FDM Miniatures in 2024! Can they compare?

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In this video Jacob shows off his painting process for FDM minis, sharing the end results of a journey of trial and error, and gives his thoughts on FDM printers as a tool for miniature enthusiasts.
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[@Painted4Combat]

Would give FDM minis a chance?

[@ayonmetar2301]

Nope. Cheap Resin printers are easily available. The results shown here are ... well, they are good for what one would expect, but they still look horrible (imo) compared to store-bought or resin-based miniatures. I don't do things half heartedly, so even if money were SUPER tight, I'd rather not have miniatures as a hobby than having them look like that.

[@enyoru2443]

I have a FDM printer, so it's my only option, thank you for your videos !

[@bggjjhljk]

@@ayonmetar2301 they look better sure, but also more toxic and require a lot more material. can't touch the resin print until after cleaned with IPA , and then cured with UV light. need more ventilation and air circulation. filtration so you're not inhaling all those toxic fumes. masks, safety glasses, and gloves.

[@XmortoxX1990]

Yes I will. I don't really want the hassle of Resin Printers, I don't even have an extra room to dedicate to that.

[@DalePoole]

I just just got an FDM printer for my birthday, last weekend. I couldn't afford a resin printer myself and minis would be my major use. In the first few days I've printed a goblin, a cultist, a giant and a Bullette. Once you figure one or two simple things, the model look great to me! I just bought paint today (I've never painted a minis before) and I'm looking forward to my first dabs of colour! Great video for me, thank you!

[@Painted4Combat]

Awesome! Great to hear that your having a go with FDM printing for minis aswell. As a note; if you ever find yourself struggling with supporting models for FDM there are some great Supportless mini sculptors out there who make great designs that print without the need for supports. (EC3D, BriteMinis and Arbiter Minis to name a few of my go-to's). Hope you enjoy painting up your first few minis 🙌

[@silentbob4100]

I do Heaps of mini printing on FDM. look into supportless minis. Briteminis has alot of his work on thingiverse. Literaly place n print for an FDM printer and they come out great

[@ObiwanNekody]

Make sure you prime your models! Rust-Oleum works great

[@GoalOrientedLifting]

you can also sand lines away and use sanding to fix details that didnt come through, add details that werent there from the file. or use a rotary tool to add details. people who think you cant make great results with FDM, and think resin is the only solution, dont understand how to work with materials.

[@MrStratofish]

I'm not touching a resin printer until I can somewhere with space and ventilation suitable for one. I've been very pleased with FDM for minis though so far. I highly recommend upgrading to 0.2mm nozzles. I was getting results similar to you, maybe a little better after a few months of tweaking, but with 0.2mm it has almost eliminated layer lines. The main issues I have left to deal with are scarring from supports and stringing although those are getting better

[@Painted4Combat]

Awesome to hear you've been down this path as well! - I try to keep the 0.4mm nozzle on my printer as I do a pretty even split of minis to larger objects like terrain or household items, and swapping nozzles back and forth would get annoying. Have you found much increase in print time swapping to a 0.2mm nozzle?

[@MrStratofish]

@@Painted4Combat Not as much as I thought, but I use the same 0.08mm layer height for both. I just did a test slice on an OPR Robot Legion Eternal and with my 0.4mm nozzle profile it says 1h50m, with the 0.2mm nozzle profile it is 2h16m. the lowest layer height I have tried was 0.05mm which looks amazing but puts the time up to 3h24m for the same mini so I don't use it much

[@azure98]

It always feels like people get overly dramatic about "Muh layer lines" when you have about a dozen ways you can address them in FDM prints if they bother the person printing that much. If your choosing FDM because its cheaper or more convenient that obviously comes at a cost and that cost is putting in a bit more effort on print settings and miniature cleanup, assuming you arent just looking to put something on a board and arent concerned with how pretty it looks.

[@oldsk0ol]

Dude, they look totally fine like this. I get that having super crisp details is nice to have, but that's just it, it's just nice to have. FDM mini's are perfectly fine for what they are meant for: Representing a character or NPC and whilst playing, you're not gonna be constantly gawking at it from up close anyways.

