printing though.... hooked. Thanks for the vid!

Thanks for this vid. I start so smooth a bit and thinking of buyng one. And this vid made me more into it.

Still on the fence, but would use it for printing terrain if I got one. Awesome content as always 👍🏽

Great video, very informative. When I started 3D printing, several years ago, it opened up a whole new world. Personally I had grown a bit tired of the (classic) models released from GW (and other companies) so it was absolutly fantastic seeing all of the different styles and the artistic creativity offered as 3D printable miniatures from all of the artists sharing their work on patreon and kickstarter. 3D printing models has really expanded the possibillities for anyone working with scale hobbies. This is not to say that the good old cast mini's haven't got a place, I absolutly still love those :) Thanks for the video :)

When you go to a tournament and your army is banned for having a 3d printed head.

I bought a filament printer and resin printer, the filament arrived two weeks ago and I've been cranking out models ever since. I now have access to models that are now OOP like the FASA Star Trek ships or obscure models nobody in the commercial circuit offers.

interestingly, it was 3D printing that brought me to Warhammer and other miniatures, not the other way around. I currently have a mini moke being printed in my LD-002r using black tinted clear resin, and am thinking cloaked Orks, printed in purple tint clear as a future project. Somehow, I doubt Games workshop will be releasing purple stealth Orks any time soon

Wow. I think you tipped me over. Nicely balanced!

Thanks for the shout-out! Love your videos, especially the tutorials. I always recommend new painters check out your channel :D

Thanks for an honest informative video

Thing is... I have totally zero doubts when it comes to printing GW stuff =)

I do 3D modelling and sculpting and have been saving up to buy one of these. It's insane to know that making your own minis at home is now a possibility, almost feels godlike in some way.

I have a filament printer which works great for vehicles, buildings and terrain and makes all that super cheap, but doesn't work for miniatures. I'm not having a giant house where I'd have some spare room, so the 'it takes space' is quite a downside when considering potentially a second (resin) printer as well.

Tip: You can reduce the visibility of print lines, by putting some gloss varnish on the model before you prime it. You don't have to cover the model, but put it on the areas where lines are prominent. You can be fairly aggressive, as the varnish will shrink and self-level as it dries. You can use multiple thinner coats on areas like faces that you want really smooth. Thin the varnish with a little water to help it flow better.

as printers get cheaper and cheaper. I can't wait until it's within my price range. I'd love to do both. it would be amazing, especially for a beginner painter such as myself. I wish i picked this up when I was younger. but i'm glad I eventually did. it's a great hobby for so many reasons.

That platform rising sound all through the video

bruh I came for the 3D part but got blown away by your painting skills

If you can see lines 8k printer, your settings are wrong. I use 4k printer and there is no layers lines. Anti aliasing settings was first wrong and now prints are perfect.

Great video! Thanks! Regarding the cleaning process, I did here that you can leave the resin in the tray in between printing, providing you keep UV light off it, which obviously saves time, mess and possible damage to the screen protector. Have you tried this at all?

great video, I bought a 2k one a couple of weeks back, £140 and the quality is great too, I want to support sculptors too so I will still buy minis and busts but yeh colour me impressed.

So, as someone that has been doing 3D printing resin models for tabletop for a while, I've found that Mr. Hobby Surfacer as a base layer actually helps get rid of print lines with very list work on your part. Give it a shot if you get the chance. And yes, I'll stick to both as well. Despite printing a ton there will always be plenty of room for the classic miniatures.

I print everything at .03 layer level it only takes a little bit more time than .05 and the results are more than worth it.

I got a flashforge 8.9, best decision I ever made. I love painting 40k don’t play the games so not sure on rules… but the proxy minis available for free are insane. I love it. That being said I do still enjoy treating myself to the odd sprue from gw

As for the print lines, what layer height were the models you showed printed at? Standard for most resin printers in .05mm, but when you drop that down to .02mm, it's going to be really, really difficult to see any printlines IMHO, even on 4K or even 2K printers (also, the orientation a model is printed in influences the visibility, you could also try re-orienting the model). Just keep in mind that exposure times vary depending on layer height, so run a Resin Exposure Range Finder (RERF) test to find the settings that work best for your printer and resin. Just a quick heads-up: print times will take longer at that lowe layer height as there are, obviously, more layers to print.

can the print lines not be sanded away during the cleaning process?

I love 3d printing And it came as a necessity for me I live in a country that has no hobby shops. There is no Citadel, GW, Vallejo... There are no stores, and the only way to get these would be by direvtly importing them Which is very expensive. 3d printing also allows you to create pretty much anything you want for your games. You can build your own universe, and make it tiny My point is that in some places, for some people, 3d printing is the only option available if you want to play/paint

Sitting between a bunch of primed 3D printed minis printed with my 2K printers, and I have to search for layer lines. Some models have them. But for the most, they come without them. Especially when they have intricate shapes. Smooth round shapes may be a problem...sometimes

I thought I was going crazy hearing phone vibrating and checking mine constantly, but it was yours!

