How much do 3D Printed Miniatures Cost?

#AD Thank you to Daybreak Miniatures for sponsoring today's video! Check out their Links:
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There’s A LOT of talk about the cost of 3D printing in the community today. But how cheap is it REALLY?
Well I'm going to try and answer that today. I've got one one litre bottle of Elegoos Water Washable Ceramic Grey resin, and I'm going to see just how many miniatures I can print with just this one bottle, and one Machine - the Elegoo Mars 3.
#ElegooMars #3dprintminiatures
Amazon Affiliate Links (Helps the channel):
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Previous Mars Pro 2 Printer : amzn.to/3eKQAEE
Water Washable Resin 1KG: amzn.to/3mAjFsr
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Cheapest IPA: amzn.to/3CKaA5O
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Elegoo Saturn : amzn.to/340h3dx
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[@DrEndMan]

To summarize, you could spend 300-350ish on a 3D printer and get dozens of minis or you could spend the same amount and get 6 space marines and maybe a goblin if it’s on discount

[@khanayudash2475]

Plus cost of resin, plus cost of cure station, plus cost of wash bucket, plus cost of IPA, plus cost of vapor mitigation and PPE, plus temperature management (depending on local environment). My estimates for a newbie getting into the hobby are currently around $650ish for a full resin setup if you are getting a printer around $300ish. Don't get me wrong, it's still an immense long term savings compared to buying storebought models, but it's far more than just the printer itself when dealing with resin.

[@binkuspinkus8400]

@@khanayudash2475 often cure & wash stations get bundled with printers - see Elegoo and Anycubic bundles, ~$400; could be the consumables make up the difference, but even $600 might be an overestimate for getting started.

[@Tackett666]

I got an elegoo mars 3 used for 70 bucks got water washable resin and cure my minis with my girlfriend nail curing light. I also put reflective tape on the inside of a bucket and set my minis on a spinning display thing I already had so I got my stuff going for about 100 bucks.

[@lukemcevoy2385]

@@Tackett666 I need more of this!

[@TheWebbNasty]

@@khanayudash2475 I got my mono 4k and wash station bundled on sale for 320 buckaroos and 4 gallons of 99% ipa for 50. But i already have a studio. If you live in the arctic or have to put your printer in your room, your going to spend more on ventilation and heating.

[@OgichiGame]

To summarize, 3D printing has a High upfront cost, but a low long term cost. Which makes it very good for someone who doesn't have the kind of money it takes to buy a lot miniatures for painting and playing with. After the upfront cost of getting setup is done, the prints themselves cost very little per model compared to similar quality and sized miniatures you can buy.

[@kj869]

To Be real, you could buy pretty high stack of miniatures with 500 pounds. Just to give some ballpark, necromunda box of 10 from gw in element games is 22.50. if we imagine you get great deal and everything you need printing whitoutresins is 500 thats 222,22 miniatures. If your cost for every miniature is 1 pound, your saving is 1.25 per miniature,and you are at brake even after 413 gw 28mm models (you use more money on resin as you print so with that money you could buy more figures and That is the reason break even is not at 222 figures) Not counting any of your time used. Yeah 3d printing is not yet here as money saving device.

[@adamdecoder1]

Okay, but what about printing terrain? What about multiple armies? What if you want to switch to a different game and need new models? There's loads of ways to save money with 3D printing in the tabletop hobby that you're glossing over. Not to mention you'll have far more options for the look of the models you want to play with if you opt into printing. Personally I think it's well worth it if you have the space, but yeah if you're just looking to start playing one game with one army then yes, technically buying wholesale from GW is a bit cheaper.

[@cwaldacwaldovic4572]

@@kj869 You are right. But there are some buts in the real scenario. If you would build your army for playing the official tournaments, there is only small point in 3D printing. Only in conversions. But then again, if you are playing only friendly games, you can get a lot of models that are much nicer that anything GW put out in last decade or two (eg. tyranids or eldars). So to say, 3D printing is, lets say even with official models. But you can have a lot of variety, wich is nice in my books. Plus you can get learn another skill. As I look at the situation, it seems to me vast majority of players can profit from 3D prints, one way or another. There is only fraction of players, who are hurt by 3D prints. And I would argue, those are paid for their opinions.

