That absolutely is a game changer! already saw another video from another youtuber who has got amazing results with your settings and already printed dozens of incredible looking minis i guess its also possible to print minis who are not exclusive modelled for fdm printing, just need some tinkering with support settings no toxic fumes, no isoprol, no need to heat resin, no extra space needed for curing and washing station, thats a long list of + for me and many others
You can’t even imagine how long I’ve been waiting for a minis printing video like that about A1 mini. Now there’s not even a doubt it will be my first 3d printer
This has reinvigorated my interest in 3D printing. I got into resin a few years ago but never got comfortable with it and it eventually kind of caused me to forget about modeling and printing. Thank you as always for the incredible work you do for the community.
for a fdm printer, these look really great!, ofc resin would give you higher quality stuff, but the amount of safety and post-pro it needs is not for everyone great video too! thanks a lot
Thank you for your work on these profiles. I’m so glad to see you expand into Bambu. I always appreciate your work and I support every kickstarter you launch.
Wow. I downloaded the newest profile version, installed a .2 nozzle in my A1 mini & loaded up the Sunlu Meta gray. The very first print is much better by far than any other miniature figure FDM print that I've previously done. Thanks. :)
Got your profile ages ago. Already had a P1S. Just got a A1 Mini during the sale. The profile worked really well, nice to have two printers. P1S for large, functional and exotic filaments. A1 mini for fun stuff like mini's. Thanks for the profile, appreciate the effort you put into your channel :)
Sunlu PLA Meta is my go-to PLA as well, been using it almost a year. Keep up the good content, I basically learned the entire trade of printing minis from you when I started.
Love my A1 so much that an A1 mini (space and wanted to try out the AMS) is coming next week and it will be doing double duty in son's 6-8 grade class. Thanks so much for working on these profiles and figuring this out. I resin print, but the more I can do with FDM, the happier I am.
Resin is such a messy process - printing, cleaning, washing, drying. And you don't always notice you have a failure until it's too late. And with FDM you can pretty much handle the end product straight away without worrying that toxins are leaking in to your skin. I love the quality of resin but everything else about it sucks.
Are you able to get the same success using these settings on your A1? I have an A1, but all the good dnd mini profiles I see are for the A1 Mini, and I wonder if they'll work as well on the A1.
Interesting fact I just discovered after 3d printing for 12 or so years: the general advice for overhangs that curl up (which I think is what is happening at 12:45) is to reduce your print temperatures, reduce print speed, and increase fan speed. I have actually found that if your overhangs are curling up, you want to increase your print temperature, not reduce it. You want to print the outer perimeter faster (so the nozzle doesn't overheat any areas and stick to the molten plastic, causing stringing), and the inner perimeters and infill slower (you can set this in Orcaslicer by choosing "don't slow down outer walls" in the filament settings). And then you still want to start with high fan speeds, but for maximum strength reduce the fan speeds until you start to see the overhangs droop, and then turn it up a little past that.
A1 is my first 3D printed. I was skeptical about printing minis with an FDM printer but decided to try your settings. I printed a couple of buildings at 6mm or 'epic' scale with your settings, just added some ironing and they came out absolutely incredible! I could not believe it achieved that level of detail on A1!
Well, thanks for forcing me to finally bite the bullet and jump into the Bambu A1! Never wanted to deal with resin and the toxicity, space, and cost (of peripheral tools and such) requirements, and was really tempted by the A1 when I saw Fauxhammer review it. This pushed me over the edge!
@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors Ah, I figured the quality difference between them was negligible, but is the A1 worse for minis, due to the larger print volume, or better than the A1 Mini? Haven’t actually picked between the two yet, but I figured the A1 just offered an overall better experience. Might opt for the mini if it’s likely better for smaller prints.
@@Loriborn a single z screw is better than dual (they can 'fight' each other) and also the Mini has a linear rail for the Z axis, that combined with the smaller bed (less Y axis inertia) is giving better results on miniatures in my testing. I'll be posting a video on the full size A1 print quality in a few weeks once I finish all of my testing.
@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrorsI appreciate the response! I did end up opting for the Mini based on these findings, and since this is my sole intended use case, but I did grab some of Bambu's own PLA basic filament. I noticed there weren't any test images of custom profile with the Bambu filament in the video. Is there a significant difference in print quality between the Sunlu Meta and the Bambu Labs PLA basic with the custom profile? I figured I'd ask as the former is still on sale for the time being.
@@Loriborn yes, the difference between the two filaments is pretty significant when printing minis. Stick with Sunlu PLA Meta or Hatchbox PLA (standard, not plus) for minis.
Thank you SO much! I got my mini a couple of weeks ago and was really disappointed that all of the mini figure profiles were for all the Bambu printers except for the mini. This was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for all your hard work tweaking the settings!
I'm currently holding the dwarf mini figure in my hand having just used it to test the new .2mm nozzle I got today and this profile! I literally cannot believe the quality. It is 100% passable as a shop bought figure! I am amazed. Thank you so much for your efforts in putting this together! A1 full size with some creality grey pla.
