Bought a Bambu A1 Mini after seeing a print sample (along with 20+ other competing printers) at Microcenter. Got it solely because the smoothness of the printed surface was so close to that of my several year old resin printer. Perfect for vehicles, but I'll probably stick to resin for infantry minis. Particularly because my resin printer exposes each layer all at once. So same print time for one or 10 pieces.
@@lyndongaming Resin is slightly toxic and has some fumes that can give headaches and other side effects... well ventilated areas are needed or a really good air filtration. Rubber gloves when handling the finished model and cleanup from drips and the occasional spill (no one is perfect) Using IPA to clean and using UV light to cure the printed objects. Slicing the models so that there is no uncured pockets of resin within the objects and to save on resin costs discreet drainage holes are recommended as well. Resin is something to research before getting into so you know what to expect.
Honestly, 11 hours per model is fine. I compare FDM print times to shipping times. If I ordered some models from a resin printer on Etsy, it would take at least a week for them to arrive. In that same time, I could print 14 terminators for only a couple dollars worth of filament.
@@docpepperclassic some people are impatient and like to have all their models done and waiting while they paint, I personally don’t mind the longer print times since I’m often not painting faster then I’m printing
A few observations-- gyroid is pretty, but it's slowing you down. Bambu defaults to grid, but it may make people's heads explode. Bambu Lab has a new infill pattern called 'crosshatch' which might be worth exploring. For support, try setting to "tree", with type "organic", and check "only on build plate", but UNCHECK "remove small overhangs"-- might be robbing you of detail. Since you're doing multi-material with the AMS, consider using a layer of PETG for the interface between the support and the print-- PLA and PETG by default don't stick to each other very well, so the tree supports tend to just fall off.
I tend to print more functional items and therefore prefer gyroid, but for miniatures, the "lightening" infill might be the best. PETG for support with PLA prints can be really nice, but I've found that "flushing" values need to be cranked up, otherwise there isn't a clean separation.
@@the_luminary I can't include links, but you can search for "bambu orcaslicer flushing volumes" to learn a lot more. Basically, flushing (with an "L") is how much filament is flushed after a filament swap. Whenever filament has been run through the nozzle _some_ of it will be left behind (this is why, if you've ever used non-food safe filament in a printer you should _never_ use that printer to print food-safe items). When switching between colors of the same filament type these values can be vary a lot. For example, going from a blue pla to a black pla, if a little bit of the blue is mixed in, it won't really be noticeable, so you flush very little filament. However, if you're going from black pla to a white pla, remnants of the black will be more noticeable, so the goal is to flush the mixture until you won't be able to notice the difference. When switching between filament types for the purpose of easily separable supports, you basically want to flush out as much of the old filament as reasonably possible, because having the two types mixed defeats the purpose. (This is actually one of the big cons of having a single nozzle multi-material approach. Independent nozzles per material don't have to deal with this.)
I sometimes wait in front of the resin printer for it to finish because I am so eager, and other times I start the print at night and I get it cured after I come back from work. So the printing time really only matters sometimes, in my opinion.
But a print failure at any point during a super long FDM print can mean a worthless print at best, a flaming smoking spaghetti mess at worst. I've had extruders completely encased in melted filament. That's fun to excavate...
Yeah but you wish your resin printer had built in curing station... kinda lame that we have to do extra steps. It's why I never use my creality halot one even tho the quality is amazing better than a bambu a1 or a1 mini BUT on a1 mini prints are stronger and jjst gives me something finished and no supports no crap no hand poisons
I did a lot of miniature printing with my A1 mini before I got a resin printer, and they can be very impressive and look way more than good enough to use for a game. The issue I ran into was durability. If you have a character with very thin parts, like a sword, and just a small character with a small arm, the sword and the hands break off 9 times out of ten just getting the supports off. That was really what pushed me to get a resin printer. My fdm printer is still my work horse for terrain.
I’ve been using my Bambu Labs A1 Mini for the past two months, primarily for printing terrain pieces. When it comes to miniatures, though, my resin printer still delivers superior results. I don’t see myself switching from SLA to FDM for mini prints anytime soon; resin just provides the detail and quality I’m looking for. Still a good video and case for FDM prints.
@@AaronPritchard-tg4zz You can do that, but the print time skyrockets and is extremely wasteful. The purge tower is massive since it has to change between so many times.
Have you tried using TPU for miniatures? I printed a Roblox Character using 95A TPU, and it was fairly durable. Long and thin parts can work really well for TPU if they are printed in the right orientation.
Try out the Variable Layer Height option in the slicer! It'll let you get that super-fine 0.06mm height where it matters, and crank all the way back to 0.2 or 0.28mm where it doesn't. IME you can get perceptually identical results in 2/3 the time if not less.
PAINTING. I printed fdm miniatures for years and managed to get good results like shown in the video. That being said, you are going to have a rough time painting. Unless you rely heavily on airbrush and rattle cans, you'll find the layer act like a sponges (terrible for washes or thin paints like contrast or speed paints). FDM is great for terrain but not something I recommend for minis (especially if you enjoy the painting part of the hobby).
@@OnceinaSixSide I found automotive primer works REALLY well. There are WalMart brands meant for bodywork that will dry enough to sand in 15 minutes. It dries so fast it can't soak into the PLA.
I use Rustoleum sprays on my terrain, though depending on how matte I want it I’ll sometimes go over with another spray afterward, no biggie and worth doing on terrain, then you’ve helped cover layer lines a bit (not as much an issue with these modern machines) and no sponging. Also protects PLA a bit better from the environment too
@@charleshill9546 resin is a toxic b**ch. I mean it. Did 3,5 yrs apprenticeship in a specialised workshop. Some resins made me look like an Ogre for like half a week, when my facial skin came into contact with it.... To be 100% clear, FDM should be the default for 95% of us hobbyists. And we didn't even start talking about the environmental dangers...
I picked up an A1 a month or so ago and have been amazed at how easy it is to use. It's handled everything I've thrown at it, no problem. I've been using it to print scenery, buildings and some modelling tools and it's been wonderful. I don't have the AMS yet, but next time it rolls around on sale, I'll be getting one for sure 😊😊
You really gotta get the ams, you'll realize how much you're missing and no it doesn't waste any filament at all, that's just lame people who don't know how to use the slicer to make single color changes. Lile u can print a dog tag, white then black text on top and it's just 1 color change poop and no waste. So get the ams. Also great for auto changing to same color when it's out so u can load up 4 spools and print something huge or large amounts. Trust me u will love the ams after u see a few custom prints like adding text etc
The one tip I rarely see for 3D printing, which applies to other printers/CURA, is if your print is "ghosting." It may not be calibration that is echoing the designs but a setting. Uncheck "infill before walls." Example: If you are printing a billboard, with the letters sticking outward, and you see the letters faintly following the previous one printing, it is the infil pushing outwards against the outerwall.
@@SpringfieldFatts You are welcome, give it a try. I was having issues finding out why I was seeing echoes, especially on the calibration blocks, and I found it buried in a comment years old. It fixed all my ghosts.
Just a tip about the isopropyl alcohol, if your bed surface is PEI it's soluble in isopropyl alcohol. As it wears and you get micro scratches it will start to absorb more alcohol when you wipe it. If it doesn't evaporate off before the print starts it lowers the adhesion.
PEI is completely impervious to alcohols. PEI is not resistant to partially halogenated hydrocarbons (most cholo / halo groups of solvents), but they are not used in cleaning products anyway.
@@elmodiddly That said, slightly soapy water also seems to work fine for most use cases. Using the Bambu liquid glue and printing PLA in my experience.
I print miniatures in filament, my army tau is printed entirely in FDM, I'm happy to see content like this, I used to use an ender 3, today I use an S1 pro, I'm looking for a K1 max, it's an Great option for those who have problems with respiratory allergies
@@OnceinaSixSide good for titans, and big guys like Imperial Knights, Tanks and airplanes. For details, After priming, 80% of the defects disappear, and depending on the painting technique, the defects may not be noticeable. I say that I went a little outside the norm, even making Breachers, terminators and even Gk strike squad, all in filament I would like to show my results, but I don't even know how, I don't know if I should start a channel for this, or if I should post the photos somewhere.
