Why I Don't Want a Resin 3D Printer for Wargaming

Resin 3D printers can make incredibly detailed and smooth prints of miniatures and terrain, and the prices have dropped considerably with manufacturers like Anycubic, Elegoo, and Geeetech. I still don't want one - and I'll tell you why.

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[MKalavera]

Jumping in as a PhD Chemist, I want to keep every one safe in the hobby so in short

- trust your olfactory system: bad smelling substances must not be harmful, but most of the time, they are. So avoid having them in your living environment
- Spraying: Either with cans or while sanding down any kind of resin/wood/stones, you should be aware, that this results in nano meter scale particles, which are not bio-active, but reside in your lung for like... ever, as they can't get coughed out. Staying there they can become encapsulated and/or create tiny inflammations, which finally proliferate the formation of maligen cells (can become cancer or just necrotic). As always, it depends on the dose you are exposed to, but general advice is: Buy and WEAR a good mask with best possible filters you can effort, even when spraying outside. In Germany they are sold for 30 $ and called P3 standard. That's the same a car painters wears. Should be a must have in case you sand down any kind of plastic or wood.
- Gloves: Nitril is mandatory. In the lab, I basically wear nothing less. If you wanna test a glove: Take one and fill it up with the ingredient, that you want to protect your self from. See when it starts to penetrate the glove and drop though.The odor within a substance is often implicating polar protic solvents, which will "speed up" the perforation process and the solubility of substances through the the glove. So if you work for hours with resin or sprays: Just replace them after 20-30 minutes. Its worth it. They cost nothing compared to the shit you would ingest through your skin!
- Always spray and print outside as much as possible. I know, its sometimes more comfortable to do this in you cellar, but just don't do it. Go outside or wait for a better day to come to do it. Not only to avoid the odor, even more for avoiding the particles.
So you can tell your self "More expensive one is better and if it is not smelling, than it will not hurt me". Damn wrong guys. In general, the more expensive is better in quality. But as the substances within the resin are triggering allergies, you should be cautious with that dripping stuff. I really don't like to hear this, as you will get in contact with it.

In short, stay healthy and be just as careful as you would be in your own profession as well. I don't want to compare workplaces like wet laboratories to our beautiful hobby, as we work with much lesser reactive substances, but please don't feel "save" as some is selling you a product and you would assume they would never sell you something that can have side effects. Some things are more obvious, like "do not spray something into your eyes" or "have your hand not within a printer while it is going", but here you need to be somewhat more informed from my perspective. If I would run a resin printer in my lab or at home, I would work with it highly cautious.
If you have kids or animals you love, think twice or thrice about getting something like this into your home, as there are hundreds of companies, offering you print-as-a-service. and let them take the damage, while you take the product for couple of bugs. Its worth it.

And before everybody sees me as the one spoiling the party, I really want to have something like this at home, but it is not worth the time, money and taking the risk of health issues on long-term.

[JimmyBlimps]

I would suggest not buying a resin 3d printer for another reason: You will be inundated with more models than you can possibly paint, and your monthly Patreon bill will sky rocket as you keep finding more and more talented artists making incredible sculpts.

I got a Photon S a couple of months ago and this is my experience. It's incredible, honestly. Just.. Oh man how am I ever going to paint all these cool minis.

[irondrakeStudios]

"maybe they'll figure out paper printers". Man, if that isn't the truest statement amongst all this technology

[tonyh]

Love my resin printer, yes, it smells, that’s why it’s in my garage and happy I am a little farther south in Indiana. It isn’t hard to print, clean or cure... in fact, a full plate of models take less than 5-10 minutes to clean and have ready to sure... I’ve saved a bunch of money printing my own models and love the facts that I can scale any that I want. Liked the video.... enjoy your channel!

Also, fear the risk of fire with a filament printer more than the smell of the resin (although I only use in a well ventilated area).

[_Reyne]

The post-processing for resin printing is significantly less involved than you make it out to be, to be honest. If you're looking for plug and play, resin printing really does seem to do that. Printers like the Mars are so easy and consistent that most people hardly every run into failed prints with them.

