Workhorses: Our Printers

Workhorses: Our Printers

I've been printing for a few years now and some people ask what I'm currently printing the miniatures and gaming accessories on. So let's do a little breakdown.

Resin Printers

I run two resin printers as my daily drivers for miniatures and some smaller terrain pieces. I use both an Elegoo Mars 2 Pro and an Elegoo Saturn. Both of these printers have been stable workhorses since their acquisition. The Mars 2 Pro recently needed a new screen during our last FEP change. To go with the 2 resin printers and to help contain their mess, I run an Anycubic Wash & Cure Plus for, well, washing and curing. It has been a great boon to my workflow compared to my previous individual ultrasonic cleaner and separate cure-box.

For resolution, both resin printers are set to print at .04mm layer heights and can finish prints anywhere from as little as 45 minutes to 10 hours for larger pieces. Even with that speed some prints still push my machines to the limits, such as the Brachiosaurus Caravan from Lord of the Print which requires 7 different prints on the Saturn.

I use 2 resins currently, though I am testing a third. My Saturn runs Weistek ABS-like resin, preferably in Gray when it is available, though I really like the White I have been dying with an alcohol ink. Sometimes, I grab the Weistek ABS-like Blue! It really stands out as a beautiful resin. My Mars 2 Pro usually runs Elegoo ABS-like Gray, but is currently running Atlas Vulcan Gray. The Elegoo Gray does a great job, but I am seriously considering making Vulcan a permanent change on the Mars!

FDM Printer

I am honestly newer to the FDM printing as I got my start on the Resin side of things, but I've got it mostly figured out and having been getting some great results. I hope to upgrade to a larger printer in the future from my current rig. Speaking of...

I currently print my FDM prints on an Elegoo Neptune 2. It's an Ender 3 v2 clone that does a great job. I usually print at .2mm layer height on a .4 nozzle. It's print bed does limit me just a little bit, but that doesn't stop me from trying! I've printed a couple of small airships from Arcane Minis and a few Dice towers from Fates End and Xykit as well as a few pieces from the Magicrate set. They've turned out great and I am excited to finally list some of these pieces!

What filament do I use? Well, I'm partial to two brands here lately, Printed Solid's Jessie PLA and PolyMaker's PLA. Both have given me great results at a decent price point, but they also come with one other factor that leads me to paying a bit more for them: recyclable cardboard spools. Most filament comes on a spool that can really only be thrown away if you can't repurpose it, but all of my power cables are wound and I have 10 spools I can't do anything with. It really is a bummer to just throw them away when I can't give them away. So Printed Solid and PolyMaker provide the better spool option, in my opinion. And while yes, it does mean my prices are a little higher, I find that comes with better peace of mind in the long run.

 

Future Plans

I hope to continue growing and to do that, I would need more printers. I would love to acquire something like an Elegoo Jupiter or Phrozen Mega for those super sweet 13-15 inch screens and on the FDM side I'd love a larger format option like the Ender 5 plus. Larger FDM printer would mean the ability to print full-size helmets in 1-2 pieces instead of having to split and assemble them. But who knows? We'll see where the wind takes us and go from there.
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