But Scott, what about placing emotional supports?

Outro should have been "Print More Minis!!!"

Scott "I want to run this things 24/7 pumping out cool miniatures" What I hear "I want to add to my pile of shame! I must add to my pile shame! The Dark Gods of Plastic Crack and 3D Printing command me to DO SO!!!... I must obey... my master's!"

@dndlover2690

4 жыл бұрын

Shame pile for the plastic god! empty spruces for the spruce throne

@tsriftsal3581

3 жыл бұрын

Just crank out chess sets and you can justify 2 colors. :)

The best part about resin printers is that printing 15 of your model takes the same amount of time as 1 (as long as 15 fits on your build plate)

Hey, you use the same pickle jars I do! Pickle jar bros!

@TheRonin2120

4 жыл бұрын

That's so corny...gigglesnort. I wanna be a pickle brother.

@sebastienrodrigue7631

3 жыл бұрын

I was looking at this tupperware thing, wondering what it was and how to get my hands on one and then I saw your comment! So now I know! Thanks!

@blackwingedheaven

3 жыл бұрын

@@sebastienrodrigue7631 Lol, glad I could help!

Good video. You can get a little more nerdy with chitubox and start messing with the connection point settings to the point that medium and light supports are practically invisible. Often still worth having a heavy support or two on the feet or base as well. Light supports especially can fail (especially towards the far left and right of the plate), but depending on the resin you use, medium supports can be connected by 0.4mm (or less if you have quite a lot of supports). If you have to support the model from the model, it's better to use 2 or 3 light supports with 0.15mm connection points rather than a single larger support. When these light supports break off they are practically invisible to the naked eye, and easy to clean if need be.

One thing to consider when placing supports: 1 ) For FDM (plastic) printers, supports are columns that the model rests on. 2 ) For resin printers, supports are strings the model hangs from.

Thanks for explaining how creating supports works my guy, I've been trying to manually place supports for a while now but I never really understood what to look for. Most concise tutorial around for sure.

Thank you Scott! I will keep this video in mind for when I finally get my resin printer.❤

I take 'em off the plate, wash in alcohol and then peel off the supports under running hot water. The hot water seems to loosen the plastic just a little bit, making it easy to pull the entire supports structure off in 2 or 3 goes. Then start curing when all supports have been removed. Works wonders for me.

@MaSolSC2

3 жыл бұрын

Im quite sure you are not suppossed to let the resin get in contact with water unless its completly cured. At least not water that will go down the drain.....

@NefariousElasticity

3 жыл бұрын

​@@MaSolSC2 The amount of uncured resin that remains on the print after an alcohol wash will be so diluted going down the drain that it won't affect your plumbing, but the uncured resin will inevitably find its way into the water table, and it's toxic. Best practice is to keep a bin of water near your work station for the rinse after an IPA wash, then heat up some water in a coffee mug specifically for this purpose to soak the print in and remove the supports. That water then gets added to your bin at the work station when you're done using it. You'd eventually process this water just like you would alcohol - leave it undisturbed for a few days out in the sun, pour off the water, throw away the cured resin at the bottom in the garbage.

@meriredetripsandclicks3153

2 жыл бұрын

I don't know if you know but you're polluting a lot doing that. Don't do that. Water must be put in sunlight for several hours and then filtered after touching uncured resin and before going down the drain.

Save your supported mini as an stl for later. Saves your time when printing that baby yoda for everyone you know

Always enjoy the content, sir. This encouraged me to get back to the drawing board and rework how I print....so thank you.

Wow! This is a really great guide on how to approach 3d printing with resin, especially for me who just purchased a Photon S! Keep it up! Would really like to see a video about effective printing for larger objects like a tank (in pieces). One think you missed was mentioning hollowing out models and poking holes in them to save resin.

Time sinks shouldn’t be a deterrent for a miniature painting community. You can learn all the essentials in the time it would take to paint one model. Keep this kind of content coming!

Hey Scott! Funny thing, your Anycubic video also made me get a 3D printer and I'm having a lot of fun with it. So very cool to see another video about it from you.

Excellent video! Perfect pace with content and humor. SUBSCRIBED

Nice! I'm muddling through the finer points of adding supports and this was helpful. :-)

You’re the man Miniac, thanks for the tips! To save you some time though, if you slice the file in Chitubox you can just scroll up through the black and white preview to find any islands. Then the file validation takes less time, and you can easily spot all the little floaters yourself! Might help, might not, but it’s what my impatient self does lol

I just got my own 3D printer so had to come watch this again. Great video as always, Scott!