My friend had a K1Max and couldn't get it to work right. He would do small test prints and everything seemed fine but anything over a certain size, nothing but errors. He worked it out in the end that it was because the frame isn't as rigid as it could be and the flex only showed in larger prints.
I care alot about detail, i ususally sit with my minis just looking at them. But i dont wanna get a resin printer since i am underage and live with my family. Would you say that this printer used in the video would be a good alternative? Can i use sandpaper so smooth out surfaces? I dont care about printing time and i play space marines
For a more uniform exterior wall appearance, consider using 3+ walls and the Inner/Outer/Inner wall ordering. That lays the inner most wall down first where if there are any pressure issues or blobs, they will be hidden from the world. Then the outer wall is laid down, where it is more likely to be uniform with other outer walls, and then the remaining inner walls between the inner most wall and the outer wall will be filled in. On those remaining inner walls if there is any excess (think a filling between two pieces of bread getting squeezed slight) it will be hidden versus with the default wall ordering of Inner/Outer where any excess will cause the outer wall to be pushed out slightly as it is the last wall printed. This won't help much if the print is too small and various parts have 2 or less walls, which is possible on smaller models, but on your tank model it should noticeably help the outer walls where I could see lots of layer lines. On a print with 2 walls, Outer/Inner will produce slightly better results than the default Inner/Outer as long as there are not any severe overhangs to deal with. In those severe overhang cases Inner/Outer *may* work better because the inner wall will likely have more purchase and then the outer wall can join/grab on to the inner wall, but your mileage may vary. I hope all of that makes sense.
As someone who lives in an apartment with kids, I really can't get a resin printer. I'm so glad FDM printers are increasing their print quality to present a viable alternative.
@@burningphoneix I mean also ,yes resin printer can print massiv armys in days but do you really paint as fast as you print also at one point you stop printing , people will be play with there armys for a bit maby at a new model after a game or try new units , but most people dont print whole diffrent armys back to back
@@burningphoneix Yes, it's asinine. It's not like you're watching it finish. Print, leave it alone, touch grass, and come back when it's done. They're also pointing out the "high" electricity cost due to the long print times. FDM printers barely pull power at all after the initial heat-up. Besides, FDM's electricity cost is a paltry sum compared to the cost of disposable gloves, tissue papers, respirator cartridges, and good old 99% isopropyl alcohol.
I highly recommend using the "ironing" feature. It makes the topmost layer feel completely smooth. I've started using a smooth PEI plate on my P1S and with ironing, you can get some really incredible results.
Probably get a bit of a efficiency bump splitting arms, heads, and weapons, onto a plate to print at the .6 for max detail where it counts, and then mash out body's and bases on the .8 or even higher could probably be done and covered during paint.
My son has a resin printer. There is no way I could put up with the fumes and mess. I had already decided to buy a bambu labs P1S for printing miniatures and projects for my slot car track I wasn’t sure how detailed the peaces would turn out. You have shown me that filament printing is the right choice. Thank you.
He didn't show how simple the software and model pushes to the printer are either. I have had more issues with paper printers not working then my P1s. Both my brother in law and myself bought them, he uses it for shop work and I use mine for electronics and household items. Simple and easy. Pull the trigger, you won't regret it.
@@jimjohnson3410 I have printed road barriers, tall and lower light stands, working roller doors for my pit garages, a skylight for my casino. A Michelin man. Cheers
Mate, so glad you finally got one of these printers. They really are a game changer and are more like an appliance than a DIY thing. I've had my X1C for a few years now and NEVER have to mess with it. It. Just. Works. 1st time, every time. And if it doesn't it's usually because I forgot something and it's impossible to correct for the human :D Now we just need them to make a resin printer!
@@brodriguez11000 I have spent less time being pissed and annoyed at my P1S then I have at some of my prior printers. They actually spent time on the software making it very plug and play. If you are just printing existing models it's pretty darn close except taking the plate out and putting it back in. The big difference is when you start wanting to make edits to a model then the disparity gets very large.
I have a tip: if the isopropyl alcohol isn't working between prints. Take the sheet off and wash it with dawn dishsoap. The Isopropyl/acetone does great at removing any plastic remains, but it does nothing if you have any oils from your hands on it. Took me a few days of trying to figure out why I couldn't get any print to stick, from slicer settings to calibration. This one trick was the answer. I haven't used the textured sheets as of yet, but for the flat metal sheet on my prusa so ymmv depending on your sheet type.
@@MrGarkin IPA/Acetone are perfect for day to day printing. I only wash mine when I'm having issues with first layer calibration. Don't get me started on PEI. It was a good idea at the time.
Thank you for the video, I bought an A1 Mini because of you. It will be my first 3D printer (will arrive next week). I hope to get good results like you 😊
For the Hobby they have booth there spots and compliment each other very well. It is cool that I could print Terrain in Resin and Mini's in FDM, but I'm fortunate enough (and I hope you all too!) to have two printers, each for their specific job.
I don’t have a FDM printer, I was always skittish about getting one because of sometime there is poor results, but seeing this I might get one! Not for miniature, but definitely for terrain.
I have an AnyCubic Vyper. Cheap, reliable, easy to set up. For terrain it's 100% awesome and you can print pretty fast. Vehicles? Go a bit slower, stick to a somewhat thin layer. Infantry can be a bit tricky. You have to play with settings a bit more. I print it SLOW, 0.06mm layers, a couple second pause between layers, and careful on supports. Stuff like less-ornate Warhammer 40k Marines print really well, stuff with flying ribbons, fiddly bits, or micro-inscriptions not so much. Is it fast? LOL hell no. However, when I can print 120 infantry with a single roll of $20 filament when a box of 10 is $45 I can wait a few days. If I have a bits-box I'll usually forgo weapons/heads and just use those.
My husband and I have two Bambu printers. 3Dprinting is getting better. They are excellent at making terrain and some fine detail, its not quite there yet in making little minis. Resin printers are needed for that still. I can't wait till it gets better.
Its really amazing how far FDM printers have come w/regards to mini printing! They really are a viable alternative to resin if time isn't a problem for you, However, if you think your FDM printer is fume-safe please get a VOC capable monitor and test your workspace. I print in a 162 sq ft room with good ventilation. I'm using a Temtop air quality meter and the background TVOC measurement (when no printing is going on is 0.18 mg/cubic meter. When I print with my Bambu Labs A1 mini my TVOC rapidly shoots up to 2.18 TVOC measured 3 ft from the printer. Most safety sites tell me the 'good' air quality is no more than 0.5 TVOC. Yes, resin printers raise the TVOC even higher but some people act like they don't have any safety worries around FDM printers
Tips for newbies: Subscribe to CNC Kitchen (most of the following tips are a direct result of his testing) PETG is NOT stronger than PLA PLA will outperform in most cases except for temperature resistance and some types of impact. FDM can be highly sensitive to environment so a drying method and temperature control method should be part of your added infrastructure with the printer itself ALWAYS keep your bed clean, levelled (less important with BL printers that do that for you), and make sure you understand the full breadth of bed material maintenance Finally, if you want stronger parts increase your WALL COUNT not infill. High infill gives more rigid parts but does much less to strengthen the part overall. Layer orientation is MUCH more important than in resin prints, make sure you're orienting your parts in a way that will yield the results you need. Learn parametric modelling (onshape is great, I use it in videos all the time and it's free)
For big terrain pieces and giant models, I highly suggest looking into using a soldering iron to weld the parts together. I got a wood burning kit that comes with 10 or so nibs. If there are enclosed parts that you don't need to look perfect, it works amazingly and cools off almost instantly. I printed a 12 piece Battletech Dropship about a 7" Dia Sphere and welding the parts together was infinitely better and quicker than glue. You could also sort of tig weld but melting the spool material into edges. I was also able to weld/heat and push in a eyebolt and then add material on the other side to strengthen the bond.
