A Quick Intro to 3D Printing Terrain with FDM Printers

Matthew walks you through the basics of what you'll need to know in order to 3D print your own terrain using FDM 3D printers.

Matthew's 3D printer recommendations:

Great places to start:

[veryspethal]

Hey, I've had a printer for a long time and seen a lot of 3D printing youtube. Your new channel is absolutely up there as one of the best already. Your style, information quality, firsthand anecdotes and clear love of the hobby are amazing. Great work.

[gremlinchet]

My partner and I make art figurines (not super high detail ones like minifigs) and have been considering moving from resin casting to 3D printing our figurines, and your videos have been the most digestible and approachable to my brain. I've been so overwhelmed by it all. Thank you for making these videos - this one and your resin printing intro are both great. Definitely subscribing.

[jasonmoquin]

Great job, Matt! Loving the series and the content is very informative! 👍

[PilotSun-rgbh]

These are a great help! Thank you Matt!

[hawkwing]

Another great option especially for the miniature wargaming perspective is the Prusa Mini which is less than $500 delivered for mostly assembled (I think it took me 15 or 20 min to start the first print). It has a smaller build volume than the Prusa MK3 but is about the same level or reliability.

Regarding the speed of the BambooLabs X1 Carbon, from what's been shown on the Prusa MK4 is much closer to the X1 Carbon for speed with the recent release of input shaping and pressure advance. It's not surprising that the MK3 isn't as fast since it was first released in 2017 and the consumer 3D printing market has been rapidly advancing and changing during that entire time.

One of the hesitations I have with the BambooLabs printers over Prusa printers is that Prusa has a long proven history of solid designs with great ongoing support and consistent software updates that add valuable features while BambooLabs is a fairly new company without that history so we'll have to see how they do.

[dreaxuslordofdecay]

I'm in the US and usually call them allen wrenches, but I have also heard them referred to as hex keys.

[paladinpariah]

I cringed when you put your hand on the PLA spool while it was printing. I would be so scared it would mess up my print.

This is a great channel that has been awesome for my burgeoning printing career. I have an Anycubic Kobra 2 and it's been running non-stop for a month with no problems. Glad I didn't get a Creality...

Keep this awesome content coming.

[sentientbean]

Great video, nice and simple explanation.

[anthonyhawkins]

Allan Key here in the UK, been thinking of getting into 3d printing for terrain and minis, looking forward to seeing more of the process, cleaning etc, also would be interested to hear what your experiences have been with setting up a larger production line, problems you have experienced, how much printing you actually produce etc. Great content as always Matt, unfortunately didn't get time to say hi at WH Fest but great to see you there.

[envaya]

Thanks for the great vid Matt. I got 2 questions. I recently started looking at resin printers to print both miniatures and terrain for my local group. It seems as though noone uses resin to print large terrain pieces. I certainly wont be able to get both fdm and resin. Could you not print terrain models with resin printers in pieces?
2nd, what's your post processing for the Prusa printed terrain? Would be really keen to see how you get rid of the lines, is there a convenient sanding method? etc.

[bkpickell]

I must've gotten lucky. I've had my Ender 3 for like 5 years and haven't had to replace anything yet. It still runs great. I take that back. I did have to replace a tip, but that was my fault.

[MarkusHelgason]

In norwegian they are called Sekskantnøkkel (Hex key). Very informative video, thanks a lot!

[KnudAutlermann]

I have a resin printer but its not amazing for terrain. I had a pretty horrible experience with FDM so i havent wanted to go back, but this video was so instructional. Thanks Matt!! Very good video

[maxxon]

In Finland we call kuusiokoloavain.
In general, we don't use those "the guy who invented this -tool" names. Phillips screwdrivers are called ristipäämeisseli, describing the shape of the head instead.

[nordyke]

Hey Matt, this is Mat. I'm really, really struggling to get my printable scenery prints to work on a Kobra max. Do you have a recommendation for slicer settings? I've replaced almost all of the parts, the bowden tubes, nozzles, eeeeverything and I"m desperate to get this to work :(

[KarenPurdy-yw]

I am considering a 3D printer and am unsure what to get. I want to print minis and terrain for D&D ttrpg. What do you recommend. I would prefer an fdm to resin.

[grinningidiot]

The glue stick trick is much more valuable if you print in materials with low bed adhesion like ABS, or if you have a bare metal build plate. Both are things that are mostly out of fashion now. Also in regards to PLA, even though the actual printing doesn't seem to be effected by cheap PLA vs higher end PLA, I have encounters some cheap PLA that react with GW spray primer(and likely any spray paint because of the solvent in it) and get super brittle weeks to months after printing. I always recommend known value brands like Sunlu, Elegoo or even Amazon Basics PLA among other comparable priced products as a bare bones minimum of quality. The $5 per kg unbranded spools you find on ebay may leave you with models that fall apart in your hands after painting, but at the same time for tabletop terrain you don't need the $50 per kg premium PLA either. I normally encourage people new to printing to try a few 1/2kg or sample pack of a few different value filaments and when they find the one they like the results of best just buy that in bulk, same brand and even same color. Different pigment powders used to color the filaments can actually change how it flows at the same temperature changing the finish quality of a print produce with the same settings using 2 different colors of the same filament.

Now that you guys have your own print farm I can't help but wonder what ever happened to that original concept game you guys were developing like 10 years ago?

[ayalde]

Hi Matt!! Very cool video. Are you planning on more “advanced” videos? I recently read an article on fabaloo, which made a valid point about 3D printing splitting into “consumer” and “makers”. Meaning printers are either going to become easier, more plug and print, and require less tinkering or stay as they have actually are right now which require user input a lot. Curious to know what you think!

[curtcleancut]

Hey Matt - Great video and great content. I just bought a Elegoo Nepture 3 pro for terrain, and I'm new to the hobby as well. It looks like you're using some higher quality printer models so you're not having layer line issues. It would be really cool to learn how you dealt with layers line for economy printers that have layer lines in the past - especially for details terrains! Please keep up the great content - it's incredibly helpful!

[EmitSlab]

I got an Ender 3 v2 a few years ago, replaced a lot of things, added an auto-leveler, etc. Manually leveling the bed was so frustrating and the overall usage of it was such a pain.

I want to go for a P1P but worried I might still have issues, we got into 40K and wanting to print a bunch of terrain, and inserts, etc for board games.

Loving the videos!