Thank you! I got into fat dragon games a few years ago when I was doing paper terrain. As I got into 3d printing It was cool to hear your name dropped again for your great profile. I just bought the A1 (after doing resin the last 12 months) and just printed my first model, using your profile (and elego PLA+). BLOWN AWAY BY THE RESULTS! Thanks again :)
Really great video and settings. This is my first 3D printer and so I purchased the profile; it was perfect for getting me started with my A1 mini for printing miniatures. I've played about with the settings some more and found some improvements for fine details I wanted to share: Layer height 0.04 mm Initial layer height 0.2 mm (improves adhesion issues I was having) Outer wall 0.16 mm Top surface 0.16mm Wall generator Arachne, with min wall width 30% and min feature size 20% (the wall width changes are key and this showed better behavior than classic in my tests) I also had to play around with the filament settings a bit as I was getting significant stringing even with Sunlu Meta at your default settings. I reduced temp to 205, put retraction to 5 mm and retraction speed to 45 mm/s (as suggested in a blog post created by Sunlu on their website) and this has mostly solved the issue. If you were interested in trying these settings I'd love to hear how you find the results. I'm getting phenomenally detailed prints for FDM with them. Thanks for getting me started with your awesome guide!
I really appreciate your videos on this topic, it's given me the confidence to jump into the hobby knowing there's community support for beginners. Thanks!
Thank you so much for this! I am super new to 3d printing and don't have a ton of time to tinker right now. I've experimented with your settings and the default bambu and yours are amazing. Thanks for sharing!
Have been printing terrain 24/7 on my A1s over the last few weeks, the 0.4 nozzle at 0.08LH is almost completely without layer lines but the tolerance for horizontal resolution is higher vs on minis. A few 0.2 nozzles should be arriving tomorrow and excited to try the profile, thank you for sharing great info!
Just bought the A1 mini over black Friday weekend. It should be arriving today! I am super excited to try it out and give this profile a try!!! Thank you so much!!!
Got the free dwarf model from your site and printed it, so cool. First miniature I've printed and love it. Instantly removed any plan to get a resin printer in the near future. Now I just need to find some nice models... in the meantime I'm printing one that needs supports just to see how it goes.
Arachne has issues with tiny details on the walls, regardless of the print. It's not so much an issue with the process itself, but if you have a lot of fine details, you want to use the Classic still.
There settings for Arachne to increase the minimum detail size. With this bumped down to super small numbers, you get much better details. The default values are set to smooth out small details, to keep gcode size down apparently. Bollocks if you ask me. I need to compare to the classic wall setting, that I have not done yet.
Wow great to see. I’m loving my a1 mini. I got a 0.2mm nozzle with the mega combo but not tried it out yet. You’ve given me new motivation to try it out!
My god thanks for this video! I have jsut stumbled onto FDM printing as a whole and it blows me away. I was waiting for years for an affordable low budget way of getting into 3D printing and this seems to be it! I love those prints and they are perfect for a casual player who isnt totally obsessed with detail. thanks again. you have made my decision wich printer to buy very easy
Awesome work - I agree I spent years tuning various printers for FDM minis - and the a1 mini got the same if not better results with almost 0 tuning - friggin amazing
I've found that the Polymaker PolyTerra line of filament produces buttery smooth prints. Layer lines are practically nonexistent unless inspected closely.
I ordered an A1 mini today, I'm glad I found this video. I ordered a roll of their filament, I wish I had seen this first so I could have just ordered the Sunlu. Oh well. I ordered the Sunlu as well I'm excited to try both.
Filaments matter a lot. Speed and layer height matters a lot. I've been getting decent results on 0.2 nozzle, 0.04 and 0.06 layer height. Arachne slicer is almost always good. You can lower external wall thickness by 1/4 (0.16) in order to improve overall quality, but be warry that it can result in underextrusion with some extreme angles. Compare classic+arachne line thickness in slicer to see what's up with the mini you liked more. I use sunlu pla+ instead of meta. It just feels that with higher temp I have better control over flow. Set minimal layer time for ~10 seconds maybe to help with top thin parts
Normal the bambu needs more heat because the speed. When you print slower you can lower the temp i read in forums. It would of course be interesting to find out whether the settings would also work on the A1.
Bought an X1C earkier this year, but also just bought an A1-mini just for minis. Thanks a lot for the tips! I will download your settings to stay current.
Just want to give a big thanks to you! I stumbled on your channel many years ago and used your advice and ender 3 profiles to get into 3d printing. Was so helpful then and it’s amazing to see these results you’re getting now! Thanks again for your expert advice!
your in-depth review just convided me to get an a1 mini and sunlu meta, will be downloading your profile as soon as I receive them. Keep up the amazing work!
This is an excellent video. So informative. Recently got an a1 myself so hoping to get similar results. Only problem I'm facing atm is getting the sunlu meta pla.
Maybe the temperature issues are down to the ambient temperatures of the individual rooms you and your friends have the printers in? Also, have you tried aiming a fan across the print bed surface to see if that helps any? I know with their bigger printers you can get a fan that does that and it is supposed to help improve quality by cooling the printed filament quicker.
I’m very excited for this, I think a huge amount of my obsession with FDM printed minis is due to your original Cura videos but obviously swapping to a P1P it didn’t transfer spectacularly. I’m also excited to test out your fix for the Meta PLA overhangs, I really enjoyed that filament but ended up avoiding any prints with harsh overhangs with it for just that reason.
