Originally asked in the TTRPG community and was suggested to ask at a printing community, so here I am. Hello.

I’m looking for someone or some place (Australia based if possible) that prints miniatures. I’d be supplying the file. I’ve never sent anything to 3d print and I must be awful at searching because I can’t find a single site that has like a rough quote for minis. Of course I understand they would give me a different quote once I supply a file, but so far I have absolutely no clue on what to expect. $20? $150? Do you get a better deal if you print multiple items? Does it matter if they’re different or all the same?

That, for starters. Next - what material should I be getting these prints on? (I hear that’s resin?)

What resolution/parameters do I need to keep in mind for my files?

Is there any way to make sure the printer won’t be reselling my work? (ie., printing my custom made models and selling them elsewhere)

Does anyone have any recommendations for Australia?

Thanks

  • dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    16 days ago

    Just yesterday I created [email protected] for this very purpose, so I’ll plug it again. Well, not miniatures specifically, but rather a place for people who haven’t got printers to ask for help from people who do.

    I’m not in Oz so I figure shipping to you would be quite prohibitive. But you might be able to connect with someone in your country, who can ship printed stuff to you more cheaply and – importantly – without having to fuck around with customs.

    The go-to wisdom is that detailed miniatures are best printed with a resin printer. You can do it with a traditional FDM (filament) printer but it’s harder to get the small details reproduced, and FDM printers can’t print in midair so you either have to be very careful to take that into account with your design or do a lot of work with removing and doing the finish work around printed supports. So you probably want to find somebody with a resin machine.