I've held off from getting a 3d printer for a while because they were expensive (they still are, but have become less so) and highly technical (ditto), but mostly because I didn't see a need for the printer. Many people in the Facebook groups seem to treat "printing things" as a hobby in itself, which I wouldn't do. I don't think I would find the process of printing anything more than a means to an end - that end being having whatever you printed. Obviously, if "printing stuff" and all the processes involved in it - design, putting supports on, slicing etc. - are something you enjoy, then a 3d printer is a toy in and of itself rather than just a tool.
I didn't see the need to make my own miniatures and components - I paint quite slowly and have a backlog of models (a common refrain among hobbyists) but I also have a monthly budget for "hobby" which is sufficient to purchase more than enough "raw materials" to fill my available hobby time. I've also just finished buying every single component I need to finish out both my Sisters of Battle and Blood Angels armies as planned.
In the modern hobby world, there are lots of ways to get exactly the components you need - there are dozens of third-party suppliers who make aftermarket or custom parts, you can get individual components from eBay or elsewhere, and there are unique custom models available. It's much better than it was even a few years ago. Having my own 3d printer seemed unnecessary because I could get whatever I wanted from a store, professionally made, and without all the faff of having to print it myself.
The cost-savings of the 3d printer also didn't appeal to me that much, and still don't. To use my main army - Sisters of Battle - as an example; I can purchase a squad of 10 Sisters (after the standard 15% discount you can get pretty much anywhere) for $51. Call the little cherub dude you get in the box $1 and they are $5 / figure. That's $5 for a model which I don't have to faff about with in CAD programs, don't need to wear gloves to avoid toxic substances, don't need to do as much clean-up work with, and which assembles with plastic glue. It's a model that is perfectly in keeping with the army's aesthetic (and is of very high quality - the quality of printable models varies greatly) and has no legal issues (or isn't likely to "set someone off" if they see it). It's also a model that comes with multiple components and can be assembled (using traditional modelling techniques) in an infinite number of ways. I come from an older school of miniature modelling, where conversion and kitbashing was de rigeur - for me, a plastic boxed set means no two models need be the same.The main benefit of the 3d printer (in making proxies for easily-obtainable models) is cost - once you've got the printer, it's pennies to make the figures if you have the .STL file. You could work out the fixed-vs-variable cost curve and (frankly) if you were printing a whole army of models, it wouldn't be long before it made more sense to buy the printer just for that army. I'm guessing for $500 all in you could get a printer and enough raw materials to turn out $1000 "worth" of figures at even discount prices.
But, unless the file is made up of multiple separate components (which need to be supported and sliced and cleaned up) it's harder to convert or modify them. The resin is more brittle and fragile than plastic (based on the Shapeways models I've bought). The model just takes time. For me, $5 for a figure is a negligible exchange for all that - even $50+ for a tank model or character is the same thing. Your millage may vary, of course.
Another thing which weighed on me was something Adam Savage (of "Tested" and "Mythbusters") said once about laser cutters; "once you have a laser cutter, every project becomes a laser cutter project". I suppose that would apply to every sort of technology - the risk is, the tool becomes the go-to even when it might not be the best solution for the problem. Of course, if using the tool is the hobby in and of itself, that doesn't matter. The point isn't to make a thing, the point is to have fun using the device. But, as mentioned above, that isn't for me I think.As I said above, I'm an old school modeler - I use many techniques and "mixed media" to get what I want done, done! I've got figures that are a combination of kits from two or more manufacturers, MDF laser cut parts, plasticard, putty, and "found objects" like beads or bottlecaps. For me, it's probably easier to make a cool shaped thing out of stuff in my bitz box than it is to 3d print it (never mind design it!) and easier to buy a component like a head or a gun than print it.
I really noticed this when looking at 3d printed terrain - it was great stuff, but so much of it was simple shapes easily made with foam core or cardboard and detailed with found objects. Printing multiple copies of a section to make a wall didn't give the natural variation which makes the thing pleasant. Taking into consideration the time involved in 3d printing (especially with resin) it would be easier (and probably more fun!) to build it using traditional techniques.
So why did I buy a 3d printer?
First off; I bought a printer only because IKEA is not open, not doing local pick up from my local store, and the earliest delivery available was August. I was going to get some display cabinets and stools for my gaming space, but that wasn't possible so I needed something else to spend the budget on! As silly as that sounds, that was a major factor - I had the furniture in the cart and was about to purchase but stopped when I saw the delivery date!As mentioned above, I'm not interested in using a 3d printer to make cheap models - despite the fact they are expensive, "actual" models are cheap enough for my budget (it helps if you look at them not as "individual models" but "number of hours of entertainment" or even "percentage of available entertainment hours") - or components or scenery; I can buy that easily enough. A printer would be for things I couldn't buy easily.