As far as I know it is the Z resolution that causes the print lines. However, z resolution is directly tied to print time. If I do 0,025mm layer height instead of 0,05mm layer height then the print time will be doubled. In any case, from my experience angling the models correctly makes less print lines. I feel I get only print lines on the sides that are directly "upwards".

If you're looking for a cheap printer with amazing quality; Photon Mono hands down is the best. $170 for the printer. I've printed a gorgeous Eldar proxy army, around 2k points and the resin cost me like $50-70 total. Also slicing files and supporting models is wayyy easier than you're probably thinking

My model got stuck to the plate. Any advice? I wanna try to avoid breaking the model

Supporting STLs by yourself has never been so easy. Lychee Slicer is extremely good at auto-supporting. Use their light supports and add a few medium supports at the first layers and done. Did not fail me once so far. When you had to do it completely manual 2 years or so ago it took up to an hour to support one model. Now it's 5 minutes. Also "modding" existing STLs is not that hard. Really. Small things like adding a chapter symbol to a shoulderpad or an inscription to a shield can be done in Windows 3d Builder and takes basically no time or training. More complex things can be done with software like Blender or Meshmixer. It's way more involved, but when you get the hang out of it, it's fun and the possibilities are endless. Next generation "kitbashing".

It's astonishing how fast 3D printing technology is growing

For more detail you can use phrozen hyperfine aqua resin

You said it my biggest problem is space. I moved to uk 🇬🇧 and houses here are SMALL . Back home space was not an issue but here omg it is ! That is why I can’t get an airbrush as much as I would love to ….

Hi there ! Been watching your videos for a while and I absolutly love them. This printing machine is honestly quite amazing, and probably going in as a reference for me. I just wanted to give a bit of a warning concerning resins, I work with resins all the time as part of my work, and while some like epoxy and acrylic are quite "safe", others like polyurethane can have noticeable side effets if breathed (nausea, vertigo, and even bouts of uncontrolled depression). Now I checked the website and the resin sold with the printer and I couldn't find any mention about it's nature, only dangers if applied on skin or eyes, and not if breathed so it should be okay. Watch out for those, sometimes resins kit for printers are sold without warning that in certain printers, the fumes it will liberate could be harmful. Enjoy your printer, I'm really looking forward to more of your videos, the difference in quality was absolutly stunning and you honestly sold this beautiful piece of equipement to me with your analysis. Keep enjoying what your are doing =)

lol! I just got into printing with resin! just finished printing a Hollow Knight character from Cults. id love to see more 3d printing related videos :D

GW wont ever sell printable files, all STC's were lost or something lol.

This is a great video, really takes both the good and the bad! And having the same printer (Except being hte 4k version), the prints come out really nice looking!

Bold of you to assume I want GW to keep going

What about non-resin printers though?

am I the only one who hears buzzing in their headphones? it appears every couple of seconds and lasts for about a second. sounds like a phone vibrating in the distance

My main issue with 3D printed mini was how britle they are. I have been painted a lot of resin miniature over the years even really bad one like finecast and yes resin is always more prone to breaking than plastic but I feel that 3D printed mini are way way more prone to breaking versus cast resin mini. Do you have the same experience?

Which are some of your favorite companies to buy display minis from?

Can you do a test on FDM vs Resin for 2023?

I turned 40 a short while ago and got an airbrush as a gift. Gonna wish for a 3d printer when I turn 50. Especially since by then the kids are about the age to move out and Phrozen will have launched rhe "Neo-resin 64K printer" or some such.

You showed cleaning out the vat after printing, i don't know if you really do that every time but you don't have to. I leave resin in my vat for months At a time. Just put on a glove and mix the resin well with a gloved finger and your gtg

Honestly though... I feel like in some cases the print lines look pretty cool. Like, on that gold it makes it look almost like a Damascus steel and I quite like it. But I completely understand that for most textures it'd be a nightmare and this new printer quality is FAR superior