[rmsl]

My wife is thanking you for making this video and she doesn’t even know it :D

[MagmaX]

Normally I love all your videos and really agree with you 99% of the time. This is the first time I think you are wrong about resin printing. Its really not as bad as you think it is, some of the models are absolutely fantastic. I have the Elegoo and its probably the best investment ive made towards my painting/gaming hobby. I can design models with websites like HeroForge and make them for a blood bowl team. Download the STL files, load it up and print a full team. In fact this is saving me money from buying boxes and boxes of models. I think personally you should accept one and try out a few simple models it will change how you see resin. Try out the Low VOC Plant Based Resins or the Water Washable Resins both are very low smell. I know some of the points you make are good like the clean up, cure, gloves etc. BUT think back to before you started in the hobby. You bought paint, brushes, sprays, paper towel, rinse cups, models etc. All the costs and extras is no different then when starting out in any other hobby this one just requires you to have it all at once, you cant just buy gloves "next pay day" and slowly build towards it. Good video still I just think you need to try it out sometime.

[MrBizteck]

2:25 Atoms TOP TIP. You shouldn't have your hand in a 3d printer when its going. 🤣

[Stephanius]

I've been using an Anycubic Photon for over a year now and I'm very happy with my purchase, even though the prices dropped after I bought. I want to chime in on two points.

Firstly, usability. Once I set the correct exposure times for the resin, the printer has been working basically like a inkjet printer. Start a job, wait for it to finish, done. These DLP printers are mechanically much simpler than the FDM printers, so there is really no tuning or fiddling with it. I levelled the bed last sometime last year. I've put magnetic sheets on the printers windows - a cardbord box would do the same I guess - and just leave the resin in there. Not emptying the reservoir each time means less exposure to resin, no broken FEP film and less resin and alcohol wasted. Of course just like a paper printer, the key to making use of a resin printer is having the desired models to print. That can be either purchased digital models for personal use, CC-licensed models available without charge on the internet or of course self-made models. That is the exact same situation as with an FDM printer.

Next, smell and risk. Smell is subjective and but can be handled. Either by running a hose outside or today by using less smelly resin. Resin needs to be treated with care. For me that is covered by a metal tray on which the printer and the bottles stand, gloves for handling the material and not fully cured prints, as well as a dedicated small ultrasonic cleaner and a UV light box.

[TehHellequin]

There's a vastly important difference between 'has a bad smell' and 'will damage your internal organs if you inhale it'.
Feel free to spray or paint whatever in your garage if you don't plan on spending the next hour in that same space.
That's not the same as 'can't smell it, must be safe.' I think the lack of distinction between smell and actual danger is in itself a dangerous omission.

[Gamgan]

The "goop" isnt that that bad. Its easy to work with but your right, its a whole new hobby with a learning curve.

[Wolfinc]

I know this video is a bit older now, but there are a few things I must add:
. FDM (filament) printers are able to print adequate 28 mm scale miniatures. The catch is that you have to have them tuned in, use smoothers, use a fine enough nozzle, and fine enough layer height. A “standard” FDM printer comes with a .3 or .4 nozzle, which is really too large to print great detail at 28 mm scale. Change to a .2, and set your layer height for .5, or slightly less, and you will be able to print passable 28 mm miniatures (though not as detailed as resin ones).

With a bit more investment, you can make cleaning up resin prints a breeze. Purchasing a wash and cure machine, for around $150-200.00 is a great investment. An inexpensive ultrasonic cleaner is a great idea, as well - you can get then from $30.00+. With both of theses devices, you can clean and cure an entire plate of miniatures in around ten minutes. I would still recommend using nitrile gloves, though, as you will need to handle uncured and semi-cured resin briefly, and exposure builds up over time.

There are many alternatives for cleaning resin prior to curing. IPA is popular, but really does not do a great job. I have been using “Resinaway” instead of IPA for several years now, with no complaints. It is especially effective when used in conjunction with a wash and cure machine. Resinaway does have an odour, but is perfectly safe, according to the MSDS. It has a much higher (or should that be lower?) burning point than IPA, so the risk of fires is reduced.

New resins are being developed all the time. I am partial to the “rapid” resin range, which is made by the same company that does ResinAway. Rapid resin is available in many different types, which mimic much of what is available in filament ranges. Want tough resin? yep. Flexible resin? Yep? Resin that is crystal clear when cured (something yet to be effectively achieved in FDM printing)? Check. You can even get inks to mix with your resin, so you can create your own colours. Add them to white resin for string colours, or add them to clear, for transparent/opaque colours (depending on whether you want it see through or not - increase the amount of dye to reduce transparency, and increase opaqueness…).