Initially, I saw a very cool centaur Knight for 40K - it was only available as an .STL file. There are services that would print it, but those places need to make a profit and - based on Shapeways' prices - it wasn't going to be cheap. Expense for a single, fancy model isn't something I worry about - but when I estimated the cost of the model as probably coming close to half the cost of a printer itself . . .And that model probably wasn't the only one like that - there were bound to be things which I would like but which weren't being sold as a physical product (and the number is only likely to increase . . .)
While many components are readily available, some aren't - either they don't exist or they are so in-demand that they bitz sites sell out or they are prohibitively expensive. A 3d printer also allows you to design your own components, or have them designed for you (there is a large community of such things). A number of the "crafting" channels I follow (which use traditional techniques of foamcore, cardboard and glue to make scenery) were using 3d printed elements for detail.
And, despite what I said above, there would certainly be a bit of fun to be had with playing about with a new "toy" - at least in the initial phases, even if it got old fast!
Taking all that into consideration, I saw that - if I did have a 3d printer - I'd probably use it for smaller, detailed components rather than mass producing larger or less detailed things. A resin rather than a filament printer seemed to way to go.
The general consensus on Facebook groups seemed to be that all the various "mainstream" brands were much of a muchness, and I had heard good things about the Photon series from Anycubic. Reading reviews showed the Photon S was improved over the basic model, and was worth getting if you could afford the extra cost. I'm the kind of guy who likes to buy once rather than upgrade later, so I bought that model.
So, what are my plans for it? Well, first I am going to test-print some models to get the hang of the software and processes like supporting, slicing, cleaning and curing - as well as learning the vicissitudes of the device (everything I am reading tells me 3d printing is still a bit wild west with variations even in the same machine at different times . . .) But after that I am genuinely not sure - I want to print that centaur, of course! And I've downloaded a model of an astropath's staff because I've converted one and she doesn't have a staff top. I've also grabbed a not-RH1N0 tank and some scenery pieces.
The latter two things, I think, illustrate what I think (right now, before I've printed anything and before I've seen how much work all this is, how fun it is, etc.) I'll use it for - as one more media in my "mixed media" approach to miniatures. I've got a great little laser-cut MDF kit for a RH1N0 conversion - I've used it a bunch of times before, but it pretty much covers up everything except the side units and tracks. With a couple of bits of plasticard, you could do without the whole center section of the tank. Of course, you buy a tank as a complete kit unless you just get bitz from a reseller but by that time you've spent the cost of the whole thing (if you can find everything you need at all....) So, the solution is obvious - print out the side units, use plasticard for the center, put on the MDF kit, and raid the bitz box for details.The scenic piece is a Sisters of Battle variation on the old Dark Angel's "Fortress of Secrecy and Nearly Falling to Chaos" or whatever it's called. It's got these great panels with an embossed statue of a Sororitas on .... together with a bunch of other components which are other walls and bastions and walkways etc. The basic shape of the whole thing could be assembled out of a single sheet of dollar-store foamboard with an exacto knife and an afternoon. Detailing it would take a bit longer, but probably still less time than the time to print it (not to mention you can lick Elmer's glue off your hand without dying . . . ) But you couldn't make those statues unless you were Jes Goodwin.
I don't want to build the ersatz Angels' fortress - but I love that relief. So, I want to print a couple of those panels and use traditional methods - foamcore, insulation foam, cardpulp packing inserts and other found objects - alongside them to make some sort of huge Sororitas bastion wall. I've got some silicone molds for other relief figures, as well as a bitz box full of fleur-de-lys jewelry findings etc. to pimp it out.And I think that is what I find so exciting about 3d printing - not using it to replace techniques I use elsewhere, but to be just an additional material in my "mixed media" approach (which I recognize is how every hobbyist over the age of 30 does things!) This wonderful Sororitas relief isn't something I could get any way other than home printing - I certainly wouldn't pay the price required if it was physically available as a resin cast or 3d print for scenery (at the very least I wouldn't have as many as I need or want for the dramatic look of the thing) and it probably wouldn't be available were it not for home printing (hundreds of people are turning out thousands of designs compared to merely dozens and hundreds for more traditional "garage" kits).
But I'm not going to print rank and file models - it's just not worth it for me, I think. If there's something I need and I can get it without 3d printing, I'll probably do that - but for things I can't get any other way, the 3d printer is very exciting to me and I look forward to using it.
=][= Danforth Laertes