[@Painted4Combat]

Exactly! These are great for the game table; and if you want to spend some real time making a mini look great that's when you pick a plastic kit, or get some resin prints.

[@GoalOrientedLifting]

crisp details can be added later. only major issue of FDM printers are some specific geometry cant be printed

[@ServTech1337]

its totally viable, i bought P1S combo just for all the stuff u can do, i cant put resin in my apartment, it would need serious VOCs vent system, that would cost time and money and modification to my apartment, i have lot of tabletop games, and its completly fine to use 0.2 nozzle with some medium sized minis for my games :)

[@miguellopez3392]

you can just use a paint station vent and put the printer in it and a tube out a window, you will need it anyways for solvent base painting and sanding.

[@ServTech1337]

@@miguellopez3392 yeah, not gonna risk that in my apt, i have also big fluffy doggy, and dogs are way more sensitive to that shits, i live in central europe, using that during winter with tilt turn windows no way, and dont wanna drill house walls to get vent out, i got medical air purifier and painting is bit easier to vent out cuz i have my printer and "gaming room" in my big open living room, but with the VOCs i dont wanna risk that .. maybe when the filters get better i will consider it, but for now no no

[@ServTech1337]

@@miguellopez3392 but imo, grow tent, drill it out and get good hifh cpf fans and its doable, but thats too much dedication for my selfusage of printer xD i dont print for anyone just myself and its costy to do it "propper way"

[@anthonygrimaldi9483]

I have been loving the quality of my minis from a neptune 4 pro with a .2mm nozzle, and a neptune 3 pro with a .3mm nozzle!

[@EvLmongoose]

I got an FDM last Xmas and been printing minis non stop. I too am aware that they wont ever look as clean as resin but I have them as close as possible. Since I can't really paint well enough. It doesn't really matter. These tips are great.

[@Painted4Combat]

Awesome! Thats what its all about, as long as its serving your hobby and your enjoying it 🙌

[@phillbaska]

I like the idea of FDM as easier to use / less hazardous, but as i'd want to primarily paint minis, rather than play with them - the quality is just not there yet (and i'm too ignorant of the tech to know it it ever will be). Watching a few videos, i understand that its the smaller nozzle size which improves the quality. I guess my question would be: how much smaller can the nozzles theoretically go in the future? or are we already the reaching the limit where the quality improvement will plateau due to physical limitations?

[@wfldfire]

I tried one and it really had very bad lines. I might have to go with the .2 nozzle and a layer height of .5

[@markbrener1259]

Hi! Loved the video, could I ask where you found the files for that blue mini holder you're using to manipulate the miniature durinh painting?

[@Painted4Combat]

They're my own 3d printable handles! Link is at the top of the description 🙌

[@Leo-en9ll]

What FDM printer do you use, and do you have any recommendations for someone completely new to 3d printing

[@Painted4Combat]

I use an Elegoo Neptune 3 Pro. its a great machine and is a reasonable price, but as with most 3d printers requires a bit of experience to operate to its fullest, though its also quite forgiving if it were to be someone's first machine. I do think the new BambuLabs A1 and A1 Mini look like they are 100% the best beginner friendly printer, that can get you printing fast and easy but are still very capable of giving you access to dive deeper when you're comfortable, I haven't tested myself but there is some great content covering them. I HIGHLY Recommend checking out "Once In a Six Side" he's done some great videos covering the A1's and has done follow up video on how to get some great FDM from those printers. kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4GanmB4mLVjm8k

[@MartinDubuque]

How long did it take to print these minis?

[@Painted4Combat]

simple models (no supports) can be 1-2 hours, a more complex larger model (with supports) can take anywhere from 2.5 - 6 hrs

[@kwalish]

I've been printing minis on my FDM for a couple of months now. Needed quite a while to research the best settings to get proper results. Even after that, the results depend on how detaiiled the model is. A space marine for example can look pretty great as it's a rater big mini with lots of even surfaces. More filigrane minis often don't print properly at all. The main downside is that printing said space marine takes over 6h for one model. So if you think about printing whole armies ... I hope you have a lot of time. A big plus of FDM minis is that they are much more resilient than the average resin mini, and also quite easy to use for kitbashing.