[@polartest122]

@@kj869 bro that's in pounds a box of 10 cost 60 dollars here in canada and my 3d printer costed me about 220$-250$. so 40 models is pretty close to the cost of just the printer. resin is 25$-50$ depending on size and brand and that one bottle could print most of an army for the cost of 10 infantry models. it is here and the ability to make your own models is there as well. don't need to buy bases, terrain pieces could just be printed there's a guy at the gameshop that plays custodies so for him he didn't even have to spend alot of time printing. titanic models also become alot for feasible. and if you just wanted to get those models that are always out of stock now we can just print them. wanted to start AoS can just print before you buy anything its so cheap just takes some time.

[@polartest122]

@@cwaldacwaldovic4572 i agree has this guy even seen puppets war bugs they look sick. only a few reasons to buy gw models is for tournaments hosted by them, they happen to put out a nice model, bits. or if you just really like the model they made and cant find/make your own. not like its bad too support them but man 60$ CA for 10 models is just a nope for me. now that 3d printing is openly available

[@walterstarr1588]

The cost isn't what has drawn me to 3D printing, it's the quality. I've seen so many creators who do better miniatures than even Games Workshop!

[@Whiskypapa]

As a dnd player, what also draws me to it is the customisability. Designing a character in heroforge or similar and then being able to print that exact character is so much better than buying a premade mini that only loosely resembles your character.

[@jeremygabriel7813]

@@Whiskypapafacts! the customization = endless possibilities

[@Philtho]

That is absolutely insane cost wise. I can't even imagine how awesome the hobby (and others - custom larger scale models etc) will be 5-10 years from now. The resolution NOW is nuts.

[@SuperEagle112]

It’s exciting to have the insight to know that we are in the stone-age of at home printing and already creating such amazing work. The next 5-10years will be truly exciting.

[@Tahira204]

The dwarves hair and beard is what killed me seriously. This is fucking insane how good the resolution is. If I had a tablet with zbrush or blender and some skills in 3D modeling I'd make my own stuff paint it and then sell it. This is so freaking good.

[@CommanderWiggins]

I'm amazed by how far 3D printing has come just in the past few years. It wasn't too long ago that resin printers were crazy expensive and not at all feasible for the average person to own. Now, a decent resin printer is actually a reasonable purchase for a hobbyist.

[@kimholmstroem]

@@SuperEagle112 well, printers will be better. But if everyone is homeprinting, then there won't be any compaines to make the designs, rules, lore etc.

[@pintuminies4618]

@@kimholmstroem Well, they can still sell the 3D models like other companies have done.

[@woodstock7063]

With two 2L bottles of resin I printed two full 2k point armies for aos 3.0. One blades khorne with 4 large god like mini's and one OBR army that included a nagash proxy and I still had about a half a bottle left. Those bottles came free with my printer which cost me about 350$ after shipping. I saved over 1600$ Canadian on the GW counterparts.

[@hepotitus]

Where did you find the 3d models for your prints?

[@woodstock7063]

a friend emialed me a collection of stl files they had purchased.

[@jagttiger447]

Do you know any sites who have GW stl files? desperately want to print some old warhammer fantasy models who are not in production anymore

[@woodstock7063]

@@jagttiger447 I don't think GW has ever officially released any stl files. Your best bet might be trying to find a way to import game files from any GW video game into blender or something. I much preffer proxy pieces to official GW minis half of the time.

[@StrengthScholar0]

Lol just sell a third of what you made for the price of the bottles and you're getting them for free.

[@biffa2987]

For me I do find it alot cheaper than buying models. The main bonus for me tho is the variety and ease of finding models I like. I can find a set and if I only want 1 model I only print that rather than buying a box full. Also love being to print multiple of the same to test painting etc rather than ruining my expensive GW models

[@HellstormWargaming]

IT is defintiely cheaper overall!

[@jerometruitt2731]

That's mainly what I want to do. Print stormsurge and riptide to perfect the paint scheme I want before painting the real thing.

[@thelousygitarist6830]

But do you need all the other stuff next to the printer? Or could you wash it yourself? (miniature and light after printing).

[@CriccaDelMana]

Yes but where do you find free hq models?

[@m0rtez713]

I will definetely get a printer in the future myself. Upfront costs have become bearable for resin printers and the possible quality and aviability of models you could print is unrivalled. There really is just GW stuff in the stores where I live and ordering minis online can get even pricier because of the shipping costs. Don't get me wrong, GW makes some good models, some of which I have, but they are on the expensive side and their stuff is really stylised and focused on their games. I like my generic fantasy for my D&D though. Oh I want it. I NEED IT! Gotta have patience.