Thank you so much for all your efforts and hard work! I have tried out your printer settings, in combination with Sunlu PLA Meta, on my Bambu Lab P1S. I tried an Ork mini from Puppetswar Miniatures and it turn out marvelous. My ever growing Ork army will be thanking you and I will integrate the "fat dragon" somehow into it :)
Hermano muchísimas gracias y felicitaciones por todo tu empeño se ve la calidad en tus minis y espero te haga muy feliz Se lo que es estar haciendo test de calibración y es una flojera pero te agradezco de antemano por todo el esfuerzo conociendo tu equipo y el conocimiento que me transmite
I’m someone who got into 3d printing for minis, I got an A1 mini recently and I have a couple questions for you 1) how does overture’s matte filament compare to the Sunlu pla meta 2) I noticed you use grey for all your prints, is there a reason for that or just personal preference? 3) what are your thoughts on using supports when printing minis? Is it worth it? Or does it ruin the quality too much?
Gonna like and sub just for this video. Really needed a good FDM printer for minis cause I have no room nor want to handle a resin printer, and I want to get into OPR since it seems like the most reasonable way for me to get into a large scale sci-fi wargame that isn't GW, but wasn't having any luck for a while as I search the RUclips for videos on the subject matter. Was honestly gonna give up the idea of printing minis until I came across this video. Thank you, Fat Dragon Games and the Tomb of 3D Printed Horrors!
Wow, just saw this video last night, downloaded the profile and bam, realllllly nice miniatures. So happy I found this video Nd thanks for sharing the profile!
Besides my advice below I want to thank you for your skeletons about 5 years ago you put up. I still have those , they came out good on my mini delta which still stand up to todays scrutiny and I do DLP resin printing as well. I have 3 bambus by the way if you need another tester......
I already have a P1S and ive trying to decide for a while if i should get an AMS or the A1 mini combo. And now that my play group is starting a campaign for the first in DnD im definitely going to get the A1 mini combo, thanks so much for such an informative video. Now i need to go through and watch all your other videos.
@@Dangoow Hey mate, finally swapped to my 0.2 nozzle on the P1S and printed a Xenos-esque Talon for Space Bugs that I would normally print in ABS-like resin, and it came out remarkably close in detail, albeit slightly more fragile. Definitely a good starting point for you to test a supported mini and adjust from thee based on your likes/dislikes. I used a slightly different filament, Sunlu Matte.
Same exact issues with Arachne vs Classic wall here ... haven't seen a good explanation for it. .....you can see it in the layers preview so now that I know about it I'm trying to train my brain on what to look for. Hatchbox won't get any more of my money, I want to like them, we have a good history ....but nothing has been coming out clean lately from brand new filament dessicant dried in anboven for a week prior. Thanks for the tip on Meta filament from Sunlu... I was getting ready to test Anycubics fast pla so maybe I'll compare and repost. Cheers all.
Thank you. I've been looking at printers and I want to do miniatures, but I have kids and pets and chemical sensitivities myself so have worried about resin. I think I now know what my birthday present is going to be.
Fantastic video, this is awesome, for USD 299.00 you get table quality minis. Sure these are not high quality 8K resin prints, but you also don't have the overhead of goop, chemicals, fumes, wash stations, curing stations, waste etc. Quick and dirty!
i was always interested in 3d printing, but the resin printers were simply too much hassle for me: they need too much space (because all the extra stations you need) and the toxic fumes were also a big thing that prevented me from getting into it. with this printer it looks pretty easy to print some minis with good results. and the prize looks also good. i think machines like this could be the breakthrough, to make 3d printing more accesable for people. i always wanted to create my own bits to modify my minis or even create some completly new ones. and i have seen so many cool minis from designers out there i always wanted to to try out. this printer could make it possible.
Many resin printer are even smaller than FDM printers, the "toxic fumes" are almost a myth specially with new resins, and you dont need more "work stations" than a pot of clean water and a UV lamp (or simply the sun).
I will never go back to FDM to printing minis after discover the resin, but for bigs projects, like terrain or vehicles, a would really lika a good FDM printer.
Hi, just testing your profile with my A1 mini and it gives amazing results! Thanks for that! I would be even interested on how you se up the supports and the technique and tools you use to clean up the minis !
I never do any cleanup on the minis except if there is a strand of filament at the very top where the print finished, I cut that off with an Xacto knife. Supports? Never use them, I only sculpt supportless models!
The beard difference between the two can be attributed to the temperature being to hot on the one w lesser detail, since the machine your A1 has no enclosure and that can get too hot easily and also allow moisture to build up in the filament and which I noticed on the sword top of one of the figures as the sword tip has small misses in the top layer lines which is caused by moisture in the filament and that moisture quickly being heated to air as the layer lines go down leaving pockets of air usually around smaller areas a gradation.
Damn. I just pulled the plug earler today on the a... and then came across your channel and video on the a1 mini w .2 mm nozzle.. I am hopeful it will come somewhat close w tweaking.
Just bought one. I have or will soon at least have two printers. Ender 3 v3 SE and the A1 mini w/AMS. Pretty excited. Both are "budget" printers but I feel like the feature rich A1 mini wins hands down.
