The New 3D Printing Thread

[Super]

Looking good Nigels

Question: Compared to the PLA 3D Prints, how much more flexible is the resin especially as it relates to the clip that holds the shell to the chassis?

Now that is the million $ question

As with all these things its not a simple answer, the 'normal' resins (consider them the equivalent of PLA filament) are rather brittle once cured.  However on the plus side they do tend to be stronger and don't suffer from the weakness of layer de-lamination which can happen with FDM prints.  Having said that at the sort of thickness this shell is printed the tabs should be quite strong but flexible enough to fit the shell etc.

Now it is possible to get more flexible resins, in fact the reason I bought this clear blue resin was that Elegoo's claims were that they had a new formulation which exhibits less smell (good thing) and more flexibility, they referred to it being more like ABS than PLA in the FDM world.  So I bought a bottle to try it, because I do find that very minute details such as antennae etc... on miniatures can be too brittle with standard resin.  Unfortunately I've found this resin to be just as bad if not even more brittle than the standard ones I'd used before.  I've had a long chat going with Elegoo on FB to try to establish if indeed I had the new formula or if it was old stock as it turns out the only way to tell is the production date on the bottle, but they insist it is the new formulation.  So it doesn't as far as I can see live up to the claims.

There are other resins that are specifically made to be more flexible, but they are more difficult to get hold of and are quite a bit more expensive, so for now I will be using the standard types until I either find a cheaper source or more formulations hit the market - it seems there are plenty in the pipeline.

[Super]

Thanks Nigels

Now that I think of it, its not the Tabs that really need flexible but more the area's just above the tabs where the plastic would have to give inward just a little to release the Tabs from the chassis like at every battery change.

Exactly and with the size of the model there is I believe enough give in the shell to do that without it cracking or breaking.  If I can find a suitable chassis I'll try mounting it on one to be sure

A couple of recent prints, the first is a set of 'Ariete' tanks printed at MicroArmor scale (1/160), so are about 2cm long including the gun barrel, the colour doesn't really show it, but the detail is still pretty good, I need to apply a wash to highlight it.



The second is a bust of Deadpool run on the Ender 3, just to show I've not given up on FDM printers, this still has the supports attached, but the finish is superb, now if only I could get that finish on some bridges I can think of I'd be well happy.  Maybe I'll try printing one with a different filament see how it goes

[Super]

That dead pool guy is pretty smooth looking and that sword sticking out his back looks perfect.

My thoughts too Super, I think I got another reel of that filament type kicking around, if I do I'm going to print one of the bridges using that to see how the finish comes out. If we get a better result that I've had to date I may go in search of a different branded grey to see if I can make something that lives up to my standards

[Super]

Here's some random pictures of some recent prints from (mostly) the resin printer, but also the calibrated version of the bridge print (sorry about the colour), although bear in mind this latter one has the supports still in place

These are pictures of a resin 'tudor rose' I've been printing to use as decoration on a FDM (Ender 3) printed 'Tudor Secret Box', I'll post a picture of the full thing once its assembled.  It's quite a nice thing with a nice secret




Next up is a model of the original Lando Calrision Millenium Falcon as seen in the movie 'Solo' before it got beat up by Solo, accompanied by a few random Warhammer type models


Last of the resin prints is a model of the Star Ship Enterprise as seen in the series 'Enterprise' (i.e. pre-Kirk);


Finally the FDM printed Tomy Bridge replica that I've been working on with Super, this one has the supports still in place, so the bits under the arch that look rough should be ignored as should the inserts in the cut-outs on the arch itself;



One last thing, I'm not sure if I posted this before, but here's some 'micro-armour' scale model tanks - these are 1/285th scale approximately so very very small, these were all printed as a single batch on the resin printer;

[Super]

That Tudor Rose looks beautiful, how big is it?

I have to laugh as the Tanks remind me of cough drops