[@andylake9793]

The per miniature cost should include the support cost as well. yet still be cheaper as the machine is reusable Time is also only wasted if you sit and watch.

[@Naeron66]

Agreed. If the bottle of Resin Costs £30 then those miniatures cost just under £26 of resin to print. Just the weight of resin used is what matters so 862g of resin (if the bottle contains 1kg of resin rather than the full bottle weighing 1kg in total). Printing the big models was stupid, it throws off any accurate calculation of how much a 32mm model will cost on average. If we take them as the equivalent of 3 models then those models would have an average resin cost of £1 per model to print plus running costs of the printer. £1 per model in resin is not bad compared to the cost of resins or plastics from GW, for example. But it does affect how many minis you would need to print to cover the costs of the printer itself.

[@janeblogs324]

@@Naeron66 whoa some common sense

[@FrstSpctr88]

And you could think of the time spend as putting your order to GW, till they're shipped and then get them from GW store. Then compare to time spent on getting supplies for 3D printer and add that to printing time.

[@Naeron66]

@@FrstSpctr88 I don''t order from GW so I don't know how quick they are but the way I look at it is that as long as it prints them faster than I can paint them then its fast enough.

[@Cpt.Str4ng3]

Ive googled a bit and you could"melt" down the supports with alcohol into a kind of resin glue, so you can "reuse" it in some kind of way.

[@rogdog5047]

Please continue the 3D printer content. I have been considering getting one for a while so any guides would be beyond helpful! Please could you expand on the cleaning and curing from last video? Thank you!

[@HellstormWargaming]

That's the plan! NExt video will be just about cleaning and curing and how to do it :D

[@GaleRazorwind]

Cleaning and curing is super simple when you have a wash and cure station that goes with your printer (e.g. anycubic photon mono and the anycubic wash and cure 2.0). You remove the build plate from your machine, put it in the wash station, start it up, then use the scraper to separate the models from the plate. Use warm water to peel off the supports. Give the models one last dip in isopropal alcohol to clean up any last resin revealed from removing the supports and any flaky bits (i like to run a toothbrush over them at this point), then swap from washing station to curing station. Cure for 3-4 minutes on each side and you are done.

[@kkouuy]

Your 3D printing videos are my favourite housing investing videos of yours! I think it's also worth mentioning, personally when first starting out I wasted so much resin, cleaning products, cluelessly supports etc; just trying to learn how to use it. The intial cost is great but eventually over time the cost decreases as you become more efficient .

[@ausfoodgarden]

I'm not into wargaming or particularly miniatures like these but those Daybreak miniatures look excellent and seeing how much you printed with one bottle of resin was very useful. Nice info mate and 👍👍

[@mattfazio997]

Thanks for having a solid, informative video describing the ups and downs of 3D printing.

[@ZK-sz8vs]

i've been able to get an average of around 100-120 28mm human sized infantry models per 1 liter bottle. dont forget printers, never trust the auto supports lol

[@terrainaholic]

skeletons are even cheaper!!! Pesky flesh:)!!!!

[@jackmcfetridge]

I’ve actually never had a problem with autosupports, I’ve printed probably 100 minis at this point

[@polartest122]

the auto supports i think would have use less weight in resin the supports he had were super thicc. but the auto ones do add alot of redundant supports. if you had the time and wanted to really save can go through them and remove all the extra stuff

[@MrCombfoot]

Entry cost is also somewhat cheaper if you want to be thrifty. I got myself a mars 2 for $220 aud on amazon. They are much cheaper and more than detailed enough for figure printing. I use water washable, I dont use IPA to wash just water. I didn't buy a curing station. If you have sunlight, you have UV and can cure. Even if it's overcast or cold raining weather, there's still UV and still cures. I didn't need to buy any additional tools. The printer came with plastic and metal scrapers, clippers, strainers, 5 extra FEP, brushes, gloves and masks. I used an old ice cream container for washing. So my initial cost was 220 + 60 for the resin, 280 AUD all up. And 'made back' the cost of the printer in the first 3 days printing some 'Space Mace 69'

[@RonaldOlszewski]

Comparing to Games Workshop: at best (using box sets or start collecting sets) you are paying a minimum of $5 per mini. So that means you save $4 per mini. (taking a very general big-picture overview here). Mars 2 Pro + bottle of resin about $350. Assuming 35 minis printed per bottle, each print yields 35 x $5 = $175 per bottle in minis in GW prices. Each subsequent print run adds $40 to cost (bottle of resin). So bottle two is 350+40=390, and yields $350 in minis. You can see by bottle 3 it has paid for itself, very roughly. I know there are many more factors, like gloves, failed prints, etc, but even so bottle 3 we are up to $525 in GW dollars vs 350+40+40 = $430 invested dollars.