@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors Both choices were actually inspired by your channel. I think something understated for some is that as much as I would like a resin printer I live in an apartment and it isn't feasible in a safety sense. So having something that's close enough to a resin printer while not needing to deal with the amount of cleaning and the fumes of a resin printer is a godsend.
Just got my A1 mini looking forward to trying your settings to see what I can do. I have a lot of bambu lab pla to work through before swapping, though.
Question. Why are you using Inner / outer wall settings. For precision dimensional accuracy using Outer/Inner settings would be preferable. It would seem that maintaining that beard or SHELL details would be an outside wall dimension that needed to be maintained. If you have tried this already sorry for repeating what you have tried.......
Such a great video. Thanks Tom. One thing I would like to know is how your settings work on non- FDG minis, I.E. minis that are not optimized for FDM printing and need greater supports.
@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors Got it. Sorry if my question offended you. Wasn't my intention. Been a huge fan of FDG since the early days of Copper Dragon Tiles.
@@deanm375 no offense at all. For a miniature to print well it's 50% engineering of the sculpt for the intended print method, 50% settings. If a sculptor doesn't design for tolerances of the mechanical printer (such as ensuring parts that need support are engineered to be mechanically strong enough to withstand separation of the support) there's no amount of slicer setting adjustment that can fix that. :)
@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors Thanks Tom. I appreciate the feedback. I just purchased some .2m nozzles for my Anycubic Mega S hoping to improve my print quality. I'm going to try an duplicate some of the settings you were mentioning on Bambu A1. I've used the settings you spoke about several months ago to improve mini printing and I got decent results. Hoping the .2mm nozzle improves it.Thanks.
Tried three prints with the latest settings file, and all of them left a layer on my textured plate that didn't come off. I need to buy steel wool or something to scrub it away...
Are you using a flat PEI sheet or a textures one? Textured should help. Bumping up the temp of the first layer also usually helps with bed adhesion. With other printers I find that just printing slow and hot for just 1 layer is enough. I used to do slow first layer prints for 4 layers just like you, but 1 does the job and speeds things up no end.
To do that I would have to create a complete new custom slicer profile designed for a .4 nozzle, which would be a waste of my time. The topic of the video is to show the absolute best quality miniatures the BL A1 Mini is capable of producing, which means using a .2mm nozzle which is far superior to a .4 nozzle when printing tiny details.
Do you still recommend it now, considering the tumult around Bambu Labs? Also, would it work for printing larger figs, closer to the maximum height? I'm thinking about 6" statue/figure types - upscaled minis.
That absolutely is a game changer! already saw another video from another youtuber who has got amazing results with your settings and already printed dozens of incredible looking minis
i guess its also possible to print minis who are not exclusive modelled for fdm printing, just need some tinkering with support settings
no toxic fumes, no isoprol, no need to heat resin, no extra space needed for curing and washing station, thats a long list of + for me and many others
Which RUclipsr?
@@trivalentclan nope, not for printing gaming miniatures.
loriborn, he hs like 100-200 subs@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors
The youtubers name is loriborn, he has 160 subs or so
You can’t even imagine how long I’ve been waiting for a minis printing video like that about A1 mini. Now there’s not even a doubt it will be my first 3d printer
Bro 1000% understand. I been interested in the A1 Mini but not completely sure, now I have 2 about to be paid for with the smaller tip
This has reinvigorated my interest in 3D printing. I got into resin a few years ago but never got comfortable with it and it eventually kind of caused me to forget about modeling and printing. Thank you as always for the incredible work you do for the community.
for a fdm printer, these look really great!, ofc resin would give you higher quality stuff, but the amount of safety and post-pro it needs is not for everyone
great video too! thanks a lot
Thank you for your work on these profiles. I’m so glad to see you expand into Bambu.
I always appreciate your work and I support every kickstarter you launch.
Thank you!
Just picked up a Bambu a1, I’m really pleased with it as well. Glad I waited a couple of years before I got into fdm
Wow. I downloaded the newest profile version, installed a .2 nozzle in my A1 mini & loaded up the Sunlu Meta gray. The very first print is much better by far than any other miniature figure FDM print that I've previously done. Thanks. :)
Got your profile ages ago. Already had a P1S. Just got a A1 Mini during the sale. The profile worked really well, nice to have two printers. P1S for large, functional and exotic filaments. A1 mini for fun stuff like mini's.
Thanks for the profile, appreciate the effort you put into your channel :)
Thanks! :)
Sunlu PLA Meta is my go-to PLA as well, been using it almost a year. Keep up the good content, I basically learned the entire trade of printing minis from you when I started.
Hi,
Do you print the Sunlu meta at the profile temp or the lower temp recommended by Sunlu?
I understand they differ?
@@TheDarkplace I print at 195, going lower I noticed the layer adhesion suffers. Do not confuse PLA with PLA Meta, they are different.
Love my A1 so much that an A1 mini (space and wanted to try out the AMS) is coming next week and it will be doing double duty in son's 6-8 grade class. Thanks so much for working on these profiles and figuring this out. I resin print, but the more I can do with FDM, the happier I am.
Resin is such a messy process - printing, cleaning, washing, drying. And you don't always notice you have a failure until it's too late. And with FDM you can pretty much handle the end product straight away without worrying that toxins are leaking in to your skin. I love the quality of resin but everything else about it sucks.