Given how the resin switch turned out to be a major factor I would have liked to see more specifics on that particular point. I myself have had good result from standard Elegoo Grey and Transparent but saw a significant improvement switching to Siraya Sculpt.

This is a super helpful video for new printers Awesome job Scott

You are very patient - I couldn’t handle full manual supports, so I use 80% density Prusa slicer supports and then manually add if needed. So far the results are pretty excellent. Another factor for crispy minis is cleaning and post-cure process.

Hey Miniac! thanks for featuring some of our models. We are now cooperating with 3dPrintingPro and offering also pre-supported models on a new tier :)

This is dope. Thanks Scott!

I am sharing this tip with the channels that have taught me the most...I figured out a super-efficient and cheap way to make bases for any model. Acrylic Gel Medium can be found at most art stores, isn't expensive, isn't toxic, and wipes away like Elmer's glue. Just add sand/gravel then prime it after it dries. If this is already widely known, I'm sorry for looking like a noob, but it makes everything look better.

Using the prusha slicer and auto orientation and then auto supports then exporting the plate with supports had honestly been a huge time saver for me I find great results with it. Switching the contact point to a ball shape in chitubox can also greatly improved the ability to remove the model without damage from the supports.

Video came out just as I was considering buying a 3D resin printer next month XD

@hubismaximus

4 жыл бұрын

Heads up: most resins require isopropyl alcohol (IPA) to wash after printing before post-curing, and due to global events IPA has been substantially harder / more expensive to get lately... So if you do, maybe start with some water-washable resin (which still looks great!) at least until the supply problems get sorted.

@jtfpv3600

4 жыл бұрын

@@hubismaximus you can also use Mean green or acetone(only a quick like 15-30second dip) but they do just as good to clean up the bulk of excess resin.

@terrymorris4275

4 жыл бұрын

With that $1200 government check!?

@NatesMiniatures

4 жыл бұрын

@@terrymorris4275 $1,200 check? You talking about the American stimulus? I am not American lol.

@hubismaximus

4 жыл бұрын

@@jtfpv3600 Yeah, I've got a jug on my shelf waiting to try that. With the mean green do you still do a second "rinse" dip in IPA before post-curing?

Printing miniatures just became my newest favorite hobby, now if I could only get these dam things painted... Arrrrgghh... I think you might have skipped over a small detail that makes a lot of detail in your MINIS, 8XAA, but your pc has to support that fixture. I have cranked out some super crispy minis like Fire Giants, Dragons and Beholders... L8R dude...

Cool stuff! Stay safe Scott.

I only have a filiment printer which I think is great for terrain. I've been slowing warming up to getting a resin printer this video might be the push I need :) Great production value as always. Keep up the good work

This video helped me sooo much, just got my printer today =). Thanks Scott!

I am using the water washable resin from Elegoo. It gives good results and there is (almost) NO smell. And another upside, you dont need to use IPA. Cost reducing!!

@YoshisPainting

4 жыл бұрын

Just don't dump it down the drain when you're done with it....put it out in the sun to have the washed off resin cure. Also, there are more and more people showing that the water washable isn't stable..lots of models splitting or cracking in half after some time.

@Aegir1001

4 жыл бұрын

@@YoshisPainting As to the splitting. I have printed roughly 40 models since Feb on my Mars Pro with water washable grey - some hollowed out, most solid. No splitting at all. I use a cheap nail-polish UV (the one Luke Aps used in his video) and I am confident that this the reason for the hassle-free sucess. There is a real difference between UV-curing in a window (at least during winter) and curing it a couple of hours under proper light just by feeling the model imho. I would guess that most "splits" are due to not curing it properly.

@telinoz1975

4 жыл бұрын

@@Aegir1001 yep. Curing is key.

The only thing I think you need to look into as well would be the layer height. Using a lower layer height will also help with the crispness of your print. I'm using an Elegoo Mars printer and most of my prints are done at a 0.03mm layer height and come out pretty sharp. The default was 0.05mm height which doesn't seem like a huge difference but I can definitely see the difference from the first prints I made to what I'm printing now.