[@TacDyne]

And electricity...

[@angryvaultboy4932]

@@TacDyne Variables.

[@blackg0076]

by printing your own you wont run the risk of GW being out of stock . That you only print what you want , and custom mods as well , you save a bit . If your only ever going to have one army then its a moot point but if you want a different army then the printer is the way to go. Then there are all the terrain props you can print , trees , buildings and scrap heaps . If your a D&D player then you can print out all the monsters and pc's you will ever need and there are plenty of designs to choose from, even making over size prints just because you can is a great option especially when your 5 foot elf is the same size as your 7 foot half orc. I havnt brought a printer yet , but when I convince my wife that I, err, we need this it will happen. That and when we get let out of covid lockdown.

[@Fenrasulfr]

@@blackg0076 You forget the price of the model files.

[@blackg0076]

@@Fenrasulfr I ve had a hunt around there are free files and , others that cost $5 to $8 and up depending on how big the figure is mostly, some for more. Also its a lot easier than making them out of lead in silicon molds , and they were heavy too. The important thing is that you can choose your figures rather than have exactly the same figure as your opponent . I think it is worth the cost of the files .

[@minorharmonicscale]

GW price: 800£ for similar model count in aos or 40K 😏

[@B1-997]

And that’s unpainted too lol.

[@eldritchsheep6801]

fuck, that's more than the printer costs

[@ShayVidas]

no no.. how did you get to 800 pounds ?! it should be around 200 USD or so for a box set for similar items as he shows here what is that 800pounds price ? how did u get it ?

[@minorharmonicscale]

@@ShayVidas the number is not based on anything really. Just a point that GW-models is just overpriced :)

[@ShayVidas]

@@minorharmonicscale they always have been but in recent years they are a lot cheaper then whst they used to be... also i dont thinkcthey are over priced..nowdays you can find a set for 25usd or so...considering the matirial quality packaging store import shipping prices.... thats nit bad at all. they were 50-60 usd before that was crazy and obvi if you print like 40,50 or more of them its worth investing in a resin printer..

[@kleaflab]

I love the variety of your channel, all your video are put together so nicely and are always fun to watch!!

[@ginjasteve4435]

I am on holiday shade-bathing and yet I’m still watching your video. That is dedication Michael.

[@HellstormWargaming]

That’s why you’re the best!

[@Boomer3k]

I'd like to add a little personal experience when it comes to water washable resin. Other than the more than valid points mentioned in the video already, if you actually decide to use water in your wash station, depending on the design of the station, what can happen is that the ball bearings may rust rather quickly. Which does not happen with alcohol. I learned that the hard way... maybe someone finds this helpful. In addition, if you want to cure and then dispose of the resin safely from the liquid after it evaporated outside, alcohol evaporates MUCH quicker.

[@johnbattyll6874]

Awesome video Mikey! Enjoying your 3d print series. Really like the dwarves. Cool to see a breakdown of the costs involved. Lool forward to the wash station setup.

[@yipyipyipi]

If you are worried about time, a savvy printer can put all the horses (or whatever tall items) in the same print, and do them together since the number of models doesn't matter. That said, what you did more accurately displays the average user, printing a few things here and there.

[@TheBauwssss]

That montage at the beginning really cracked me up good, nice one there, thanks for making me smile! 🤣 I was cringing real hard before and already mentally preparing myself for one of those super tacky sponsor spots or something, with my finger hovering the dislike button, and then the montage started playing and I couldn't help myself but burst out laughter. Good work dude, thanks for the laugh. One thing though, you should have washed figurines after weighing them. Though small, I reckon a significant portion of the 'used up' resin was sticking to the outside of the models before you submerged them, instead of being incorporated in the structure of the model itself. I recommend that next time you're tracking the actual amount of spent resin you weigh the models immediately after releasing them from the build plate instead of weighing them afterwards when you've already washed them. (and preferably, if at all possible, you should use a precision scale capable of weighing in sub-gram gradations/increments 😁

[@ThePickleJar]

This was such a good video. Just started printing myself and can confirm, the hidden cost is gloves and kitchen role! Nice work bud, keep up the good work

[@AndrewSink]

Such a cool idea for a video, awesome work!