Good to see people again playing with FDM machines for tabletop. As for tips and tricks, the A1 and K1 are fantastic low effort machines, but these days even the classic ender upgrades (the v3 and such) are getting fantastic with things like Klipper in built even if they dont have multi filament. Multifilament is not as useful for non 3d printing hobbyists. If you want to use it to print things to paint I'd reccommend getting a cheaper machine without it. FDM printers are geniunely fantastic as you said for any large model, and the prints are a lot more friendly to welding (abs and asa for example) and hardware than their resin counter parts. Additionally they are fantastic for assemblies. If you want opening doors, hidden weapon caches, scatter terrain with functional mechanisms you should use an fdm printer these mechanisms are just not possible in resin because of how resin prints but they are trivial in fdm. FDM materials especially PLA, PETG and ABS are also around half the price of similar resins making the clean up, and sanding a lot more worth it for large prints. Instead of buying a bigger resin printer it may be worth it to consider FDM if your reasoning for wanting one centers on terrain, vehicles or cosplay and props.
I'm also a very happy Bambulabs A1 owner. I haven't been cleaning the bed off between prints with alcohol when going PLA to PLA prints with my A1 and had almost zero problems with it. Only when I've used gluestick for other materials have I cleaned that off using alcohol. The main area to watch out for is near the grab tab of the plate as that part may get more oils from fingers and the edge gets cooled better as is overhangs the bed.
Just a tip for that cilider model. It can be printed within 2-3 hours if you use a 5% infill and/or a centered cilidrical modifier Oh...and Wipe down the plate with acetone for no residual micro waste and best bed adhesion. 👏
If anyone is having trouble with bed adhesion, the thing I picked up that helped me a ton was to apply a bit of glue from a glue stick on the print bed. Aside from some occasional, barely noticeable white marks that disappear with the slightest bit of rubbing with a finger, it doesn't affect the prints at all. When I first started using this method, I would clean the plate with alcohol and re-apply the glue before each print, but I abandoned that long ago. Now, I simply apply a layer of glue to a bed plate, and that's it. I never clean or re-apply, and that plate will never, ever give me adhesion problems!!! This is just a me thing, and I'm using a Creality Ender 3 v3 SE. Happy printing all!
I'm sick of the health risks and mess that comes with resin printing but I am an insane stickler for quality and detail in my prints, so I figured I could never switch to FDM. Seeing the results of the 0.2 nozzle and 0.06mm layers, I'm kind of seeing a ray of hope here. Just gotta push myself to take the plunge now. I really don't care if my minis take 24 hours.
For those unaware, you can reasonably bump down the infill to like 3 to 5% with no loss to strength and much faster prints. The strength is mostly from the walls anyway as these aren't load bearing prints
That .2 nozzle and the .06 layer height is a game changer on these Bambulabs fast-printing-machines. Same nozzle on an older Ender would take 20+ hours to achieve, and they could only do.1 layer height. Great review and great professional graphics in your videos Keep it up!
Considering the extra time that resin takes outside of printing - curing, cleaning, disposing of materials, the extra supplies like gloves and masks and ventilation and the temperature sensitivity that many of us would have to seasonally avoid or pay a lot extra in heat/AC for - cinched my choice of an FDM printer. It was very exciting for me to have my very first benchy off the bed and in my hands within 10 minutes of plugging the machine in. I'll have to try these settings (and maybe a smaller nozzle) before my bf's bday!
I've used the A1 mini for 6 months now and the ease of use is unreal and you can get good quality (negligible layer lines) just by setting changes a couple settings and the built in slicer is fantastic. Supports take some tinkering.
Any advice about supports? I'm printing hermogaunt / termogaunt proxies and the supports at time feel welded on and oft like to take a piece of the mini with them. Currently doing my testing on a .4 nozzle but have a .2 once i get supports figured out.
For first layer adhesion, school grade glue sticks work and are easy to wipe off with alcohol! Also something that I tried with fdm props is to slowly spray some cheap enamel clear coat until it fills in all the layer lines. I can then sand and smooth before primering and painting on top! Never tried with miniatures but maybe it could work!
I have 2 Bambulab Printers Running … a A1Combo and a P1S Combo and those are absolute beasts. You get it, install it, let it callibrate and thant they are Ready. No tinkering around, easy problem solving etc. I would say they are the Apple of FDM Printers, a closed System that ist stable to run and reliable, you cant modify or personalize them to much. Instead Artillery, Cura etc. are the Androids a lot of Settings to Play with, lot of room for modding … I don’t regret any of them, total recommendation.
Excellent video! Loved it! Production quality is over the top. Something to definitely learn when it comes to making videos. This printer also looks to be an awesome choice. My teenage son is going to need to check this video out!
I am in the 3D printing hobby for about 5 years now and recently I've been trying Bambu Studio with my 5 year old printer and I was pretty impressed. the printers are phenomenal from what I hear, but the slicer is very powerful on its own already
Actually FDM printers have been capable of this kind of detail and quality for quite a few years. Pretty much any old FDM printer can be fitted with smaller nozzles and do thinner layers. It's just bambu has made it incredibly easy. Like I didn't realize how easy they make it to swap nozzles. But moreover the profiles are all ready to go. No more fiddling for hours and days with dozens and dozens of arcane slicer settings. Very impressive.
This printer really looks to simplify a lot of things and make really good prints without much tinkering. That for me is a real game changer, coming from the old world of the 3D printers where nothing works out of the box I must say I'm impressed to how things came around in this hobby. Looking forward to when they will lower the prices
11hrs per print, but shipping on most things can take a week.... so about 7 figures in the same time it would take to get a set shipped and you could already be assembling and painting the first ones as the others print. it's actually a good trade-off logistically in most cases.
Great video! I think your video does a fantastic job of highlighting the value of the "modern" FDM printers like the A1: how great they work out of the box. I'm an engineer and cut my teeth on an old Ender. Back in the day I enjoyed the tuning and tinkering aspect of the hobby, but that all vanished when I got an A1 and realized everything could just work by default. I think it'd be a stretch to say these currently compete on quality with resin prints, but resin brings another level of safety and processing concerns that FDM doesn't have. It's great to see the tech advancing to where a non-technical person could print larger minis and be happy with them.
I’m a sucker for videos about printing minis with FDM so I don’t have anything bad to say lol. I do actually agree with people who have less optimistic opinions though, I’d love to see how these look after being painted compared to a resin version. Ideally some examples of FDM friendly sculpts mixed in to see how much quality loss comes with having to use supports. One thing I do wish you’d done with the 0.2 nozzle is test out .04mm layer heights. The increase in print time kills me, but you don’t have to modify the Bambu profiles much; still playing with support settings but hybrid tree supports with a .06mm Z Object distance and “Remove small overhangs” checked has had insane results. Way less scarring and virtually no failures so far (which I think was due to me increasing the Z Object distance to .08).
Had the Mini for about 8 months now. Done plenty of figures and vehicles as well as practical prints. Don't have the AMS mainly because I don't have the space. The build volume is occasionally limiting but not that much. For £169 (without the AMS) it is an easy way to start printing stuff without the printer becoming the hobby. You get prompted for routine maintenance task and there is plenty of online support. Spare parts are reasonably priced should something wear out.
For years I have been printing minis at qualities reached by your 0.4 mm experiments using an ender 5. 0.05mm layer height and 20mm/s print speeds and things looked amazing. Patience required! Printers have been able to do this for a while now.
If you have further print adhesion issues, I always add a bit of pva glue added to water in a bottle. I use this for basing miniatures, but it also works for the print bed in place of those nasty glue sticks. Try it out, just make sure it dries first
I am glad you had success with PLA miniatures. I gave up on them a few years ago, before Bambu labs existed. I had seen some very good profiles for an ender 3 that looked promising. And it's true, I did get a few really nice miniature prints off my ender 3. But most of my plan miniatures were off a highly modified Tronxy X1 with a .2 nozzle. I did get some very nice prints. But I also had a lot of trouble with cooling the parts and thus the supports were difficult to remove. Seeing your work here makes me think I should pull the Tronxy down off the shelf and try again. One of my favorite techniques is to do bigger chunkier parts in PLA and more detailed parts in resin. So I have a dragon I printed where the body and wings are PLA, but the head and arms are in resin. Turns out that you don't have to have all the details rendered. Just enough that no one notices where there are issues.
