this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2023
38 points (97.5% liked)

3DPrinting

15657 readers
152 users here now

3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.

The r/functionalprint community is now located at: !functionalprint@kbin.social or !functionalprint@fedia.io

There are CAD communities available at: !cad@lemmy.world or !freecad@lemmy.ml

Rules

If you need an easy way to host pictures, https://catbox.moe/ may be an option. Be ethical about what you post and donate if you are able or use this a lot. It is just an individual hosting content, not a company. The image embedding syntax for Lemmy is ![](URL)

Moderation policy: Light, mostly invisible

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I'm creating a board game that has custom 3d pieces. I'd like to test out my print before I send it to the game manufacturer and also want to make demo sets. They need a huge tooling fee before they'll do samples. There are app. 10 designs and no bigger than 45mm.

I'm not sure as to whether I should buy a starter printer or would the learning curve be so big that I should just have a POD company do it. I know blender really well but have never printed anything from a file. I was going to make the file from blender for the company too. Any thoughts? I think my SO and I would use it for other things, probably, maybe, if it's not so complicated that I give up on it.

Thanks for any advice on this, I don't know what direction to point on this and I have a ton of work to do already.

Edit: You guys are awesome. I went from totally lost to ordering the Neptune 3 Pro and it should be here next week. Thanks for everything and I hope it goes pretty smoothly, I'll keep you posted. Thanks again.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] CaptainFlintlockFinn@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If your pieces are detailed I’d recommend a resin printer. I just got an anycubic photon mono x2 and I’m finding it excellent. I printed this x-wing a couple days ago.

[–] fsniper@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I started 3d printing with resin printing too. But do you think it's a good entry point for op's this purpose?

[–] CaptainFlintlockFinn@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago

Really depends on the models in my opinion. Small highly detailed models would do better in resin.

I started in FDM and then went to resin. For me resin is way easier. Far less fiddling with hardware.

[–] PeleSpirit@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The quote from the company said it was PVC, should I care about that? Great models btw, way more detail than I have.

[–] CaptainFlintlockFinn@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They said they’d do the injection moulding in PVC? If so you’d be fine making prototypes/demos in resin.

Also, have you in to the game crafter to see if they can do what you need?

[–] PeleSpirit@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes, they saw most of my blender models and said that was the best choice. Not sure as to why, is that weird?

Also, have you in to the game crafter to see if they can do what you need?

I'm not sure of what that is, is that a community?

[–] CaptainFlintlockFinn@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] PeleSpirit@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

https://www.thegamecrafter.com/

Wow, as I said, I'm new to this type of design. I just found a company someone recommended and haven't really looked elsewhere. Thanks for that link.