[@HellstormWargaming]

Thanks man, appreciate you checking it out!

[@chrisfossum1499]

Your daybreak minis promo was grand. Love it!

[@ECHOFOXTROT289]

Incredibly helpful and honest video. The best I've found regarding 3d printing so far ngl.

[@seanc8054]

what i liked about 3d printing the most was how personalized it could be, if you know an artist, or you can hire one, they can sculpt you a model that did not exist right before you print it, it's exactly what you want, how you want it and it looks amazing, and it's unique and yours, really yours, it was pretty amazing, if i still played mini wargaming games i would have liked to 3d print stuff like that too, but ultimately i gave up on it, i keep waiting for whatever got me into it in the first place to kick back in and i'll start up once more, but so far it's been over a year and hasnt happened yet

[@dougiedog998]

Took 10 years for the bug to kick back in for me!

[@victoryavar]

Really good, clean and entertaining video! You got a new subscriber!

[@shinjofarsight3146]

Just about to start printing, this video REALLY helped! Thanks!

[@HellstormWargaming]

Glad it was helpful!

[@TheTerrynor]

Nice video mate, thanks for spend the time and shared it!

[@HellstormWargaming]

No problem 👍

[@gibsonsimpson]

This is a good overview of the cost structure to print. Thank you!

[@HellstormWargaming]

Thanks for watching!

[@timlong7289]

The blue food colouring made me chuckle. I discovered at an early age that people are repelled by blue food when I made a fun blue sponge cake and no-one would eat it. Later when I was a student in a shared house, we had a "fridge pirate" and I would put a drop of blue colour into my milk, it worked like a charm! My milk never went missing.

[@thelonelybolter8245]

Such a cool idea for a video! Dig it. Also, those minis are UNREAL. Still getting used to my airbrush, when I'm ready for the next big purchase/project ;)

[@BrillBill2]

A lot of these videos are sponsored by 3D art studios but the cost of the files never gets included in these round ups... The Dwarfs set is $25 for example, so why not add another £2.50 to your figure making the minis more like £3.50 a pop…

[@ClayMann]

I think that part is so variable. You can go from completely free to OMG how much?

[@tims5298]

We have solar power and live in Australia so little to none running costs here

[@bartholen]

But don't you pay for that only once? If you buy the dwarf set and print let's say 4 of them, you won't have to pay £100 for the files. Right?

[@crossmr]

@@bartholen Exactly if you're printing larger armies, you may print the same mini several times. That's a cost that is reduced every single time you reprint that mini. Also 2.50 a figure is a little bit on the high side. With most patreons you're paying way less than that per figure.

[@jimbobjones9330]

If he got them through the patreon, he would have gotten all of the vampires for $10, all of the dwarves for $10 (the patreon price). Plus, remember the flexibility. If he were to try and buy the "big" figures, he couldn't. And if he could, they would be extremely costly. Just for comparison, to buy a couple of D&D miniatures at Miniature Market would be about $22 for "Curse of Strahd" unpainted plastic minis... one on foot, one on a horse. Obviously that's at the high end, but in most cases, you're looking at $3-5 per normal figure at a game store with zero ability to customize.

[@SumFlyyyGuy]

I love the sequence you did for the "advertising" of daybreak miniatures starting around 2:31 - Absolutely Neon

[@katana2665]

Beautiful character designs. Thanks for sharing your assessment.

[@sullivangilbert1406]

Really watchable and informative. Thank you! And we’ll done at No Retreat Legends! Looks like you all had fun!

[@turbosnowy]

Thanks for this, a very useful video - it's the obvious question most people I think would have but seen anyone else actually address it.

[@chrisking1334]

Fascinating and really helpful - thank you very much!

[@D3cyTH3r]

Those supports look really thick (2.0+?). I've been using 0.2/0.3 supports on the Mars 3 without any issues (-for light bits like antennas. For the rest I mostly use 0.9's/1.0's, with a couple of 1.5 "heavies" to anchor the model). Do you get the Chitu project files when buying mini files, or just the STL's?

[@RaZziYoutuber]

You seem to have a lot of fun while doing these videos, constantly giggling. It's great!

