How much do 3D Printed Miniatures Cost?

#AD Thank you to Daybreak Miniatures for sponsoring today's video! Check out their Links:

There’s A LOT of talk about the cost of 3D printing in the community today. But how cheap is it REALLY?
Well I'm going to try and answer that today. I've got one one litre bottle of Elegoos Water Washable Ceramic Grey resin, and I'm going to see just how many miniatures I can print with just this one bottle, and one Machine - the Elegoo Mars 3.
#ElegooMars #3dprintminiatures

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[DrEndMan]

To summarize, you could spend 300-350ish on a 3D printer and get dozens of minis or you could spend the same amount and get 6 space marines and maybe a goblin if it’s on discount

[OgichiGame]

To summarize, 3D printing has a High upfront cost, but a low long term cost. Which makes it very good for someone who doesn't have the kind of money it takes to buy a lot miniatures for painting and playing with. After the upfront cost of getting setup is done, the prints themselves cost very little per model compared to similar quality and sized miniatures you can buy.

[walterstarr]

The cost isn't what has drawn me to 3D printing, it's the quality. I've seen so many creators who do better miniatures than even Games Workshop!

[Philtho]

That is absolutely insane cost wise. I can't even imagine how awesome the hobby (and others - custom larger scale models etc) will be 5-10 years from now. The resolution NOW is nuts.

[woodstock]

With two 2L bottles of resin I printed two full 2k point armies for aos 3.0. One blades khorne with 4 large god like mini's and one OBR army that included a nagash proxy and I still had about a half a bottle left. Those bottles came free with my printer which cost me about 350$ after shipping. I saved over 1600$ Canadian on the GW counterparts.

[biffa]

For me I do find it alot cheaper than buying models. The main bonus for me tho is the variety and ease of finding models I like. I can find a set and if I only want 1 model I only print that rather than buying a box full. Also love being to print multiple of the same to test painting etc rather than ruining my expensive GW models

[andylake]

The per miniature cost should include the support cost as well. yet still be cheaper as the machine is reusable Time is also only wasted if you sit and watch.

[mattfazio]

Thanks for having a solid, informative video describing the ups and downs of 3D printing.

[ausfoodgarden]

I'm not into wargaming or particularly miniatures like these but those Daybreak miniatures look excellent and seeing how much you printed with
one bottle of resin was very useful. Nice info mate and 👍👍

[kkouuy]

Your 3D printing videos are my favourite housing investing videos of yours! I think it's also worth mentioning, personally when first starting out I wasted so much resin, cleaning products, cluelessly supports etc; just trying to learn how to use it. The intial cost is great but eventually over time the cost decreases as you become more efficient .

[rogdog]

Please continue the 3D printer content. I have been considering getting one for a while so any guides would be beyond helpful! Please could you expand on the cleaning and curing from last video? Thank you!

[minorharmonicscale]

GW price: 800£ for similar model count in aos or 40K 😏

[ZK-szvs]

i've been able to get an average of around 100-120 28mm human sized infantry models per 1 liter bottle. dont forget printers, never trust the auto supports lol

[ginjasteve]

I am on holiday shade-bathing and yet I’m still watching your video. That is dedication Michael.

[Boomerk]

I'd like to add a little personal experience when it comes to water washable resin. Other than the more than valid points mentioned in the video already, if you actually decide to use water in your wash station, depending on the design of the station, what can happen is that the ball bearings may rust rather quickly. Which does not happen with alcohol. I learned that the hard way... maybe someone finds this helpful. In addition, if you want to cure and then dispose of the resin safely from the liquid after it evaporated outside, alcohol evaporates MUCH quicker.

[RonaldOlszewski]

Comparing to Games Workshop: at best (using box sets or start collecting sets) you are paying a minimum of $5 per mini. So that means you save $4 per mini. (taking a very general big-picture overview here). Mars 2 Pro + bottle of resin about $350. Assuming 35 minis printed per bottle, each print yields 35 x $5 = $175 per bottle in minis in GW prices. Each subsequent print run adds $40 to cost (bottle of resin). So bottle two is 350+40=390, and yields $350 in minis. You can see by bottle 3 it has paid for itself, very roughly. I know there are many more factors, like gloves, failed prints, etc, but even so bottle 3 we are up to $525 in GW dollars vs 350+40+40 = $430 invested dollars.

[johnbattyll]

Awesome video Mikey! Enjoying your 3d print series. Really like the dwarves. Cool to see a breakdown of the costs involved. Lool forward to the wash station setup.

[kleaflab]

I love the variety of your channel, all your video are put together so nicely and are always fun to watch!!

[MrCombfoot]

Entry cost is also somewhat cheaper if you want to be thrifty.

I got myself a mars 2 for $220 aud on amazon. They are much cheaper and more than detailed enough for figure printing.

I use water washable, I dont use IPA to wash just water.

I didn't buy a curing station. If you have sunlight, you have UV and can cure. Even if it's overcast or cold raining weather, there's still UV and still cures.

I didn't need to buy any additional tools. The printer came with plastic and metal scrapers, clippers, strainers, 5 extra FEP, brushes, gloves and masks. I used an old ice cream container for washing.

So my initial cost was 220 + 60 for the resin, 280 AUD all up. And 'made back' the cost of the printer in the first 3 days printing some 'Space Mace 69'

[yipyipyipi]

If you are worried about time, a savvy printer can put all the horses (or whatever tall items) in the same print, and do them together since the number of models doesn't matter.

That said, what you did more accurately displays the average user, printing a few things here and there.