Very interested in this. I’m planning the house move to get an actual workshop space and this would be so much better in a working space than all the hassle and hazards of a resin printer.
The thing I love about the Bambu A1 and the mini is that I am not spending half my day watching the plate for print errors. Not saying they don't happen with the A1 and mini, just they happen VERY rarely. I just used 3d printed parts to repair and restore an old Warhammer Rhino.
I recently bought one of those BIQU panda hotend attachment things (the hotend adapter for the Revo e3d nozzles) and got a 0.15 nozzle (i have a bambu p1s), it prints amazingly, the details at 0.04 layer height are amazing, BUT the addon is something like 129 USD and it's still FDM so prints are brittle because PLA, but it does work really well!
What makes resin perfect for tabletop is, that you print your whole squad in one go. No time difference to one single miniature the same height. love it.
I use a .2 nozzle with .04 layer height on an Ender 3 with sprite hotend and cura as the slicer. I make mostly 28mm scale tabletop minifigs in near resin quality
Biggest tip I can give is try to print as few models at a time as you can stand. It may seem like a good idea to fill up the print bed, but every time the tool needs to move from one model to the next exponentially increases the time of the whole print. It is actually faster to print the parts individually.
cleaning tip: IPA is a good cleaner, but ideally, every 10-20 prints, clean the build plate with degreaser soap (and full dry!). IPA does not usually do a great job of removing the hand oils completely, but just makes them less noticeable.
Would love to see the highest quality one painted to see how it it behaves. I;m really happy and surprised FMD seam to get this quality, maybe some day I will be able to print satisfiing minis without turning half of my home into a containment zone for resin and all other "fun" resin printing has
I like to print minis just to paint so I don't need to print an entire army, but I use an ender 3 and the prints come out really nice. The details really come through for the most part and I have no complaints.
Something to try with fdm 0.2 nozzle miniature printing is to cut the object in half and place it on the bed so it now needs no or very little supports. Cuts down on material use and time, less chance of support failure and even crisper details. Just requires some extra assembly
First thing users say is go from box to gyroid infill. I've been getting away with going as low as 5% infill as well. Also I'd be interested in a resin usage / waste cost per mini vs PLA one.
Yeah I kind of want to get one of these to print the larger terrain pieces that I would never do in resin anyway, and as something to hold me over in the winter, since I've moved to printing resin entirely outside.
Awesome brewski . Subscribed ! I’ve just got into FDM myself , after a couple years of playing with resin . Definitely considering Bambu labs in the future .
I find painting FDM prints challenging because the layer lines wick the paint around where it shouldn't go. I'd love to see a follow up video where you paint each result to see if there's a difference in settings.
For the money, a Flashforge Adventurer 5M is a better choice, imo. 300 bucks, currently. CoreXY printer on (basically) Klipper with accelerometer feedback, pressure advance, and all that other whizbang stuff that lets you print really really fast.
Whilst I don't think I'm totally sold on using these for infantry miniatures, I will certainly be trying mine out for vehicles, terrain and busts. I print a lot of larger miniatures for display too so will try them out as well
I have an A1 Mini and an X1C, I’ve thought about getting a resin printer as well but the health concerns and post processing have concerned me. I have a 0.2mm nozzle for my A1M and I’ll definitely be trying out some of these models.
A very light layer of a glue stick can ensure first layer adhesion. Lysol spray or alcohol should clean it up between prints. Also a heated bed will help.
Depending on the options in your slicer, you may be able to speed up your prints by bumping the speed up on the infill and inner walls without impacting print quality.
Tip for you my friend! That included metal scraper isn't all to safe for you or the plate. I would print an all plastic scraper, then, spray iso directly onto your PLA model right as it comes hot off the printer. Use plastic scraper and flex the plate to get everything off, thus avoiding harm to self or plate. This works with PETG too.
Maybe if you double the detail and quadruple the print speed, those smooth surfaces and print speeds resin performs, still seems unrivaled. If you have the option of using resin, this still seems like the obvious choice. It would be interresting to see a painted miniature with this quality though
Those tool-less swaps are pretty nice. When I built my voron, I decided to go with a V6 style hot end just for the huge catalog of compatible nozzles available, but sometimes I wonder what could have been.
If you're still having problem with bed adhesion, get some gluestick from a good brand. I personally use elmer's glue extra strength gluestick and it works wonders. Coat the bed liberally, wipe with a paper towel to even it out and to remove excess, and that should last more than a spool's worth of printing.
This is interesting. Bambu Labs definitely has been creating great printers and keep adding cool features to them. I'm curious though if you could use a 0.2mm nozzle with a printer running Klipper and input shaping enabled to achieve the same result. If that happens to be the case, then even budget printers would be able to do this.
I didn't think filament printers had gotten to this point yet, let alone at that price point! Very impressive.
Right!?
Theyve been there for 10 years. Before it just needed more skill to dial in the settings.
@@Luova3D definitely wrong, specifically talking about desktop 3d printers
Bought a Bambu A1 Mini after seeing a print sample (along with 20+ other competing printers) at Microcenter. Got it solely because the smoothness of the printed surface was so close to that of my several year old resin printer. Perfect for vehicles, but I'll probably stick to resin for infantry minis. Particularly because my resin printer exposes each layer all at once. So same print time for one or 10 pieces.
@@Luova3D Exactly! I was printing Battletech models with this quality on my Ender 3 back in 2014
Oh man that is some really great results. Totally viable for anyone who has the time or doesn’t want to deal with the “joys” of working with resin.
You seem familiar
100%! Resin sure can be a wonderful pain in the ass some days
new to 3d printing, what are these "joys" you are talking about? genuinely curious
@@lyndongaming Resin is slightly toxic and has some fumes that can give headaches and other side effects... well ventilated areas are needed or a really good air filtration. Rubber gloves when handling the finished model and cleanup from drips and the occasional spill (no one is perfect) Using IPA to clean and using UV light to cure the printed objects. Slicing the models so that there is no uncured pockets of resin within the objects and to save on resin costs discreet drainage holes are recommended as well. Resin is something to research before getting into so you know what to expect.
@@beast0382 thanks for the write-up. now i know more about Resin
Honestly, 11 hours per model is fine. I compare FDM print times to shipping times. If I ordered some models from a resin printer on Etsy, it would take at least a week for them to arrive. In that same time, I could print 14 terminators for only a couple dollars worth of filament.
11 hours per miniature is terrible. With Resin i print an entire army with 50+ models in the same time.
@@bremer1701 Why are you so defensive about this? It’s weird.
@@docpepperclassic some people are impatient and like to have all their models done and waiting while they paint, I personally don’t mind the longer print times since I’m often not painting faster then I’m printing
You could also purchase an resin printer and sell prints.
@@nobocks Not everyone is in the position to work with resin, either for health or practicality reasons
A few observations-- gyroid is pretty, but it's slowing you down. Bambu defaults to grid, but it may make people's heads explode. Bambu Lab has a new infill pattern called 'crosshatch' which might be worth exploring. For support, try setting to "tree", with type "organic", and check "only on build plate", but UNCHECK "remove small overhangs"-- might be robbing you of detail.
Since you're doing multi-material with the AMS, consider using a layer of PETG for the interface between the support and the print-- PLA and PETG by default don't stick to each other very well, so the tree supports tend to just fall off.
I tend to print more functional items and therefore prefer gyroid, but for miniatures, the "lightening" infill might be the best.
PETG for support with PLA prints can be really nice, but I've found that "flushing" values need to be cranked up, otherwise there isn't a clean separation.
@@im.empimpWhat is the "Fushing Value?"
@@the_luminary I can't include links, but you can search for "bambu orcaslicer flushing volumes" to learn a lot more.