[@Xzenoangel_]

Hey! I am new to 3d resin printing, I have this exact setup (mars 3 and water washable resin) I was wondering what exposure times you used to achieve such great looking results, also how long did you cure the models for? I also have the mercury plus =) Thanks for the awesome videos by the way!

[@bartenz4307]

Has any one thought about duel purpose supports? Could the supports be terrain, spears, bushes.. It would cut down on the waist. Personally I would print trim pieces for converting square sheet basing to GW edges. (My preference for gaming minis)

[@inoroth2001]

I had this exact thought -- those supports would make really cool alien/robot trees, or could be separated and used as gribbles on other terrain by acting like pipes and wires, or even cut into chunks and made into piles of rubble or loose stones!

[@BlackJackalGaming]

The supports are designed to be easy to remove. If you create them into something useful, then removing them would be a nightmare

[@nrgspike]

While Chitubox is my preferred slicer, it's predictions for how much resin will be used are never even close to the reality - usually under estimated by a good 20%. I always weigh prints (including supports) and keep a record of what each one actually cost.

[@warmak4576]

Do you hollow and put a hole in them so that the liquid resin doesn't remain in the model?

[@NoSkillsNoFun]

In the end it all depends, but I look at the Halot One printer right now, for 169€, a bottle of eco resin for 20€ and it seems juicy. The cost drops significantly the cheaper the resin is, your bottle would be roughly 38€ here, the resin I look at is almost "half" the price, which would halve the cost per miniature as well. Geedubs will be in for a rough awakening.

[@Pacman8907]

Hellstorm continues to crank out top tier content. Alogrithms.

[@HellstormWargaming]

Thanks Evan 😍

[@adventcrown214]

Wow. I haven't even checked the cost of these printers in a long time. I remember back when it was $2k easy just to get a basic resin printer. And it cost just about $100 to get 1000g of the resin. The only printers back when that you'd be able to get at that price range would be a cruddy filament printer with inconsistent prints and you had to put it together yourself. Amazing to really see how accessible it's become. Didn't actually think it would ever happen.

[@bigarmydave]

Great vid 😊 How much time is spent on each model? (From finished print, till its displayed)

[@Cpt.Str4ng3]

Just from your vid(btw. amazing) ive looked up on a way to recycle the supports, have you thought about melting them with alcohol and turn them this way into "resin glue" / material to fill up gaps or just to glue the minis onto the bases? Would basically lower the loss and give you the bonus of not having to use glue for bigger multipart printed minis? not sure how good this works but definitly something to look into. Small warning: the resin glue should be only used outside at best, because the vapors could be toxic as frick. :D

[@AsbestosMuffins]

not sure this type of plastic melts like that

[@mitchwilliamson5552]

@@AsbestosMuffins it melts in acetone not alcohol.

[@alexfrantz8389]

Cute idea, but it doesnt work that way. supports are lost resin, unless you use them for terrain or basing.

[@justarandomname420]

Holy heck! Just picked up that dwarf of the deep with the staff and lantern from my FLGS. First time I've bought a mini someone resin printed. So glad to know what he's from!

[@HellstormWargaming]

Eyyy!

[@Wimpypumpkin]

What layer height and settings are you using if you dont mind me asking? Your detail on the prints are great. Ive printed a few but there not even close to what yours look like. Iv also only printed small stuff so that could be why.

[@VincentGroenewold]

Really good one, often not talked about at all with printing!

[@1garryrippon]

Best review I've seen,ta!

[@syrakoulisantonis3143]

Hi, can you tell what settings (exposure times, AA and more) you are using for your 3D prints with whaterwashable resin? your results seemed realy good and i would love to try it out.

[@pauljohnson3442]

Wow, I randomly stumbled onto your video. I don't play Warhammer or any of the other strategy games, but I love the model printing. Do you have any video for complete and utter newbies with no knowledge or experience in this? Really enjoy the video and thank you

[@philippetaylor78]

Hey, thx that’s a nice video! Have you taken into account electricity usage ? I don’t really know about the electricity consumption for one batch.

[@Vaasref]

The cost of electricity is negligible, a resin 3d printer that size is around

[@timonix2]

The alcohol, gloves, paper and everything disposable comes out to be about the same price as the resin for the last 5 liters. I have improved my routines so the costs have dropped between the first and last bottle. Also the resin price have plummeted. I used to buy bottles for $60 and now I can get them at $25

[@bonogiamboni4830]

Is the cost (both in terms of upfront cost for the machine and other equipment and the long term cost of printing material) similar for the filament printers? I know resin printers are much better for printing lots of small minis because of time but are they also better cost wise or are filament ones cheaper?