Quick observation, the release version of PhotonValidator is behind the dev version, which has a couple extra bells and whistles for fixing islands. It's worth grabbing the source and running that version.

having enough knowledge to be dangerous should be the goal for everything.

I chose to subscribe so I wouldn't die, and for the content.... And the metal 🤘

Great job 🤘🏻

That was a good Gomer Pyle impression. Interesting that you're familiar with the show 😉

Great to see more 3D printing content from you! Would be cool to see you paint some content from Cult Miniatures, got some really nice prints available, current month is egyptian flavoured undead, last month was gnolls, minotaurs etc. He does not have a huge following yet, so might be up for a collaboration!

"I'm gonna have this thing crack out miniatures 24/7" Didn't you do a closet of shame vid? Might wanna paint those first my dude lol

@Winterydee

4 жыл бұрын

The first rule of "the Pile of Shame" is we don't talk about it. The second rule of "the Pile of Shame" is WE DON'T TALK ABOUT "THE PILE OF SHAME"! Like the first rule was that hard to understand?!?!

Don't forget that orientation of the model will make a huge difference with support placement. Play around with orientation - even a small amount of lean/angle can play a big role in support placement and I've found that many times, I don't need supports on an exposed surface after enough mucking about. This is much harder when your printing a whole model versus a dissected one since a model in pieces has mounting points that will be covered when put together.

Nice timing! My elegoo Mars will be arriving tomorrow

In the tiny furniture , Harvest of War , hoping to see some STL. print previews. A real feast for crows. Having just bought 3 printer this is good info. Thanks for upload.

I've had an incredible amount of luck with the auto supports from Prusa Slicer for miniature printing. Another trick to reduce pitting is to remove the supports BEFORE you do your post cure. You can then remove the supports with fingers versus using flush cutters, and it reduces the amount of pits you get exponentially. Also another pro tip I learned for after curing, If you can cure your resin print while it is submerged in water it cures faster and shrinks way less. My elegoo resin went from a 7% shrink to 3% shrink which is amazing for multipart kits. And if people use the photon validator they need to be careful if they import back into Chitubox, for whatever reason the newest chitubox doesn't play well with re-imported files from the validator.

One thing that is sort of hilarious to me, is the "pit" on that dwarf due to not properly supporting looks like a badass battle wound that has scarred over relatively quickly. Might not have been intended but it looks great to me!

I print with an EPAX and you can use the Photon File Validator for it as well. It just saves in a different extension. My process is to do auto supports, THEN use the file validator to fix and help me find the leftover areas. Once I’ve placed all my supports on those leftover islands the validator can’t fix,I do a final run through the validator to auto fix and get my finalized file :)

i discovered this channel this month and im fucking adicted. Hello from spain! I just came back to the hobby after 10 years or so. And im watching all your videos to learn some stuff. Keep it going man

This was the most decently explained video about why do you need supports and why placement is matters. Thanks. I have a question thou: why not print your model in pieces, like hands and a head separate?

Just a correction, Photon File Validator can be used to fix all those small pixel islands and then it can be exported as a .stl to be used in other silcers.

@jamieott3832

4 жыл бұрын

I went down this path when I first started printing. I kinda found it unnecessary if you properly support.

@br3orbot

4 жыл бұрын

@@jamieott3832 yeah I'm with you, I don't even use it anymore. But it is a pretty good starting off point.

You mentioned at the end of the vid that you changed resin and got better detail. Which resin were you using at first and which did you switch to?

@Miniac

4 жыл бұрын

Linked in the description

@WhiteRaven___

4 жыл бұрын

Its Elegoo brand for anyone else wanting to know and not have to thumb threw the 50 different links and whatnot in his description tab.

I clean the miniatures after a print before I cure them in a UV box I made from LEDs from Amazon. Doing it this way I find I loose less detail due to the plastic being still soft from the print. Also on my PhotonS I have managed to get a print layer of 0.04mm and get some really nice details from the exposure settings for my resin and printer.

@emilianogiusto7890

2 жыл бұрын

What settings were you using for it?