Basically, flushing (with an "L") is how much filament is flushed after a filament swap. Whenever filament has been run through the nozzle _some_ of it will be left behind (this is why, if you've ever used non-food safe filament in a printer you should _never_ use that printer to print food-safe items).
When switching between colors of the same filament type these values can be vary a lot. For example, going from a blue pla to a black pla, if a little bit of the blue is mixed in, it won't really be noticeable, so you flush very little filament. However, if you're going from black pla to a white pla, remnants of the black will be more noticeable, so the goal is to flush the mixture until you won't be able to notice the difference.
When switching between filament types for the purpose of easily separable supports, you basically want to flush out as much of the old filament as reasonably possible, because having the two types mixed defeats the purpose. (This is actually one of the big cons of having a single nozzle multi-material approach. Independent nozzles per material don't have to deal with this.)
@@the_luminary I can't include links, but you can search for "bambu orcaslicer flushing volumes" to learn a lot more.
@@the_luminary
I can't include links, but you can search for "bambu orcaslicer flushing volumes" to learn a lot more.
I sometimes wait in front of the resin printer for it to finish because I am so eager, and other times I start the print at night and I get it cured after I come back from work.
So the printing time really only matters sometimes, in my opinion.
Yep! I hardly ever notice bumps in print speed unless I'm hovering over a machine as well haha
Exactly, a lot of times I set the printer in the morning before work and again in the evening before bed.
But a print failure at any point during a super long FDM print can mean a worthless print at best, a flaming smoking spaghetti mess at worst. I've had extruders completely encased in melted filament. That's fun to excavate...
Resin is foul, fdm is clean and easy. The amount of ventilation required for each is radically different. That's a big enough difference to me.
Yeah but you wish your resin printer had built in curing station... kinda lame that we have to do extra steps. It's why I never use my creality halot one even tho the quality is amazing better than a bambu a1 or a1 mini BUT on a1 mini prints are stronger and jjst gives me something finished and no supports no crap no hand poisons
I did a lot of miniature printing with my A1 mini before I got a resin printer, and they can be very impressive and look way more than good enough to use for a game. The issue I ran into was durability. If you have a character with very thin parts, like a sword, and just a small character with a small arm, the sword and the hands break off 9 times out of ten just getting the supports off. That was really what pushed me to get a resin printer. My fdm printer is still my work horse for terrain.
I’ve been using my Bambu Labs A1 Mini for the past two months, primarily for printing terrain pieces. When it comes to miniatures, though, my resin printer still delivers superior results. I don’t see myself switching from SLA to FDM for mini prints anytime soon; resin just provides the detail and quality I’m looking for. Still a good video and case for FDM prints.
have you tried a dissolvable support material? and then soaking the part to remove it rather than break the support off
@@AaronPritchard-tg4zz You can do that, but the print time skyrockets and is extremely wasteful. The purge tower is massive since it has to change between so many times.
Have you tried using TPU for miniatures?
I printed a Roblox Character using 95A TPU, and it was fairly durable.
Long and thin parts can work really well for TPU if they are printed in the right orientation.
Tracks with my experience. I am able to work it, but this comes up.
Try out the Variable Layer Height option in the slicer! It'll let you get that super-fine 0.06mm height where it matters, and crank all the way back to 0.2 or 0.28mm where it doesn't. IME you can get perceptually identical results in 2/3 the time if not less.
This combined with a 0.2 nozzle sounds interesting..
PAINTING. I printed fdm miniatures for years and managed to get good results like shown in the video. That being said, you are going to have a rough time painting. Unless you rely heavily on airbrush and rattle cans, you'll find the layer act like a sponges (terrible for washes or thin paints like contrast or speed paints). FDM is great for terrain but not something I recommend for minis (especially if you enjoy the painting part of the hobby).
I FDM print miniatures and army painter primers allows paints to work just fine
A good primer will stop the "paint sponge" effect.
I think painting some of these up would make a for a good followup video to this one eventually, because I'm keen to experience that for myself.
@@OnceinaSixSide I found automotive primer works REALLY well. There are WalMart brands meant for bodywork that will dry enough to sand in 15 minutes. It dries so fast it can't soak into the PLA.
I use Rustoleum sprays on my terrain, though depending on how matte I want it I’ll sometimes go over with another spray afterward, no biggie and worth doing on terrain, then you’ve helped cover layer lines a bit (not as much an issue with these modern machines) and no sponging. Also protects PLA a bit better from the environment too
As someone highly allergic to resin I'm very interested in this
As a new resin printer owner, I have to say, I absolutely underrated how toxic that stuff is.
@@MrClawtits when you mix the resin with isopropyl alcohol is when it gets real bad
I'm alergic, too. Shouldn't be a problem tho. Since you are not supposed to touch it in any way shape of form anyways. Masks should be used, too.
Took me nearly 4 months to fully recover from my reaction. So I gave my machines to someone whom will print for me
@@charleshill9546 resin is a toxic b**ch. I mean it. Did 3,5 yrs apprenticeship in a specialised workshop. Some resins made me look like an Ogre for like half a week, when my facial skin came into contact with it.... To be 100% clear, FDM should be the default for 95% of us hobbyists. And we didn't even start talking about the environmental dangers...
I picked up an A1 a month or so ago and have been amazed at how easy it is to use. It's handled everything I've thrown at it, no problem. I've been using it to print scenery, buildings and some modelling tools and it's been wonderful. I don't have the AMS yet, but next time it rolls around on sale, I'll be getting one for sure 😊😊
You really gotta get the ams, you'll realize how much you're missing and no it doesn't waste any filament at all, that's just lame people who don't know how to use the slicer to make single color changes. Lile u can print a dog tag, white then black text on top and it's just 1 color change poop and no waste. So get the ams. Also great for auto changing to same color when it's out so u can load up 4 spools and print something huge or large amounts. Trust me u will love the ams after u see a few custom prints like adding text etc
The one tip I rarely see for 3D printing, which applies to other printers/CURA, is if your print is "ghosting." It may not be calibration that is echoing the designs but a setting. Uncheck "infill before walls."
Example: If you are printing a billboard, with the letters sticking outward, and you see the letters faintly following the previous one printing, it is the infil pushing outwards against the outerwall.
Thank you, this is something I've been trying to figure out what was going on with my prints for a while.
@@SpringfieldFatts You are welcome, give it a try.
I was having issues finding out why I was seeing echoes, especially on the calibration blocks, and I found it buried in a comment years old. It fixed all my ghosts.
Just a tip about the isopropyl alcohol, if your bed surface is PEI it's soluble in isopropyl alcohol. As it wears and you get micro scratches it will start to absorb more alcohol when you wipe it. If it doesn't evaporate off before the print starts it lowers the adhesion.
PEI is completely impervious to alcohols. PEI is not resistant to partially halogenated hydrocarbons (most cholo / halo groups of solvents), but they are not used in cleaning products anyway.
@@elmodiddly That said, slightly soapy water also seems to work fine for most use cases. Using the Bambu liquid glue and printing PLA in my experience.
I print miniatures in filament, my army tau is printed entirely in FDM, I'm happy to see content like this, I used to use an ender 3, today I use an S1 pro, I'm looking for a K1 max, it's an Great option for those who have problems with respiratory allergies
Agreed! If you don't mind the quality and speed trade-offs, this is a fantastic alternative to resin.
@@OnceinaSixSide good for titans, and big guys like Imperial Knights, Tanks and airplanes. For details, After priming, 80% of the defects disappear, and depending on the painting technique, the defects may not be noticeable. I say that I went a little outside the norm, even making Breachers, terminators and even Gk strike squad, all in filament
I would like to show my results, but I don't even know how, I don't know if I should start a channel for this, or if I should post the photos somewhere.
My friend had a K1Max and couldn't get it to work right.
He would do small test prints and everything seemed fine but anything over a certain size, nothing but errors.
He worked it out in the end that it was because the frame isn't as rigid as it could be and the flex only showed in larger prints.
@@CS-zn6pp 0.2 mm nozzle and a lot os patience and Slicer adjustments, a Really dry fillament helps a lot!