[@yipyipyipi]

Also missing from your pricing: the STL. Those usually average around 1/model. Sometimes you get more or less, depending on the patreon or sale.

[@TripleBarrel06]

@@Nazgull2k1 yeah that's the real benefit of 3d printing, the more you print the cheaper it is in comparison to buying minis.

[@shiniCheese]

Hey man! Great video. Could you share your print settings? Exposure, layer height, etc. appreciated

[@PapaBadger823]

I have never watched your Videos before, But I subbed just because of the Intro. Thank you for that :P

[@notreallydavid]

Really informative - thanks for posting. I don't print, so I know nothing - what's the proper way to dispose of resin-y washwater? Would that incur any cost?

[@felixchappell1366]

Does mikey need a 3D printing intervention?? 🤣 Great vid mate :)

[@HellstormWargaming]

Thansk for watching mate :D

[@pixelasm]

Nice breakdown of costs, always wondered about that one. But what about the electricity used for the prints, curing and washing stations, as well as the purchase of the printable models? Did I miss those being mentioned? At least these costs are not mentioned after 16:04

[@OrhallaZander]

You are correct. You should work for the US IRS audit team. It's a joke about those minimal costs that do exist, but do you really want the dude reading his barometer and figuring out how much his 3d printer is using verses his fridge?

[@SiTrixonian]

I too would be interested in the electrical costs - including time spent on the computer to set the models up. I suspect it's not insignificant.

[@7kortos7]

that is absolutley wicked. knowing how much people spend on miniatures at the comic store. 3D printers are a table top players dream. I just learned from your video that the print time of resin printers is not dependent on complexity but solely on height. It seems so obvious now that you have explained it.

[@PhantomGun4]

some of that support stuff could be very useful to people that kit bash and scratch build models and dioramas. the post could be like pipes or cables. the base could be like liquids and melted acid damage.

[@Dehalove]

Awesome video!

[@6543dann]

Very thorough. Thank you.

[@NoadiArt]

I have worked out a system for dealing with water. The wash and cure station for the cleanest water, when it gets too cloudy it goes into a small bucket that I use for the intitial rinse and cleaning the build plate and spatula, when that gets too dirty it gets poured off into gallon milk jugs that then get set out in the sun to evaporate off. Is it more tedious than alcohol? Yes. However I find water easier to deal with for cleaning prints that I'm willing to deal with the hassle of disposing of it. If I ever start printing enough that I have larger quantities to dispose of that might change things

[@Andulvar]

I would use the sprew's as sprew glue for covering up cracks in models and even in some terrain builds. I would also check and see if it sticks to silicon molds so you can make rocks out of it. This way nothing goes to waste.

[@CaptainFettCosplay]

Resin doesn't work that way. You can't melt it like ABS or styrene

[@Aphaedon]

Great video, I'm ready to take the plunge into 3d printing now. I had figured it was an initial short term cost but long term pay off printing proxies vs buying GW/Reaper/DnD/pathfinder miniatures. Also the fact people will pay me to print stuff for them will help offset the cost as well

[@psychotimo]

bit of a late comment, but a good way to minimize lost cost is looking for supportless miniatures. you might not get as much intricate detail since it's a different way of modelling that makes sure that everything is self supported but there's some very talented people out there that make awesome supportless minis. the best part of this is simply that you can not only save on resin that is used for supports, but it also saves on resin that sticks to the supports so less resin ends up in your cleaning liquid. seeing as how 300grams was used for supports, that's about a third of the bottle you could have saved if these were supportless.

[@WorldAquariumSingapore]

super cool thks for the calculation

[@seekkyle4230]

Where did you get the Mars 3? I've been trying to get one and Elegoo don't ship to the UK. Thanks

[@Sparky5]

I can get a few dozen parts out of a bottle of resin that costs me $30 versus $500 for the parts themselves from a manufacturer. We use the printer at least once a week at work to make parts for animated movie props.

[@wadekothmann431]

That montage was an instant subscribe 😂

[@Epiphalactic]

Is it possible to print things either hollow or with some sort of infill and then maybe put a tiny hole in the top and a tiny hole in the bottom to allow any resin to drain out that you can then maybe use a drop of resin to cover up after work?