@Fenlander216

2 жыл бұрын

@@emilianogiusto7890 For 28mm to 32 mm I can often get away with using 0.54mm contact points at a depth of 0.32 for the lighter parts of the figure. For the more heavy parts I go up to medium support of 0.2mm to 0.3 mm and a contact depth of 0.30. All in Chitubox V1.6.3. Only time I had to use heavy supports of 0.5mm and above was when I made a chess set for someone as these pieces were far bigger. Layer count 0.04mm Bottom Layer Count 6 Exposure Time 15 seconds Bottom Exposure time 80 seconds Bottom Lift Distance 5mm Lifting distance 5mm Bottom Lift Speed 65 mm/min Lifting Speed 65mm/min Retract Speed 150mm/min. You will need to wear gloves though as the resin has yet to set and is still toxic until it is cured. But I found that I can more or less use a sharp craft knife and prune them off and retain detail. Never let the program do auto supports either learn to place them yourself. Also put the base of the model on the build plate and tilt by 45 degrees this way most of the build will need support underneath the figure and so you will not see any cosmetic damage they do when removed.

Ah found this video super helpful

Good video. Also keep in mind there are supportless minis from rocketpig games, and presupported minis at no extra cost from Pizzo ghamak or titanforge. There is a presupported tier for artisan guild but I feel $8 is to much more per month it almost doubles the cost of the patreon.

Just found a new ghazkull thraka model, and this will definitely help

should have been sober when I watched this; will return

Nice! I haven't quite figured out when to use light, medium, and heavy supports. More practice required.

@Juncboks

4 жыл бұрын

According to most 3d printing yt channels, heavy supports are almost never necessary. Medium ones are fine for the core "body" of your print, but your should try to stick with light support if possible as the post print scarring is easier to negate. But that's, of course, just what I've heard in my research. My printer is stuck in transit... ty virus...

There is an google docs for all resin setting. Its constantly updated by the community. Just search for "resin google docs". It'll save you some time

Checking the resin manufacturer site can help with getting the exposure setting down pat too... That and joining the facebook group for the printer. They often have pinned spreadsheets of settings.

Long time printer newish viewer. Use prusa slicer. Auto orient auto support. Also checks islands. Can export as STL into slicer and print with no changes other than settings for curing. Never had issue.

You can save a sliced file as .cbddlp (chitubox format) and run it in Photon file validator. Once you have a fixed file that you are satisfied with you save it and re-open it in chitubox. From there I re-slice it and save it for my printer format, the Soinic mini.

@karanash8025

4 жыл бұрын

This!!!

I would suggest you take a look at how to save print time. You can do thia by increasing the lifting speed. It can be done if your profile in chitubox. Default lifting speeds start at 65 mm/min and can be cranked up to about 100-110. Please try it out and see how it goes. Make sure that your supports are strong enough for the tension brought by the harder pull of higher lifting speed.

I've learned and used Simple Green to clean my resin prints of the uncured resin especially now with rubbing alcohol having a big price spike and limited availability its a good alternative

Thanks for putting this together, Scott. I’m going CRAZY because I keep getting print failures with presupported mini files on my Photon S. Is there any downside to hiking the layer exposure time besides it just taking forever?

*In the style of, Life of Brian - No! He doesn't have the virus-cough; he's just been shouting Paint More Minis too much!* Cheers Scott that was facinating. I'm unlikely to get into 3D printing, sadly, but I thought these consumer resin p's were a nice simple entry level machines - but obviously they need a skill set too. Your advice has been very informative, thankyou.

If you like resin printing then you have to get the anycubic wash and cure station. It makes cleanup and cure a breeze and isn't a lot of money.

Outro is sick hahaaa

Hey I have a question. do the lines produced by layers pull inks when painting, like panel lining does? like, if I wet a brush with some ink, and I just tap the mini where there's lines, will those lines gradually fill with ink? I'm thinking about learning 3d modeling as a hobby and might want to design my own minis, but since I primarily use inks and glazes almost exclusively, with minimal drybrushing for a basecoat, I just wanna know if I'd be wasting my time with 3d prints. Not trying to paint stuff that ends up looking like it's got scanlines from an old CRT monitor painted on it.

How does this guy not have 10 mil subscribers

I wish I had a 3D printer right now, would be so helpful to be able to print minis any time.

You can use the photon file validator with any resin printer, just export the file as a .photon or .cbdbdvbdbd (w/e the elegoo one is) :D You just have to manually adjust the supports in your slicer.

Do you find it best to always paint the base rims black? or do you vary based on whats on the base?

im thinking of purchasing a elegoo mars pro, for miniature printing, would you recommend it over the anycubic?

Hey Scott, adore your channel. Would you consider high-passing your VO? I watch on my home theater and some rumble below 150hz is causing some crazy subwoofer excursion.