I care alot about detail, i ususally sit with my minis just looking at them. But i dont wanna get a resin printer since i am underage and live with my family.
Would you say that this printer used in the video would be a good alternative? Can i use sandpaper so smooth out surfaces? I dont care about printing time and i play space marines
For a more uniform exterior wall appearance, consider using 3+ walls and the Inner/Outer/Inner wall ordering. That lays the inner most wall down first where if there are any pressure issues or blobs, they will be hidden from the world. Then the outer wall is laid down, where it is more likely to be uniform with other outer walls, and then the remaining inner walls between the inner most wall and the outer wall will be filled in. On those remaining inner walls if there is any excess (think a filling between two pieces of bread getting squeezed slight) it will be hidden versus with the default wall ordering of Inner/Outer where any excess will cause the outer wall to be pushed out slightly as it is the last wall printed. This won't help much if the print is too small and various parts have 2 or less walls, which is possible on smaller models, but on your tank model it should noticeably help the outer walls where I could see lots of layer lines.
On a print with 2 walls, Outer/Inner will produce slightly better results than the default Inner/Outer as long as there are not any severe overhangs to deal with. In those severe overhang cases Inner/Outer *may* work better because the inner wall will likely have more purchase and then the outer wall can join/grab on to the inner wall, but your mileage may vary.
I hope all of that makes sense.
Good tip. I struggle with that issue myself.
As someone who lives in an apartment with kids, I really can't get a resin printer. I'm so glad FDM printers are increasing their print quality to present a viable alternative.
I am right there with you. I am okay with the long print time. I just don't have an ideal location for Resin and FDM seems a lot easier.
@@isaacgraff8288 I don't really get the long print time issue. Everyone has a backlog of minis going back years, a few hours isn't gonna hurt. 😅
@@burningphoneix I mean also ,yes resin printer can print massiv armys in days but do you really paint as fast as you print also at one point you stop printing , people will be play with there armys for a bit maby at a new model after a game or try new units , but most people dont print whole diffrent armys back to back
@@burningphoneix Yes, it's asinine. It's not like you're watching it finish. Print, leave it alone, touch grass, and come back when it's done. They're also pointing out the "high" electricity cost due to the long print times. FDM printers barely pull power at all after the initial heat-up. Besides, FDM's electricity cost is a paltry sum compared to the cost of disposable gloves, tissue papers, respirator cartridges, and good old 99% isopropyl alcohol.
How are FDM printers with health hazards? Im trying to google but cannot find anything. Is it safe to print at home? Thanks!
I highly recommend using the "ironing" feature. It makes the topmost layer feel completely smooth. I've started using a smooth PEI plate on my P1S and with ironing, you can get some really incredible results.
Probably get a bit of a efficiency bump splitting arms, heads, and weapons, onto a plate to print at the .6 for max detail where it counts, and then mash out body's and bases on the .8 or even higher could probably be done and covered during paint.
My son has a resin printer. There is no way I could put up with the fumes and mess. I had already decided to buy a bambu labs P1S for printing miniatures and projects for my slot car track I wasn’t sure how detailed the peaces would turn out. You have shown me that filament printing is the right choice. Thank you.
He didn't show how simple the software and model pushes to the printer are either. I have had more issues with paper printers not working then my P1s. Both my brother in law and myself bought them, he uses it for shop work and I use mine for electronics and household items. Simple and easy. Pull the trigger, you won't regret it.
@@jimjohnson3410 I have printed road barriers, tall and lower light stands, working roller doors for my pit garages, a skylight for my casino. A Michelin man.
Cheers
Mate, so glad you finally got one of these printers. They really are a game changer and are more like an appliance than a DIY thing. I've had my X1C for a few years now and NEVER have to mess with it.
It. Just. Works.
1st time, every time. And if it doesn't it's usually because I forgot something and it's impossible to correct for the human :D
Now we just need them to make a resin printer!
Still takes a certain amount if skill. Appliance would be when they reach the ease of paper printers.
@@brodriguez11000 I have spent less time being pissed and annoyed at my P1S then I have at some of my prior printers. They actually spent time on the software making it very plug and play. If you are just printing existing models it's pretty darn close except taking the plate out and putting it back in. The big difference is when you start wanting to make edits to a model then the disparity gets very large.
I have a tip: if the isopropyl alcohol isn't working between prints. Take the sheet off and wash it with dawn dishsoap. The Isopropyl/acetone does great at removing any plastic remains, but it does nothing if you have any oils from your hands on it. Took me a few days of trying to figure out why I couldn't get any print to stick, from slicer settings to calibration. This one trick was the answer. I haven't used the textured sheets as of yet, but for the flat metal sheet on my prusa so ymmv depending on your sheet type.
Yeah I wash my plates every month (I don't print THAT often) and treat the surface like you would a CD
IPA works fine for me, wash is a must too, but once a week at most.
I use a glass with 3d glue spray though, not a fast to degrade surfaces like PEI.
What makes you think IPA doesn't dissolve oils and grease? It's perfectly fine for this.
@@michaelhenze3981 Experience.
@@MrGarkin IPA/Acetone are perfect for day to day printing. I only wash mine when I'm having issues with first layer calibration. Don't get me started on PEI. It was a good idea at the time.
Thank you for the video, I bought an A1 Mini because of you. It will be my first 3D printer (will arrive next week). I hope to get good results like you 😊
For the Hobby they have booth there spots and compliment each other very well.
It is cool that I could print Terrain in Resin and Mini's in FDM,
but I'm fortunate enough (and I hope you all too!) to have two printers, each for their specific job.
I bought some minis off Etsy that were done on a printer and the detail was simply incredible.
I don’t have a FDM printer, I was always skittish about getting one because of sometime there is poor results, but seeing this I might get one! Not for miniature, but definitely for terrain.
I have an AnyCubic Vyper. Cheap, reliable, easy to set up. For terrain it's 100% awesome and you can print pretty fast. Vehicles? Go a bit slower, stick to a somewhat thin layer. Infantry can be a bit tricky. You have to play with settings a bit more. I print it SLOW, 0.06mm layers, a couple second pause between layers, and careful on supports. Stuff like less-ornate Warhammer 40k Marines print really well, stuff with flying ribbons, fiddly bits, or micro-inscriptions not so much. Is it fast? LOL hell no. However, when I can print 120 infantry with a single roll of $20 filament when a box of 10 is $45 I can wait a few days. If I have a bits-box I'll usually forgo weapons/heads and just use those.
I will give them a look! Thank you very much :D
My husband and I have two Bambu printers. 3Dprinting is getting better. They are excellent at making terrain and some fine detail, its not quite there yet in making little minis. Resin printers are needed for that still. I can't wait till it gets better.
That is a ridiculously girthy texture roller 😂
Yes it is 😂
Also comes ín handy if you backpain!
Its really amazing how far FDM printers have come w/regards to mini printing! They really are a viable alternative to resin if time isn't a problem for you, However, if you think your FDM printer is fume-safe please get a VOC capable monitor and test your workspace. I print in a 162 sq ft room with good ventilation. I'm using a Temtop air quality meter and the background TVOC measurement (when no printing is going on is 0.18 mg/cubic meter. When I print with my Bambu Labs A1 mini my TVOC rapidly shoots up to 2.18 TVOC measured 3 ft from the printer. Most safety sites tell me the 'good' air quality is no more than 0.5 TVOC. Yes, resin printers raise the TVOC even higher but some people act like they don't have any safety worries around FDM printers
Tips for newbies:
Subscribe to CNC Kitchen (most of the following tips are a direct result of his testing)
PETG is NOT stronger than PLA
PLA will outperform in most cases except for temperature resistance and some types of impact.
FDM can be highly sensitive to environment so a drying method and temperature control method should be part of your added infrastructure with the printer itself
ALWAYS keep your bed clean, levelled (less important with BL printers that do that for you), and make sure you understand the full breadth of bed material maintenance
Finally, if you want stronger parts increase your WALL COUNT not infill. High infill gives more rigid parts but does much less to strengthen the part overall.
Layer orientation is MUCH more important than in resin prints, make sure you're orienting your parts in a way that will yield the results you need.