Are you able to get the same success using these settings on your A1? I have an A1, but all the good dnd mini profiles I see are for the A1 Mini, and I wonder if they'll work as well on the A1.
Interesting fact I just discovered after 3d printing for 12 or so years: the general advice for overhangs that curl up (which I think is what is happening at 12:45) is to reduce your print temperatures, reduce print speed, and increase fan speed. I have actually found that if your overhangs are curling up, you want to increase your print temperature, not reduce it. You want to print the outer perimeter faster (so the nozzle doesn't overheat any areas and stick to the molten plastic, causing stringing), and the inner perimeters and infill slower (you can set this in Orcaslicer by choosing "don't slow down outer walls" in the filament settings). And then you still want to start with high fan speeds, but for maximum strength reduce the fan speeds until you start to see the overhangs droop, and then turn it up a little past that.
A1 is my first 3D printed. I was skeptical about printing minis with an FDM printer but decided to try your settings. I printed a couple of buildings at 6mm or 'epic' scale with your settings, just added some ironing and they came out absolutely incredible! I could not believe it achieved that level of detail on A1!
I have a A1 arriving in 2 weeks. This video is a godsend
I have a printer coming next week and I cannot wait to try printing some mini’s with the help of this video
Well, thanks for forcing me to finally bite the bullet and jump into the Bambu A1! Never wanted to deal with resin and the toxicity, space, and cost (of peripheral tools and such) requirements, and was really tempted by the A1 when I saw Fauxhammer review it. This pushed me over the edge!
Just to be clear, this video is on the A1 MINI, not the full size A1, there are differences in print quality between them.
@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors Ah, I figured the quality difference between them was negligible, but is the A1 worse for minis, due to the larger print volume, or better than the A1 Mini? Haven’t actually picked between the two yet, but I figured the A1 just offered an overall better experience. Might opt for the mini if it’s likely better for smaller prints.
@@Loriborn a single z screw is better than dual (they can 'fight' each other) and also the Mini has a linear rail for the Z axis, that combined with the smaller bed (less Y axis inertia) is giving better results on miniatures in my testing. I'll be posting a video on the full size A1 print quality in a few weeks once I finish all of my testing.
@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrorsI appreciate the response! I did end up opting for the Mini based on these findings, and since this is my sole intended use case, but I did grab some of Bambu's own PLA basic filament. I noticed there weren't any test images of custom profile with the Bambu filament in the video. Is there a significant difference in print quality between the Sunlu Meta and the Bambu Labs PLA basic with the custom profile? I figured I'd ask as the former is still on sale for the time being.
@@Loriborn yes, the difference between the two filaments is pretty significant when printing minis. Stick with Sunlu PLA Meta or Hatchbox PLA (standard, not plus) for minis.
Thank you SO much! I got my mini a couple of weeks ago and was really disappointed that all of the mini figure profiles were for all the Bambu printers except for the mini.
This was exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for all your hard work tweaking the settings!
I'm glad it helped you! A part 2 for this video is coming soon with even better settings :)
I'm currently holding the dwarf mini figure in my hand having just used it to test the new .2mm nozzle I got today and this profile! I literally cannot believe the quality. It is 100% passable as a shop bought figure! I am amazed. Thank you so much for your efforts in putting this together! A1 full size with some creality grey pla.
Thank you!
I got into fat dragon games a few years ago when I was doing paper terrain. As I got into 3d printing It was cool to hear your name dropped again for your great profile. I just bought the A1 (after doing resin the last 12 months) and just printed my first model, using your profile (and elego PLA+). BLOWN AWAY BY THE RESULTS!
Thanks again :)
Great!
FDM is getting close to Resin. Is incredible to see! Nowhere near but those minifigs look fantastic for an FDM printer
Just want to leave a comment that I appreciate the work you have put into this.
Really great video and settings. This is my first 3D printer and so I purchased the profile; it was perfect for getting me started with my A1 mini for printing miniatures.
I've played about with the settings some more and found some improvements for fine details I wanted to share:
Layer height 0.04 mm
Initial layer height 0.2 mm (improves adhesion issues I was having)
Outer wall 0.16 mm
Top surface 0.16mm
Wall generator Arachne, with min wall width 30% and min feature size 20% (the wall width changes are key and this showed better behavior than classic in my tests)
I also had to play around with the filament settings a bit as I was getting significant stringing even with Sunlu Meta at your default settings. I reduced temp to 205, put retraction to 5 mm and retraction speed to 45 mm/s (as suggested in a blog post created by Sunlu on their website) and this has mostly solved the issue.
If you were interested in trying these settings I'd love to hear how you find the results. I'm getting phenomenally detailed prints for FDM with them. Thanks for getting me started with your awesome guide!
How about support settings?😊
I really appreciate your videos on this topic, it's given me the confidence to jump into the hobby knowing there's community support for beginners. Thanks!
Thanks for watching! :)
Thank you so much for this! I am super new to 3d printing and don't have a ton of time to tinker right now. I've experimented with your settings and the default bambu and yours are amazing. Thanks for sharing!
I'm glad they helped! :)
Very helpful indeed. Great that you will continue to share your updated profiles and share them.