I backed the Sparkmaker FHD on Kickstarter a few years back, and was not disappointed. I print for at least a couple of hours every day, most days of the week. I have replaced the FEP film twice (once, to see if the eventual “cloudiness” of the film was effecting my prints - it was not - and once, because I accidentally pierced it while swapping resins - solved by purchasing an extra tank, so I could run two tanks alternately, with my two commonly used resins). I have replaced my LCD screen once, as I managed to damage it trying to remove split resin from the surface (as a result of the damaged FEP film, previously noted…). The LED light block is listed as being a consumable, as it has a tendency to burn out after long periods of use. I do have a spare, but have not needed to replace it to date - I have either been lucky, or my non-constant use of the machine hasn’t pushed the block beyond its tolerances, yet.

If you are interested in printing you own miniatures (either of your own design, through a Patreon, or even from Thingiverse), I firmly believe a resin printer is the way to go. They have far less maintenance required than an FDM printer, and print in far less time, per full build plate, than an FDM printer.

That being said, do some research on the resins and cleaners you plan to use. Much of the older resins and cleaners are toxic, but the newer stuff is far safer, with much of it being deemed “safe” as far as toxicity goes.

[dante]

I'd reccomend trying resin printer for a month or so and then reshooting this video. I wager it would be very different than it is now.

[IanJoshuaSantosallthingian]

Yes, I agree. 3D printing is another hobby.

Wargaming is already like 4 hobbies combined! Buying, building, painting, and playing!

[Numerlon]

"When it's cold or raining or apocalyptic"
Oh how ironic

[JohnsRoses]

The common weather conditions of cold, windy, and apocalyptic.

[MrJones]

I could hear this guy talk about anything. His voice is the most calming thing i've ever heard

[Brdfpry]

I own a Formlabs Form2 which is just outstanding (2700€), so much so, that my friend got himself an anycubic photon (250€).

I never new why people would complain about resin printer odor, since I cant really smell mine. But as it turns out, DLP (the cheap resin printers) need a more aggressive resin to work with the screens low light and thus have a chemical component added that allows for better storage - and that chemical REALLY smells. But its not just the Printer that has that strong resin odor, also the prints itself will smell. Thankfully this is not an Issue with the Formlabs resin.

Also the post processing of a resin print is easier than a FDM (filament based) print. Its really not as gooey and drippy as described in the video. The resin has a really high viscosity and just does not drip. I drop my prints directly into the isopropanol bath which is right next to my printer and wash it. My desk is covered in tinfoil, so if some of the iso/resin splashes out, it lands on the thinfoil cover. The post processing of a model takes ~60 minutes all in all which is on par with my FDM works (washing/sading)

Another big difference between low cost/high cost resin printers is the precsision. Screen based printers suck if you want to use them for mechanical prototypes. My friend and I were quite surprised when we saw how off the dimensions of the printed parts were. The reason being the size of the pixels. Cheap printers (dlp) use a digital screen to cure the resin, relying on pixels. A pixel in the Photon printer has a diameter of 0.047mm. So all geometries the screen does project are multiples of this. But since the resin is not exactly on the screen, the light "fans out" a bit before it hits the resin, reducing its precision even more. We experimented a bit and found out that its possible to deviate up to 0, 4mm from the intended dimension.

So in my opinion the low cost printers are precise enough to get pretty results for our hobby, but not for mechanical engineering. Furthermore they require a seperate room because of the odor.
High cost printers produce top notch prints that are (near) indistinguishable from injection molded products, dont have the odor but also cost a significant amount more. If you only want it for your hobby and not business, I would recommend sticking with shapeways for now :)

[flintread]

I am using an Elegoo Saturn with an active charcoal filter fan in the machine (no smell) and an Anycubic wash and cure plus. there is no goop and within 20 mins of a plate being finished I am ready to paint and my models ae now safe to handle. It so much easier than it was in the old days. It's literally plug and play nowadays no tweaking required my first print on the Saturn was a 200mm bust of Tarkin and it was flawless you can actually see individual skin scales and pores in the surface. It's mind blowing for detail.

[deltafur]

-video is called "Why I don't want a 3D printer"
-YouTube does ad for 3D printer