Learn parametric modelling (onshape is great, I use it in videos all the time and it's free)
For big terrain pieces and giant models, I highly suggest looking into using a soldering iron to weld the parts together. I got a wood burning kit that comes with 10 or so nibs. If there are enclosed parts that you don't need to look perfect, it works amazingly and cools off almost instantly. I printed a 12 piece Battletech Dropship about a 7" Dia Sphere and welding the parts together was infinitely better and quicker than glue. You could also sort of tig weld but melting the spool material into edges. I was also able to weld/heat and push in a eyebolt and then add material on the other side to strengthen the bond.
That sounds great aesthetically, but isn't melting resin that way incredibly toxic? Do you weld in a shed with ventilation?
@@Kragnorak melting PLA not Resin.
You can probably do it on mini if you are that good at using one
I had no idea FDM has gone so far. The quality looks great!
Good to see people again playing with FDM machines for tabletop.
As for tips and tricks, the A1 and K1 are fantastic low effort machines, but these days even the classic ender upgrades (the v3 and such) are getting fantastic with things like Klipper in built even if they dont have multi filament.
Multifilament is not as useful for non 3d printing hobbyists. If you want to use it to print things to paint I'd reccommend getting a cheaper machine without it.
FDM printers are geniunely fantastic as you said for any large model, and the prints are a lot more friendly to welding (abs and asa for example) and hardware than their resin counter parts.
Additionally they are fantastic for assemblies. If you want opening doors, hidden weapon caches, scatter terrain with functional mechanisms you should use an fdm printer these mechanisms are just not possible in resin because of how resin prints but they are trivial in fdm.
FDM materials especially PLA, PETG and ABS are also around half the price of similar resins making the clean up, and sanding a lot more worth it for large prints. Instead of buying a bigger resin printer it may be worth it to consider FDM if your reasoning for wanting one centers on terrain, vehicles or cosplay and props.
I'm also a very happy Bambulabs A1 owner.
I haven't been cleaning the bed off between prints with alcohol when going PLA to PLA prints with my A1 and had almost zero problems with it. Only when I've used gluestick for other materials have I cleaned that off using alcohol. The main area to watch out for is near the grab tab of the plate as that part may get more oils from fingers and the edge gets cooled better as is overhangs the bed.
12:22 Me: He's going to slice his... yep.
Tech keeps getting better. Pretty cool stuff. I'd love to see some extreme close-ups of those extra fine prints
Just a tip for that cilider model. It can be printed within 2-3 hours if you use a 5% infill and/or a centered cilidrical modifier
Oh...and Wipe down the plate with acetone for no residual micro waste and best bed adhesion. 👏
If anyone is having trouble with bed adhesion, the thing I picked up that helped me a ton was to apply a bit of glue from a glue stick on the print bed. Aside from some occasional, barely noticeable white marks that disappear with the slightest bit of rubbing with a finger, it doesn't affect the prints at all. When I first started using this method, I would clean the plate with alcohol and re-apply the glue before each print, but I abandoned that long ago. Now, I simply apply a layer of glue to a bed plate, and that's it. I never clean or re-apply, and that plate will never, ever give me adhesion problems!!! This is just a me thing, and I'm using a Creality Ender 3 v3 SE. Happy printing all!
I'm sick of the health risks and mess that comes with resin printing but I am an insane stickler for quality and detail in my prints, so I figured I could never switch to FDM. Seeing the results of the 0.2 nozzle and 0.06mm layers, I'm kind of seeing a ray of hope here. Just gotta push myself to take the plunge now. I really don't care if my minis take 24 hours.
Unless you're really hurting for money: you can't beat $199 for the A1 Mini
For those unaware, you can reasonably bump down the infill to like 3 to 5% with no loss to strength and much faster prints. The strength is mostly from the walls anyway as these aren't load bearing prints
That .2 nozzle and the .06 layer height is a game changer on these Bambulabs fast-printing-machines. Same nozzle on an older Ender would take 20+ hours to achieve, and they could only do.1 layer height. Great review and great professional graphics in your videos Keep it up!
Considering the extra time that resin takes outside of printing - curing, cleaning, disposing of materials, the extra supplies like gloves and masks and ventilation and the temperature sensitivity that many of us would have to seasonally avoid or pay a lot extra in heat/AC for - cinched my choice of an FDM printer. It was very exciting for me to have my very first benchy off the bed and in my hands within 10 minutes of plugging the machine in. I'll have to try these settings (and maybe a smaller nozzle) before my bf's bday!
honestly, they sound like an amazing deal just based on smell alone.
Not just smell but resin toxicity too. Uncured resin and its fumes are toxic and carcinogenic.
Owned a Bambu Lab A1 & I think :
A1 mini + 0.2mm Nozzle is already enough.
At almost half price, you got everything you need for small models.
I've used the A1 mini for 6 months now and the ease of use is unreal and you can get good quality (negligible layer lines) just by setting changes a couple settings and the built in slicer is fantastic. Supports take some tinkering.
Any advice about supports? I'm printing hermogaunt / termogaunt proxies and the supports at time feel welded on and oft like to take a piece of the mini with them. Currently doing my testing on a .4 nozzle but have a .2 once i get supports figured out.
For first layer adhesion, school grade glue sticks work and are easy to wipe off with alcohol! Also something that I tried with fdm props is to slowly spray some cheap enamel clear coat until it fills in all the layer lines. I can then sand and smooth before primering and painting on top! Never tried with miniatures but maybe it could work!
I have 2 Bambulab Printers Running … a A1Combo and a P1S Combo and those are absolute beasts.
You get it, install it, let it callibrate and thant they are Ready. No tinkering around, easy problem solving etc.
I would say they are the Apple of FDM Printers, a closed System that ist stable to run and reliable, you cant modify or personalize them to much.
Instead Artillery, Cura etc. are the Androids a lot of Settings to Play with, lot of room for modding …
I don’t regret any of them, total recommendation.
Excellent video! Loved it! Production quality is over the top. Something to definitely learn when it comes to making videos. This printer also looks to be an awesome choice. My teenage son is going to need to check this video out!
I am in the 3D printing hobby for about 5 years now and recently I've been trying Bambu Studio with my 5 year old printer and I was pretty impressed.
the printers are phenomenal from what I hear, but the slicer is very powerful on its own already
Actually FDM printers have been capable of this kind of detail and quality for quite a few years. Pretty much any old FDM printer can be fitted with smaller nozzles and do thinner layers. It's just bambu has made it incredibly easy. Like I didn't realize how easy they make it to swap nozzles. But moreover the profiles are all ready to go. No more fiddling for hours and days with dozens and dozens of arcane slicer settings. Very impressive.
This printer really looks to simplify a lot of things and make really good prints without much tinkering. That for me is a real game changer, coming from the old world of the 3D printers where nothing works out of the box I must say I'm impressed to how things came around in this hobby. Looking forward to when they will lower the prices
Thank you for the review been eyeing up a fdm printer for a long time and this has helped
Stick glue on the first layer makes a huge difference as well. I know it seems like a pain but it's so helpful in just making it work.
covering your bed in blue painters tape is a surefire way to get consistent adhesion
11hrs per print, but shipping on most things can take a week.... so about 7 figures in the same time it would take to get a set shipped and you could already be assembling and painting the first ones as the others print. it's actually a good trade-off logistically in most cases.
Great video! I think your video does a fantastic job of highlighting the value of the "modern" FDM printers like the A1: how great they work out of the box. I'm an engineer and cut my teeth on an old Ender. Back in the day I enjoyed the tuning and tinkering aspect of the hobby, but that all vanished when I got an A1 and realized everything could just work by default.
I think it'd be a stretch to say these currently compete on quality with resin prints, but resin brings another level of safety and processing concerns that FDM doesn't have. It's great to see the tech advancing to where a non-technical person could print larger minis and be happy with them.
"hot noodle deposition machine"... I'm sold!
I’m a sucker for videos about printing minis with FDM so I don’t have anything bad to say lol.