Have been printing terrain 24/7 on my A1s over the last few weeks, the 0.4 nozzle at 0.08LH is almost completely without layer lines but the tolerance for horizontal resolution is higher vs on minis. A few 0.2 nozzles should be arriving tomorrow and excited to try the profile, thank you for sharing great info!
Just bought the A1 mini over black Friday weekend. It should be arriving today! I am super excited to try it out and give this profile a try!!! Thank you so much!!!
Got the free dwarf model from your site and printed it, so cool. First miniature I've printed and love it.
Instantly removed any plan to get a resin printer in the near future.
Now I just need to find some nice models... in the meantime I'm printing one that needs supports just to see how it goes.
Arachne has issues with tiny details on the walls, regardless of the print. It's not so much an issue with the process itself, but if you have a lot of fine details, you want to use the Classic still.
Huh I've been printing super high detail 75mm minis on my p1s and haven't noticed anything weird with details on robes or armor
There settings for Arachne to increase the minimum detail size. With this bumped down to super small numbers, you get much better details. The default values are set to smooth out small details, to keep gcode size down apparently. Bollocks if you ask me.
I need to compare to the classic wall setting, that I have not done yet.
@@JamesPound Can you please share?
Wow great to see. I’m loving my a1 mini. I got a 0.2mm nozzle with the mega combo but not tried it out yet. You’ve given me new motivation to try it out!
Just want to say thank you.
I tried the profile with some elegoo on a simple benchy test, and it's incredible.
Great!
This is the video I've been searching for. Settings are perfect. Thank you for this!
Just finished my first print with your profile (A1mini) and your Ranger model: absolutely fantastic results and design, thank you so much!
My god thanks for this video! I have jsut stumbled onto FDM printing as a whole and it blows me away. I was waiting for years for an affordable low budget way of getting into 3D printing and this seems to be it! I love those prints and they are perfect for a casual player who isnt totally obsessed with detail. thanks again. you have made my decision wich printer to buy very easy
Awesome work - I agree I spent years tuning various printers for FDM minis - and the a1 mini got the same if not better results with almost 0 tuning - friggin amazing
I've found that the Polymaker PolyTerra line of filament produces buttery smooth prints. Layer lines are practically nonexistent unless inspected closely.
Buying this printer is because of you. And bought the Ender year ago.
I ordered an A1 mini today, I'm glad I found this video. I ordered a roll of their filament, I wish I had seen this first so I could have just ordered the Sunlu. Oh well. I ordered the Sunlu as well I'm excited to try both.
Filaments matter a lot. Speed and layer height matters a lot. I've been getting decent results on 0.2 nozzle, 0.04 and 0.06 layer height.
Arachne slicer is almost always good. You can lower external wall thickness by 1/4 (0.16) in order to improve overall quality, but be warry that it can result in underextrusion with some extreme angles. Compare classic+arachne line thickness in slicer to see what's up with the mini you liked more.
I use sunlu pla+ instead of meta. It just feels that with higher temp I have better control over flow.
Set minimal layer time for ~10 seconds maybe to help with top thin parts
Normal the bambu needs more heat because the speed. When you print slower you can lower the temp i read in forums.
It would of course be interesting to find out whether the settings would also work on the A1.
Bought an X1C earkier this year, but also just bought an A1-mini just for minis. Thanks a lot for the tips! I will download your settings to stay current.
Just want to give a big thanks to you! I stumbled on your channel many years ago and used your advice and ender 3 profiles to get into 3d printing. Was so helpful then and it’s amazing to see these results you’re getting now! Thanks again for your expert advice!
I just picked up an a1 mini, orinted a couple of items and its prints are surprisingly smooth out of the box
Brilliant work, like everyone else I really admire and appreciate the work investigating and creating these profiles.
your in-depth review just convided me to get an a1 mini and sunlu meta, will be downloading your profile as soon as I receive them. Keep up the amazing work!
Great! Don't forget to order a .2mm nozzle too :)
watching with tremendous interest... my Bambu Labs P1P will arrive in a month or so.
This is an excellent video. So informative. Recently got an a1 myself so hoping to get similar results. Only problem I'm facing atm is getting the sunlu meta pla.
Maybe the temperature issues are down to the ambient temperatures of the individual rooms you and your friends have the printers in?
Also, have you tried aiming a fan across the print bed surface to see if that helps any? I know with their bigger printers you can get a fan that does that and it is supposed to help improve quality by cooling the printed filament quicker.
Just in time with the Kickstarter villagers drop. Time to get some Meta and make some dragon fodder. Thank you for all you do Tom.
I’m very excited for this, I think a huge amount of my obsession with FDM printed minis is due to your original Cura videos but obviously swapping to a P1P it didn’t transfer spectacularly.
I’m also excited to test out your fix for the Meta PLA overhangs, I really enjoyed that filament but ended up avoiding any prints with harsh overhangs with it for just that reason.