[@lyletorok]

Cheers Mikey , next time my mates ask me to print stuff for them i now have a vid i link to them .... to say it costs me about a quid a go plus all my time power, and grief with failures.

[@HellstormWargaming]

TELL EM

[@oxylepy2]

I love that my chitubox is like "yeah this print costs 1.5 dollars" I got maybe 5 of those prints in a 50 dollar bottle of resin

[@hollywoodguy70]

I had no idea how much waste is produced. It might be a good side project to recycle some of those supports as terrain. They can be painted and used for impassible swamp trees or something.

[@magiv4205]

I was just saying, all this "waste" makes for perfect rebar, ruins, barred windows and detailing.

[@tomasmurphy9888]

I'verecently started collecting 40k minis, and one of the first things that i realized was i was having way more fun than i thought I might painting. Im planning on moving anyway, so when i do having a good idea how much it would cost to print minis if any kind to paint is amazing

[@rpm9693]

Ok the Daybreak ad break was spectacular

[@haleg68]

Thanks for making this.

[@itshugi549]

Theres also print screen replacement as well which depends a lot on which printer you buy and your printing conditions. My best understanding is lifetime can be around 800 hours? something to take into consideration

[@Perram]

Fantastic video!

[@themalcore_]

To add to the calculus here: I just ordered a Mars 3 Pro to print DnD minis. I make the minis on Hero Forge and if I was to order them printed by Hero Forge themselves they would cost $20-30 each depending on the plastic option, but if I bought the STL from them it only cost $8 (or between $3 and $4 if you buy their pro subscription). Not to mention you only need one STL per model so you could print multiple of the same mode and save even more. So for that alone the savings are pretty obvious if you want to make a ton of them.

[@drunksword3530]

I haven't even watched the video and I already subscribed because that intro was just perfect

[@lordgitface]

Loved the sponsor spot montage, also I think a lot of people miss the hidden cost like the price of the machine, consumable and more importantly your time doing prep and cleanup.

[@HellstormWargaming]

Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed it. But yeah - everyone is like ‘TANK FOR $5!?’ Not considering every other cost involved

[@MammothPaige]

Very good video, answered alot

[@malcomnotinthemiddle343]

The mario music in the background was insanely nostalgic. subbbbbbeeeed :)

[@jefffisher1297]

So about a $1.10 per mini, I get close to resin quality prints from my FDM printers for about 17 cents each and you don't need to do anything like wash or cure them, and there is no toxic waste. I just can't see making the investment, if I could afford it I probably would at give it a try. Thanks for the video it was a good learning experience.

[@divyanshgupta8905]

Can you please tell which printer you use bud ??

[@johnsnow7731]

The intro sold me on the sub, looking at starting 3d printing for Dnd minis, what is the biggest size that the 3d printer can do?

[@Blazphemyful]

I am curious what your printer settings are for this batch?

[@swiftdetecting]

have u a video with using this resin with only water and if so would u still use the mercury water x machine if you clean with water only? also u ever used any other colour or just the grey one ?

[@theinstantnoodle9628]

I see you're pushing it to the limit. Dancing on that razors edge.

[@jarrajoseph-mcgrath9142]

Such a fun video! If you'd skipped the bases you'd have a looootttt more minis on the table there!

[@krinkrin5982]

So, how do you get rid of the waste water/alcohol from washing your 3D prints?

[@mieko74]

Just wondering do these costs include the electricity used or just the resin?

[@Gorkilein]

Got a question: I never used 3D printing because it way way too expensive as I looked into it some years ago.... So where do you get the files fir the minis from? Are there free forums where people publish good minis or do you need to buy these from manufacturers that only sell such files for their minis or do regular sellers like Games workshop or similar selling files fir their minis today? For example, if I'd like to print more Zombies for my Zombicide Boardgame, would I be able to get such files anywhere? Dies the Publisher support them ir other people? For free? If not how much would such a file for one cost? Back then I took some made a silicone mold myself and made more using Epoxy resin.

[@davidherron3136]

I remember when you could get 30 space marines in a box for £15 from GW. Their greedy pricing has led to this by Karma lol

[@rosstimmins76]

Bullshit

[@awefullgamertj6445]

Great vid!, how power intensive is it do you now how much it costs in lightning juice

[@HellstormWargaming]

It all runs off a 24V laptop charger so pretty low!