I do actually agree with people who have less optimistic opinions though, I’d love to see how these look after being painted compared to a resin version. Ideally some examples of FDM friendly sculpts mixed in to see how much quality loss comes with having to use supports.
One thing I do wish you’d done with the 0.2 nozzle is test out .04mm layer heights. The increase in print time kills me, but you don’t have to modify the Bambu profiles much; still playing with support settings but hybrid tree supports with a .06mm Z Object distance and “Remove small overhangs” checked has had insane results. Way less scarring and virtually no failures so far (which I think was due to me increasing the Z Object distance to .08).
For details on minis I will forever stick with resin, but FDM are great for big and sturdy things.
Had the Mini for about 8 months now. Done plenty of figures and vehicles as well as practical prints. Don't have the AMS mainly because I don't have the space. The build volume is occasionally limiting but not that much. For £169 (without the AMS) it is an easy way to start printing stuff without the printer becoming the hobby. You get prompted for routine maintenance task and there is plenty of online support. Spare parts are reasonably priced should something wear out.
For years I have been printing minis at qualities reached by your 0.4 mm experiments using an ender 5. 0.05mm layer height and 20mm/s print speeds and things looked amazing. Patience required! Printers have been able to do this for a while now.
If you have further print adhesion issues, I always add a bit of pva glue added to water in a bottle. I use this for basing miniatures, but it also works for the print bed in place of those nasty glue sticks. Try it out, just make sure it dries first
You can use a hair dryer to gently warm the support before removing it. This will help soften the material and make the removal process easier.
I am glad you had success with PLA miniatures. I gave up on them a few years ago, before Bambu labs existed. I had seen some very good profiles for an ender 3 that looked promising. And it's true, I did get a few really nice miniature prints off my ender 3. But most of my plan miniatures were off a highly modified Tronxy X1 with a .2 nozzle. I did get some very nice prints. But I also had a lot of trouble with cooling the parts and thus the supports were difficult to remove. Seeing your work here makes me think I should pull the Tronxy down off the shelf and try again.
One of my favorite techniques is to do bigger chunkier parts in PLA and more detailed parts in resin. So I have a dragon I printed where the body and wings are PLA, but the head and arms are in resin. Turns out that you don't have to have all the details rendered. Just enough that no one notices where there are issues.
Thank you, I thought FDM printers weren't up to it but now I want to find out more! ❤😊
I already have the A1 mini and learned a lot by watching this - so thanks!
Very impressive and your videos are well shot which always helps
Very interested in this. I’m planning the house move to get an actual workshop space and this would be so much better in a working space than all the hassle and hazards of a resin printer.
The thing I love about the Bambu A1 and the mini is that I am not spending half my day watching the plate for print errors. Not saying they don't happen with the A1 and mini, just they happen VERY rarely. I just used 3d printed parts to repair and restore an old Warhammer Rhino.
I recently bought one of those BIQU panda hotend attachment things (the hotend adapter for the Revo e3d nozzles) and got a 0.15 nozzle (i have a bambu p1s), it prints amazingly, the details at 0.04 layer height are amazing, BUT the addon is something like 129 USD and it's still FDM so prints are brittle because PLA, but it does work really well!
What makes resin perfect for tabletop is, that you print your whole squad in one go. No time difference to one single miniature the same height. love it.
wow got my first printer in 2010 and they have come a long way since then
I use a .2 nozzle with .04 layer height on an Ender 3 with sprite hotend and cura as the slicer. I make mostly 28mm scale tabletop minifigs in near resin quality
I have an A1 absolutely love it extremely easy to use and setup all around great purchase.
Biggest tip I can give is try to print as few models at a time as you can stand. It may seem like a good idea to fill up the print bed, but every time the tool needs to move from one model to the next exponentially increases the time of the whole print. It is actually faster to print the parts individually.
awesome video!! I love my Bamboo Printers!!
cleaning tip: IPA is a good cleaner, but ideally, every 10-20 prints, clean the build plate with degreaser soap (and full dry!). IPA does not usually do a great job of removing the hand oils completely, but just makes them less noticeable.
I’m a Star Wars guy currently printing only ships and backgrounds but I’ll revisit figures with the settings change. Thanks mate 🎉
Would love to see the highest quality one painted to see how it it behaves. I;m really happy and surprised FMD seam to get this quality, maybe some day I will be able to print satisfiing minis without turning half of my home into a containment zone for resin and all other "fun" resin printing has
I like to print minis just to paint so I don't need to print an entire army, but I use an ender 3 and the prints come out really nice. The details really come through for the most part and I have no complaints.
Something to try with fdm 0.2 nozzle miniature printing is to cut the object in half and place it on the bed so it now needs no or very little supports. Cuts down on material use and time, less chance of support failure and even crisper details. Just requires some extra assembly
First thing users say is go from box to gyroid infill. I've been getting away with going as low as 5% infill as well. Also I'd be interested in a resin usage / waste cost per mini vs PLA one.
Yeah I kind of want to get one of these to print the larger terrain pieces that I would never do in resin anyway, and as something to hold me over in the winter, since I've moved to printing resin entirely outside.
Awesome brewski . Subscribed ! I’ve just got into FDM myself , after a couple years of playing with resin . Definitely considering Bambu labs in the future .
This printer looks awesome! First time I heard of it!
I find painting FDM prints challenging because the layer lines wick the paint around where it shouldn't go. I'd love to see a follow up video where you paint each result to see if there's a difference in settings.
Primer is your friend
For the money, a Flashforge Adventurer 5M is a better choice, imo. 300 bucks, currently. CoreXY printer on (basically) Klipper with accelerometer feedback, pressure advance, and all that other whizbang stuff that lets you print really really fast.
Whilst I don't think I'm totally sold on using these for infantry miniatures, I will certainly be trying mine out for vehicles, terrain and busts. I print a lot of larger miniatures for display too so will try them out as well
I saw some of these small 3D printers this weekend at Quakecon. Seemed to be alot of interest as the booth had alot of people checking them out.
I have an A1 Mini and an X1C, I’ve thought about getting a resin printer as well but the health concerns and post processing have concerned me. I have a 0.2mm nozzle for my A1M and I’ll definitely be trying out some of these models.
A very light layer of a glue stick can ensure first layer adhesion. Lysol spray or alcohol should clean it up between prints. Also a heated bed will help.
Nice this is good to know i got an A1 with the AMS Lite def gonna get hardened steel nozzles and .2
😮 .... just recently got a printer ... but this 😍 opens up a whole new world ... ❤
Depending on the options in your slicer, you may be able to speed up your prints by bumping the speed up on the infill and inner walls without impacting print quality.
Tip for you my friend! That included metal scraper isn't all to safe for you or the plate. I would print an all plastic scraper, then, spray iso directly onto your PLA model right as it comes hot off the printer. Use plastic scraper and flex the plate to get everything off, thus avoiding harm to self or plate. This works with PETG too.
Wow this is sooo cool!! Thank you for sharing!
Maybe if you double the detail and quadruple the print speed, those smooth surfaces and print speeds resin performs, still seems unrivaled. If you have the option of using resin, this still seems like the obvious choice. It would be interresting to see a painted miniature with this quality though
Those tool-less swaps are pretty nice. When I built my voron, I decided to go with a V6 style hot end just for the huge catalog of compatible nozzles available, but sometimes I wonder what could have been.
If you're still having problem with bed adhesion, get some gluestick from a good brand. I personally use elmer's glue extra strength gluestick and it works wonders. Coat the bed liberally, wipe with a paper towel to even it out and to remove excess, and that should last more than a spool's worth of printing.
Yeah the A1's are game changers for Vehicles. Worth it 100%. They're also really great at making some durable table quality miniatures for wargames.
I own an X1C, but started with a Hictop several years ago. Bambu lab printer are basically 3D printing on easy mode with cheats enabled. 😅
This is interesting. Bambu Labs definitely has been creating great printers and keep adding cool features to them. I'm curious though if you could use a 0.2mm nozzle with a printer running Klipper and input shaping enabled to achieve the same result. If that happens to be the case, then even budget printers would be able to do this.