Thank you so much for all your efforts and hard work! I have tried out your printer settings, in combination with Sunlu PLA Meta, on my Bambu Lab P1S. I tried an Ork mini from Puppetswar Miniatures and it turn out marvelous. My ever growing Ork army will be thanking you and I will integrate the "fat dragon" somehow into it :)
Thanks. Try one of my miniatures when you get a chance :)
Hermano muchísimas gracias y felicitaciones por todo tu empeño se ve la calidad en tus minis y espero te haga muy feliz
Se lo que es estar haciendo test de calibración y es una flojera pero te agradezco de antemano por todo el esfuerzo conociendo tu equipo y el conocimiento que me transmite
Looking forward to trying these settings on my new A1. My previous Voxelab Aquila X2 sometimes had great results, but was inconsistent.
I’m someone who got into 3d printing for minis, I got an A1 mini recently and I have a couple questions for you
1) how does overture’s matte filament compare to the Sunlu pla meta
2) I noticed you use grey for all your prints, is there a reason for that or just personal preference?
3) what are your thoughts on using supports when printing minis? Is it worth it? Or does it ruin the quality too much?
Gonna like and sub just for this video.
Really needed a good FDM printer for minis cause I have no room nor want to handle a resin printer, and I want to get into OPR since it seems like the most reasonable way for me to get into a large scale sci-fi wargame that isn't GW, but wasn't having any luck for a while as I search the RUclips for videos on the subject matter.
Was honestly gonna give up the idea of printing minis until I came across this video.
Thank you, Fat Dragon Games and the Tomb of 3D Printed Horrors!
Thanks!
I love the name of your channel, and this video is amazing.
My A1 is on the way, can't wait
Really great video - thank you for the effort working out the print profile with the 0.2 nozzle.
Wow, just saw this video last night, downloaded the profile and bam, realllllly nice miniatures. So happy I found this video Nd thanks for sharing the profile!
Glad it helped!
Great video, looking forward to seeing your test results regarding the quality difference between A1 and mini for minis before I buy my printer.
Besides my advice below I want to thank you for your skeletons about 5 years ago you put up. I still have those , they came out good on my mini delta which still stand up to todays scrutiny and I do DLP resin printing as well. I have 3 bambus by the way if you need another tester......
I already have a P1S and ive trying to decide for a while if i should get an AMS or the A1 mini combo. And now that my play group is starting a campaign for the first in DnD im definitely going to get the A1 mini combo, thanks so much for such an informative video. Now i need to go through and watch all your other videos.
These videos are so great. My one-stop-shop for things 3D
Thank you for watching! :)
Will be trying this on my P1s! I have a resin printer, but hate dealing with the mess and failed prints, at least compared to my FDM printing journey.
Wondering if the profil worked on the P1s?
@@Dangoow haven't tried it yet; been printing some larger prints with a larger nozzle size currently.
@@Dangoow Hey mate, finally swapped to my 0.2 nozzle on the P1S and printed a Xenos-esque Talon for Space Bugs that I would normally print in ABS-like resin, and it came out remarkably close in detail, albeit slightly more fragile. Definitely a good starting point for you to test a supported mini and adjust from thee based on your likes/dislikes. I used a slightly different filament, Sunlu Matte.
@iamaraindog385 thanks for letting me know and perfect timing(just got my 0,2 nozzle)
Same exact issues with Arachne vs Classic wall here ... haven't seen a good explanation for it. .....you can see it in the layers preview so now that I know about it I'm trying to train my brain on what to look for. Hatchbox won't get any more of my money, I want to like them, we have a good history ....but nothing has been coming out clean lately from brand new filament dessicant dried in anboven for a week prior. Thanks for the tip on Meta filament from Sunlu... I was getting ready to test Anycubics fast pla so maybe I'll compare and repost. Cheers all.
Thank you. I've been looking at printers and I want to do miniatures, but I have kids and pets and chemical sensitivities myself so have worried about resin. I think I now know what my birthday present is going to be.
I don't use resin printers for the same reasons, so this printer (and .2mm nozzle) has been an incredible purchase for me :)
Hello, thanks so much for the profiles, just testing it out!
Fantastic video, this is awesome, for USD 299.00 you get table quality minis. Sure these are not high quality 8K resin prints, but you also don't have the overhead of goop, chemicals, fumes, wash stations, curing stations, waste etc. Quick and dirty!
For the next two weeks the A1 Mini is only $199!
Multicolor is my dream as a bad painter T.T
Bamboo is killing it.
i was always interested in 3d printing, but the resin printers were simply too much hassle for me: they need too much space (because all the extra stations you need) and the toxic fumes were also a big thing that prevented me from getting into it.
with this printer it looks pretty easy to print some minis with good results. and the prize looks also good. i think machines like this could be the breakthrough, to make 3d printing more accesable for people. i always wanted to create my own bits to modify my minis or even create some completly new ones. and i have seen so many cool minis from designers out there i always wanted to to try out. this printer could make it possible.
Many resin printer are even smaller than FDM printers, the "toxic fumes" are almost a myth specially with new resins, and you dont need more "work stations" than a pot of clean water and a UV lamp (or simply the sun).
I will never go back to FDM to printing minis after discover the resin, but for bigs projects, like terrain or vehicles, a would really lika a good FDM printer.
Looking forward to trying this profile. Thanks.
Hi, just testing your profile with my A1 mini and it gives amazing results! Thanks for that! I would be even interested on how you se up the supports and the technique and tools you use to clean up the minis !
I never do any cleanup on the minis except if there is a strand of filament at the very top where the print finished, I cut that off with an Xacto knife. Supports? Never use them, I only sculpt supportless models!