[@Painted4Combat]

This is very true, part of the reason I ended up editing/inflating the spell effect on the sorcerer mini is because of the issues of printing a more fine mini sculpt in FDM. And yes you're totally right, these can take a long time to print, especially with support material. Which I think is one of the biggest issues for most people at this point.

[@Aisaaax]

What layer thickness are these printed at?

[@Painted4Combat]

These are printed at 0.08mm (default minimum for my printer, but I have since found out it can go down to 0.05mm!)

[@hydrocosmo]

I'm not a DnD player, but I do a lot of mini painting techniques since I enjoy making my own toys/figurines of my characters, with an FDM Printer (A1 Mini). From the outside looking in it seems like making your minis a bit larger would let the details on the character really sing with FDM. Or maybe being that small is crucial to the mini experience? Not exactly sure. These look great regardless.

[@Painted4Combat]

Most minis are modelled in a size/scale to work with 1inch game mats and grids, and to look correct next to larger models; so increasing their size isn't ideal, but on occasion if a mini is a bit small it does certainly help!

[@ThKrY]

Am interested in fdm printing minies although don't have an FDM printer (at hand right now). Been thinking about getting one, will see. Got a laser cutter and been using it away from home as can't use it here, was thinking about selling that..

[@KrullMaestaren]

It's sad that you glossed over the actual FDM part. What lessons have you learned? What settings work best for you? What preparations do you tend to do? This is more interesting because we have a million painters but almost no good, modern FDM videos. I am just learning to FDM print minis and there has been a lot of stumbling so far.

[@Painted4Combat]

Thanks for the input 😊 Definitely something I'll be doing in the next few weeks, just want to take my time and make sure to cram as much as I can into that video!

[@cgm4379]

Nothing that a smaller nozzle and some acetone smoothing can't fix

[@miguellopez3392]

might as well go with resin if you are dealing with acetone.

[@falsehero2001]

Short answer: No Long Answer: If you don’t mind layer lines so thick and chunky that the models like like they were built in Minecraft, then sure, they’re fine. Just know that everyone who compliments them thinks they look like crap even if they’re too polite to tell you.

[@Jigsaw765]

I dunno man, from my perspective resin printers and printing is cheaper than FDM

[@Painted4Combat]

For me locally, 1kg of PLA Filament is half the price of a 1L Bottle of Resin (and then you have to factor in cleaning supplies). With that said - If you can safely use a Resin printer, it would be worth paying that little bit extra for the quality you get (or if its cheaper where you live that's even better!). But price aside its more about the fumes, I can safely have an FDM printer printing PLA next to me on my desk, whereas a Resin printer would 100% not be safe to use in my tiny apartment 😅

[@SweetChastity]

What is the tray and pink thing you are putting the paint on.

[@Painted4Combat]

Thats a "Sta-Wet" Wet Palette - helps to keep Acrylic paints hydrated & stops them drying out as fast! - The pink is just some cheap thin cleaning sponges that I use as refills for the palette. You can find a ton of Info on youtube about them by just searching "mini painting wet palette" or something along those lines.

[@SpottedHares]

One of the first slices I used, it was after one I can’t remember the name of, had a cutter and a lay on side function. It was very easy to take a more complex model and cut it down into easy jet pieces and then lay them down with less supper structures. Yes blender or CAD dose give you more flexibility when it comes to cutting and editing, the point it their are way to get complex prints to a more viable FDM level.

[@FullMetalPanicNL]

I hate working with resin as a material. I'm basically waiting for FDM to be good enough to mainly use for premade bases and for those not too look too "off" under my Warhammer minis.

[@Painted4Combat]

Absolutely! Even when I was resin printing my minis I found myself printing FDM bases, I just found resin bases took too much resin and never printed 100% flat due to resins affinity to warping. And honestly any FDM printer that can print 0.05 or 0.08mm is great for bases, once they have some paint and some grass tufts on them they do a great job.