Juicy video

I absolutely get the argument that one should support the people who create the universe you love. That being said, Games Workshop have an insane profit margin of roughly 45%. As a point of reference, Google has 25% which is in of itself considered incredibly high. Should I not be able to play Kill Team because I can't afford dropping $90 on 10 Necron Immortals even though I can 3D print proxies for them for like a $1 each? What I believe, and always have believed in, is that the miniature cost of Citadel minis is the predominant factor behind why people do not play or engage with Warhammer. Everyone I know who knows of Warhammer like the universe behind it. The lore. The factions. The setting. The popularity. But the copious amounts of money one has to put down on the minis will definitely deter people. That's what happened with my friends at least. It's also not like GW's only source of income are the minis either. Sure, it might be the most but they still of a very large amount of (also somewhat overpriced) literature. Even if you were to 3D print an army, you still need the Core Book for that edition, your army codex and sometimes even a General's Handbook which actually provides the scenarios you can play. I love Warhammer, but creating even a 750 point army in, for example Age of Sigmar, can cost nearly as much as an SLA 3D printer itself. So can one really blame people who aren't as monetarily liberal in getting a 3D printer so they too can be part of the universe and community they love? I am personally not too impressed with GW's choices in regards to consumer friendliness either. Not just banning fan animations, but creating a subpar monopolistic streaming service? Not updating older model-lines for literal centuries in some cases? The constant up-selling? Should I then just keep purchasing their incredibly overpriced models even in my discontent? For me, the answer to that question is a resounding no. The only real way to show discontent to a company's actions is to monetarily stop supporting them and hopefully come back to supporting them when they become more consumer friendly. If I'm giving them my money, I at least don't want to feel like I am being swindled. And sadly, that's the feeling I get whenever I buy official minis which is a big reason behind why I favour proxies so much.

Why is there a 247hz sine wave randomly popping in throughout the video? (she asked, showing off the tinkering she did to figure out the noise)

Yeah, I love my 3D printer but one of the biggest problems I’ve had is clean up and just finding what I wanted to print without having to sing up for a patron! And the fact that you can’t print models that are closer to the look of real WH models kinda sucks also! But there is still so many other possibilities with owning a 3D printer!!!

I've been getting prints with almost unnoticeable print lines out of my elegoo mars 2 just with better settings!

GW is 100% gonna offer 3d files within the next 2 years mark my words. No way they are just not gonna capitalize on this part of the market.

in general it is for the quality that we have chosen to buy them, I have always seen the difference between GW and 3D print, the latter are too coarse

welp if all i want is historical 10 - 15mm figures that sounds great - I dunno if fdm would work tho

You can buy or print Anvil Industries. They are ahead of the curve with on that.

I already have 3 resin printers. Think I wait a year or 2 before getting another one. Honestly, when printing with a layer height of 0,02/0,03mm I can't see any layer lines without a 3x magnification. After priming and basecoating there are none left. Regarding resin: Imho the biggest downside is getting rid of the empty bottles. Throwing them in the normal trash is not an option...

If I had the time and money, I would get a 3D printer. As a 3D artist, I also create my own minies, busts and parts for minies. But I have someone else print them. And I like some IP's (especially GW's) and I would never print anothers IP, that is the same as stealing. But! The day I have the money and time, I will start printing myself.

I own 2 3d printed armies, an ork and a custodes one. Ever since I started printing I haven't been able to look back and with GW making it easier to justify not supporting them everyday I don't think I'll stop printing anytime soon. My orks are entirely fdm printed, not great quality but for the price I could care less. My custodes are resin, and I have found the resin to be on par with GW plastic. Had I not found 3d printing I would have quit the game entirely, but being able to play it without giving a single dime to GW has both kept me entertained in the past year while keeping my conscience clean and also saved me around 1000 bucks in models.

Great video. One tip - don't use paper towels to clean out the vat. They are more abrasive than you think. They will damage the FEP and in the worst case you will get a resin leak all over your lovely 8K screen. The Sonic Mini 8K great printer though - I have one, too.

One thing I have found about 3D printing is that there are still very few online STL creators that make minis that are the same caliber as figures like GW. A lot of the STLs I've seen are great, but there's just something about the insane precision and detail of GW figures that makes me want to get them even though I have a printer.

9 months too late, but while you cant print warhammer (or any other companies models) you CAN print bits to go on your miniatures. I've found this to be the most useful part of owning a 3d printer (well when it comes to the hobby anyway, using them for other non-hobby related things is also pretty cool).

And you do not process models in any way after printing at all? I just sand them, glue them, even put more resin on bad areas

Lower layer hight and you can get pretty smooth miniatures even with 2K and 4K screens. Is you don't print massive amounts of minis, you can wash it by hand, not too messy, you just need to be a little more careful.

As I often joke, I have traded my Pile of Shame for a File of Shame.

Great video would love one but unfortunately I just don't have the room 🙄 luckily I have a freind who will print me anything I want 😁

I got out of mini painting years ago because GW got ridiculous with their prices. I got into 3d printing a couple of years ago and it's very addictive. Even had to make a channel out of it. lol Good video btw

On the smell, thats actually fumes created when the resin is heated and curing, you really want to wear a respirator. (Spray painting respirator with A2P2 filters) You're right that it wont kill you, but extended exposure will cause sinus and throat irritation. May also cause headache and nausea. And on not printing GW minis, try and stop me. 😂

theres like a weird low buzzing noise in the entire video with a few seconds inbetween, like a vibrating phone.