@ thanks 👍🏻
The beard difference between the two can be attributed to the temperature being to hot on the one w lesser detail, since the machine your A1 has no enclosure and that can get too hot easily and also allow moisture to build up in the filament and which I noticed on the sword top of one of the figures as the sword tip has small misses in the top layer lines which is caused by moisture in the filament and that moisture quickly being heated to air as the layer lines go down leaving pockets of air usually around smaller areas a gradation.
Nope, everything was dried thoroughly before testing, and temp tests were conducted for each brand.
Nice video. I really want to get a Bambu Lab A1 after seeing your video...
I am still testing the A1 for minis. So far it's not quite matching the A1 Mini.
Damn. I just pulled the plug earler today on the a... and then came across your channel and video on the a1 mini w .2 mm nozzle.. I am hopeful it will come somewhat close w tweaking.
Thanks for all you do . Great help over the years . Especially if your new .
Glad to help :)
Thank you very much for this video. That changed my view on miniature printing.
This is super handy! cant wait to give it a try (although ill be trying with Bambu filament for the moment)
Just bought one. I have or will soon at least have two printers. Ender 3 v3 SE and the A1 mini w/AMS. Pretty excited. Both are "budget" printers but I feel like the feature rich A1 mini wins hands down.
I have both and the A1 Mini is, by far, the best 3D printer I have ever tested.
@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors Both choices were actually inspired by your channel. I think something understated for some is that as much as I would like a resin printer I live in an apartment and it isn't feasible in a safety sense. So having something that's close enough to a resin printer while not needing to deal with the amount of cleaning and the fumes of a resin printer is a godsend.
I’m going to try this on my P1 or X1. Thanks for the tips
did it work? i have a P1S and im interested on printing some minis but note sure if the profile works
I just ordered mine. Suuuper excited
Just got my A1 mini looking forward to trying your settings to see what I can do. I have a lot of bambu lab pla to work through before swapping, though.
Running one at home and one at work, Thanks a lot for the help...
Your description for the video is just me 😆
Question. Why are you using Inner / outer wall settings. For precision dimensional accuracy using Outer/Inner settings would be preferable. It would seem that maintaining that beard or SHELL details would be an outside wall dimension that needed to be maintained. If you have tried this already sorry for repeating what you have tried.......
Thank you Tom! This helped my buying decision. GREAT CONTENT
this will be my first 3d printer im so ready!!!!
Such a great video. Thanks Tom. One thing I would like to know is how your settings work on non- FDG minis, I.E. minis that are not optimized for FDM printing and need greater supports.
You need to ask those designers for their recommended settings, I can only provide tech support for my own products.
@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors Got it. Sorry if my question offended you. Wasn't my intention. Been a huge fan of FDG since the early days of Copper Dragon Tiles.
@@deanm375 no offense at all. For a miniature to print well it's 50% engineering of the sculpt for the intended print method, 50% settings. If a sculptor doesn't design for tolerances of the mechanical printer (such as ensuring parts that need support are engineered to be mechanically strong enough to withstand separation of the support) there's no amount of slicer setting adjustment that can fix that. :)
@@Tombof3DPrintedHorrors Thanks Tom. I appreciate the feedback. I just purchased some .2m nozzles for my Anycubic Mega S hoping to improve my print quality. I'm going to try an duplicate some of the settings you were mentioning on Bambu A1. I've used the settings you spoke about several months ago to improve mini printing and I got decent results. Hoping the .2mm nozzle improves it.Thanks.
@@deanm375 for the Anycubic Mega S, I'd recommend my Cura Ender .2mm nozzle settings as a better starting point.
Keep up the great work Tom!
Thank you for being a so good resource on all things 3d!
great video! can't wait to get the 0.2 nozzle and try this out.
NICE VIDEO, detailed and informative with out filler. I'm subscribing
Thanks! :)
Great video as usual. Thanks! Please keep them coming.
Tried three prints with the latest settings file, and all of them left a layer on my textured plate that didn't come off. I need to buy steel wool or something to scrub it away...
Are you using a flat PEI sheet or a textures one? Textured should help. Bumping up the temp of the first layer also usually helps with bed adhesion. With other printers I find that just printing slow and hot for just 1 layer is enough. I used to do slow first layer prints for 4 layers just like you, but 1 does the job and speeds things up no end.
Good info, would have been nice to see the nozzle comparison though.
To do that I would have to create a complete new custom slicer profile designed for a .4 nozzle, which would be a waste of my time. The topic of the video is to show the absolute best quality miniatures the BL A1 Mini is capable of producing, which means using a .2mm nozzle which is far superior to a .4 nozzle when printing tiny details.
Maybe the thinner wall from the Arachne generator is more subject to Deformation from shrinkage.
I've had to manually input because I can't transfer the profile from A1 mini to P1P, going to test it out now
Thank you, this answers so many questions I had!
Do you still recommend it now, considering the tumult around Bambu Labs? Also, would it work for printing larger figs, closer to the maximum height? I'm thinking about 6" statue/figure types - upscaled minis.
What you've done for the 3D printing community is fantastic. I would like to know how long these models took to print. Thanks.
Each one is different, the cleric was around 90 minutes IIRC.
Cheers