[@ayonmetar2301]

Even with the rapid increase in quality we have been seeing over the past few years, I assume it will at least take 5-10 years until an fdm printer can match a current resin printer (if that ever happens). I got pretty used to working with resin. It's not fun, but it also isn't a hassle to me anymore. Just a necessary step on the path the best possible results.

[@Painted4Combat]

Yeah - I highly doubt that FDM will every be able to match resin in terms of quality for things like miniatures, so for people than have Resin as an option too them it's definitely the best bet!

[@miteruno]

​@@Painted4Combat what if I want to print bigger figurines like say action figures or anime statues?

[@Painted4Combat]

Larger models means that you can actually clean it up a bit more, so If you don't mind doing some sanding you can achieve nicer results - with that said you'll still be seeing artifacts anywhere that a model has overhangs that requires support material.

[@XmortoxX1990]

I wanted to get into 3d printing for a while, and I think I'll save for a really good FDM printer and just pay for a printing service if I really need the extra detail you get from resisn.

[@queegUK]

Glad to find people agree, I have fdm printed all the minis for gloomhaven and think they look awesome

[@Paradukes]

I ran my first session of D&D last night since picking up an FDM printer. Even unpainted, the models made a heck of a difference, and the players really appreciated having models to represent their characters for the first time. Well worth the cost and effort, especially considering it wasn't crazy expensive, nor all that difficult to get working.

[@Painted4Combat]

Thats what its all about! 🙌

[@Main267]

9:56 Yes. Doing it now, same printer. Appreciated for the future video on your settings, too.

[@Main267]

Came out really good. Excellent settings.

[@susanhale8633]

I'd be very interested in learning more about your model preparation and printing processes. I've been printing minis for tabletop wargaming (One Page Rules) and the results have been decent enough for putting models on the table. I feel there's always room for improvement and would love to see what you're doing!

[@Painted4Combat]

Yes, 100%. I'm for sure planning on doing an in depth video on how I get these printed in the next few weeks; and one page rules minis are a great example of minis that work well on FDM because of their sculpting style, I have a few from their most recent campaign printed out to show when that video comes out!

[@bastiancole3565]

FDM remains the work-horse printer type for large structures and parts.

[@JustJoshinMagic]

Would absolutely love a video on your settings!

[@Painted4Combat]

Great to hear! I'm working on it now 🤫. I Expect to have it out this Sunday if all goes well.

[@jaroslavslajer4071]

Those are looking amazing but more details means just more work on it as "another miniature" for example i was paiting space marine even for new painters its just a lot.. like need wash to get it into little holes but I started painted 10mm size which was actually fun not much detail just need few paints and pretty much done 👍 (btw amazing video)

[@Painted4Combat]

True that 💡 Smaller minis might be the way to go if your not the type of person who likes to pick out every little detail of modern minis!

[@aslskfan1]

Enjoying the FDM mini printing videos! Keep them coming! Just found your channel. Do you have videos on printing OPR minis in FDM?

[@Painted4Combat]

I cover them a little bit in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i3XbfmyMqLalqq8

[@aslskfan1]

@@Painted4Combat Thanks. I have not had the best luck printing the OPR minis on my Bambú A-1 mini. Some success here and there, but mostly failures.

[@GaniSowie]

I love FDM minis. they are so light, they look great. And best of all they piss off resin snobs.

[@Painted4Combat]

😂

[@86Corvus]

Id just buy resin printer

[@Painted4Combat]

100%! If you've got the space to house a resin printer safely, it will always beat FDM in terms of both quality and speed.

[@WolfPrecision123]

I think 99% of people would be unhappy with this quality and you should not be printing minis with a .4 nozzle

[@Painted4Combat]

True, you could drop down to a 0.2mm (or lower) nozzle to improve the quality, however, my journey in this has been trying to get the most out of a stock printer, and most come with the 0.4mm.

[@THX-to6gg]

I’m quite impressed I’d like to see you print a Space Marine or something similar. I would much prefer an FDM printer if I could produce decent minis.