3D-printer and first objects

One of local electronics shops, Kjell & Company, has started to sell 3D-printers and I looked at one of their videos on how it worked and was sooooo tempted.

I showed it to Mrs Miniaturesman and The Daughter and you have to figure a conversation going something like this

Mr Miniaturesman: Hey, look at this.

Mrs Miniaturesman: Bah, useless.

Daughter: Cool!

Mr: I do think one could find a lot of uses for it, really, and it’s plug and play and finally affordable.

Mrs: Bah, useless.

Daughter: Coooool!

Mr: The Oldest Son could learn to program 3D objects.

Mrs: Bah, useless. You want it for your hobbies, I guess.

Mr: Ehr, yes, obviously.

Daughter: Cool

Mrs: Bah, useless, but buy one if you want to.

Mr: Considering the ability to print spare parts and such I think the potential…. (long silence) … What did you say?

Mrs: You seem to want one a lot and I’ve heard you talking a lot about the tech, so go on and buy one.

Mr: (silence)

Next day I bought one.

Printing a wall section with the transparent PLA-filament that was supplied with the printer. The small 1/4 kg spool is situated under the print-bed. Handy if you want it out of the way, but annoying as you can't see how much is left until between prints when you remove the print-bed.

Since then it’s gone hot (well, obviously) and I’ve printed this and that to try it out and check what works and what doesn’t. It’s a lot of trial and error, which setting to use for which sort of piece and so on. With a spreadsheet on all my experiments with notes on what worked and what didn’t (yes, I’m an engineer at heart) I think I’ve started to get a hang of it now.

A soon bought a large spool of white PLA-filament and feed it from an obviously home-made external source.

Most of the stuff is from Printable Scenery and their Winterdale 2 Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign. If you’re interested in their products they have a new campaign at Kickstarter with a lot of ruins and a chance to buy into some of the stuff from the previous campaign.

This is some of the stuff that’s printed so far:

Some of the first objects I printed, from different sources.

Parts for a large tower.

A medieval crane for the harbour.

Walls, painted and ready for action

More walls, a grave-monument, two pieces of pier and some stone slabs.

A small mausoleum. This was printed with thin walls and is very fragile. One of those learning experiences.

A test on statues, printed with different layer thicknesses. 50, 150, 200 and 300 micrometer.

There is a noticeable layering, but it looks okay for stone structures and wood if it goes with the grain. If you want steel plates then it will probably be less than satisfactory. It all depends on what you want from your terrain, I guess. Seen from an arm-length away most looks perfectly presentable.

All in all, this is a great buy for a first printer. It’s affordable, plug-and-play, easy to use and looks nice. There are downsides, one is the limited print-volume, but Printable Scenery has everything made in both larger pieces and also in smaller modules that you can fit into this printer.

You’ll see quite a lot of printed stuff here in the future.

Welcome new follower Lorenzo Calvi with the blog Zerloon Place, where you'll find pulp, fantasy, SF and more. Give it a try!
A big "Hi!" to Google + follower Mark with blog £1 Wargames Rules, where you might find some downloadable scenery for your ordinary printer.