Would print them RN but my 3d printer is currently printing masks and equipment for the doctors and nurses here in Spain 🤷🏽‍♂️

@eduardo_Skywaller1032

3 жыл бұрын

Ur using a resin printer for masks?

We've come a long way since this video.

You can also add and delete pixels in the Photon File Validator software ;)

What mini did you use for the test print, I like the style of it.

what do you do about the support skins? idk wtf they are called, but on the bottom of my bases is a thin layer of resin that its like the supports "Base skin" how do you remove that? otherwise i lave it on, trim the best i can and just sand the edges of the mini base.

someone was telling me the new Anycubic software was doing a very good job of adding supports automatically, also I have noticed there are a lot of designers putting out STL files with pre-loaded supports

you should start playing around with the size of your supports too. you can get the contact points down very small. which means smaller spots in the mini where the support was touching. which means smaller blemishes.

I have a heated ultrasonic cleaner that I use after the alcohol bath. When I take it out the supports practically melt off. I use Mr Clean Febreze in it.

no intention of getting a printer at all... still interesting af, gj dude

Want all Islands? Make 90-100% cover and the angle on where to put supports to 1-2° and start Autosupport.

What mini is that you're printing? it looks sick and I would like to print one up (or likely a bunch)

I am curious to know what the (current) life span of printed resin is - both painted and unpainted. Will the models fall apart like my Tamiya tanks from the early 90s did...

Use PrusaSlicer and select "Optimize Orientation" then slice it with supports. After that Export STL with Supports and import that into Chitubox.

@SDawnfire

4 жыл бұрын

Only problem with that is that PrusaSlicer often orients the model in a way that puts your supports where the damage is going to be easy to see. I use Prusa's autosupports, but I just tilt the model back 10-15 degrees and haven't noticed any worse results than when I tried out the optimized settings.

Good tutorial, to the point, without any fuss around. Great job. My finger is harder to stop to buy my 3d printer, .... hahaha. The only problem with 3d printing is the time needed. BTW, does those programs run on Linux?

I have a quick question I really want to get into miniatures and I'm not sure if I should go with kow or aos. Money and popularity are the only factors. I live in Ontario around Kitchener and would like if I could find some stores to play with people. I'm not sure if know is super popular where I'm from. Anything helps.

Do you have the exact settings you used for the print? Exposure Time / Off time / etc?

Probably should have included a bit on removing supports. Soaking in hot water, after cleaning in IPA, softens the tips and makes removal a ton easier.

Prusa slicer auto supports are way better. Also has an auto-rotate feature you can use to get the ideal rotation. I think Danny the 3d printing dm has a video on it

Scott, check out 3DPrintingPro guy has some simple videos explaining everything about supports and offers his configuration. His setting eliminate a great deal of the damage resulting from support removal. Being that you want to run almost 24 hours to print as many mini's as possible, consider selling your Photon S and putting a small amount of money with the sale and get a Phrozen Sonic Mini {$249} . It prints roughly the same size however it has the new monochromatic LCD that last much longer than the LCD your Photon S has, as well as cutting your print time in half. Faster higher quality prints with a longer machine lifespan would allow you to print much more.

I shit you not, today comes my last piece of equip to start printing and I felt really anxious. Scott you beautiful bastard! Edit: which Resin did you chose to use at the end? With which exposure time? :)

You don't talk about layer height, this makes a big difference. You just need to keep aligned with the resolution of the stepper motor and the accuracy of the lead screw. Probably 0.02 or 0.03 is the limit on cheaper printers.

What resin do you recommend for minis?

I want to "upvote" but I needed you to end with "practice more supports"

I started using Prusa Slicer and letting it do the auto supports. I've yet to get pits in my models. yeah I have to clean off tiny little nubs but I would rather have to much material than not enough.

Clean before curing and use warm water to soften the supports. Then they barely leave a mark.

So my question is w do you get those supports with the long thin tops that stretch wherever they're supporting? I've been having issues with Chitubox just arbitrarily deciding not to put a support where I tell it to.

@Miniac

4 жыл бұрын

The trick is to add the support onto another support already on the buildplate, and then edit the support and move it to wherever you want. It's a PITA, but it works.

UVTool is a better solution than the Photon File Validator. Lychee slicer just recently added island detection also. I use UVTool.