Do love my 3D printers. The biggest drawback to Resin printing is the fact that resin is toxic and should be handled with care and even with proper care, spill do happen so it might get everywhere. Also, around 6.30 you say the fumes aren't going to kill you. Well, they might not, but they're still dangerous. Will I continue to buy GW stuff, sure, why wouldn't I? But for 75+ mm models, big stuff (terrain etc) or unique things, hell ye, I'm 3D printing it!

From what i understand printing warhammer is not illegal just selling the printed minis is. would it be illegal to craft a warhammer mini by hand for personal use? is it illegal to print the word warhammer on a normal paper printer? you can print whatever you want as long as it is just for personal use in most countries with a functional legal system atleast

I want to get into it but it sounds like the set up is expensive and there is a fairly steep but short learning curve. And the minis will be sorta brittle

Considering that I don't know if Mini painting is going to be a hobby that will last (most of my hobbies lasted 1-2 yrs, I started 2 months ago), I will not invest in a 3D printer yet. Additionally, I live in a 18m2 studio. So next to no space, I also don't have a separate room. I hate that Warhammer is so expensive and as someone that wants to paint instead of play, lacks variety (I don't want to paint 10x the "same" model). I have possibly found a nice mid-way through Etsy; to buy 3D printed miniatures. They are slightly cheaper (especially larger scale, 100+ euros for 160mm mini, come on!) and definitely offer more variation. They have more models that I actually like, like weird fantasy creatures and better looking dragons! I am awaiting my first order now, I hope I will like the quality that is printed (to be fair, you often can't know beforehand when ordering on Etsy).

But if less and less people buy GW minis wont that force them to lower their prices? 🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

Im waiting for a resin without odor... the i will buy the best resin printer i can (something like 8k last releases)

I cannot ever go back to buying the average minis. Extremely awesome special ones. Yes. But not the average model.

how would they even make molded miniatures without 3d printing, i know in the past they were handmade, but with todays amount of details and precision its impossible to do it any other way aside from 3d printing.

great video. anyone else getting a weird buzz on occasions?

just printing and cleaning printed parts is not enough. as someone who's involved in industrial/medical 3d-printing (hearing aids), i know firsthand that after cleaning you also need to TUMBLE-SAND your printed parts and hen put some lacquer on. after that even 100-micron layer custom earmolds that we make are smooth and curvy :-)

I think i can hear your resin printer s plate moving(lifting) during the video

If your new to painting then 3d painting is amazing. You get to practice to your hearts content all the painting techniques. Then if you do decide to go the legit route and buy an army then the painting will be consistent rather than you having an army of miniatures all of them different. I just got the latest photon ultra in the mail a few days ago and there are no print lines. Maybe with a macro camera you can see them, but in your hand there is nothing.

Thanks for trying I’m done

GW : "he can't do that! Shoot him... Or something"

I miss your videos. Hope everything is ok with you!

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I know I'm a year late but I'm really considering printing, my only reservation is how people will feel about me rocking up with printed models, seems like community is pretty split on it. My main reason I want to print is how garbage GW has been lately, I play sisters and the models I've gotten recently have been really low quality, but not only that but they always split our units into 5s and not the full 10, so if I wanted a full squad of seraphim I would need to buy 2 boxes and at $90 AUD each it's a huge rip off imo, also a lot of kits like Rets don't come with all weapon options, I would need to buy a second box just to kit out a full squad with the same weapon like Multi Meltas. I don't mind paying but when GW withholds models and claims it's due to limited sprue space it just feels cheap.

Dude, Do not clean your FEP after every print, if you use same type of resin. It decrease fep lifetime a lot and make it cloudy. Just drain what is left back to the bottle through paint strainer, dont care about thin layer which is left inside. When I started to do it this way my fep lifetime increased a lot.I mean i print almost every day, full plate loaded on my saturn and I didnt change my fep since August 2021.

300+ USD is a lot of money for my miniscule hobby budget. I figure after that first army, it pays off pretty fast

What I REALLY wanna see is the results of 3D printing exact copies of 40k models, not for sale, not modelling for advantage etc etc, just seeing if you can produce an exact copy of some 40k miniatures from a GW kit. I'm sure people have probably tried this (for results that are indistinguishable from the real thing), but I haven't seen it anywhere at all, most likely because this is legally a no-no.

The up side of 3D printing: affordable minis whenever you want. $500 will get you a 4K printer, wash and cure bundle, resin and gloves. The down side: having to spend like, 20 min learning how to use the thing.