Someone was looking at the Awful Green Things and wondered if I could make another set. Hmm... The first one was a labor of love for the game and an exercise in design. The pieces were printed with a UV curable resin that uses a gel support material that encases the part. The gel on each of the 150 or so models had to be picked and scraped with dental tools. Then the remaining film on the each scrubbed off with a toothbrush and NaOH. That's Draino in everyday terms. And then more rinsing and scrubbing to make sure the NaOH was off. It's not so bad for a few models, but I'm really reluctant to go through it again. Not to mention, the resin is a bit pricey.
A friend of mine who designs, prints and sells chibi miniatures said, "Hey, you should check out my printer". "No chemicals, strong ABS plastic, and the material cost is much lower".
Well now. That piqued my curiosity. So let's try it and see what happens.
I looked at the original set and picked a couple. Doc with the tentacle arms looked like a good test case for difficulty. My friend's printer used the same plastic for a support structure. And after printing all the support structure has to be snapped off. I wanted to make sure poor Doc's skinny arms wouldn't suffer.
A friend of mine who designs, prints and sells chibi miniatures said, "Hey, you should check out my printer". "No chemicals, strong ABS plastic, and the material cost is much lower".
Well now. That piqued my curiosity. So let's try it and see what happens.
I looked at the original set and picked a couple. Doc with the tentacle arms looked like a good test case for difficulty. My friend's printer used the same plastic for a support structure. And after printing all the support structure has to be snapped off. I wanted to make sure poor Doc's skinny arms wouldn't suffer.
The first print was set with a minimal amount of support. Which would mean less plastic to have to snap off. Only it was so frugal it didn't hold tightly enough to Doc's arm and part of it was carried off by the print head. Next printing was done with more support and Doc 2 was complete. Yeah!
Of course he was quite buried in support.
Of course he was quite buried in support.
We also test printed a Captain Yid. I like him. The little guy gets 4 attack dice even without a weapon! And he looked middle of the road for support removal.
Then came "pull the plastic time". These guys weren't designed with this printer in mind. And the amount of support tucked away in the little nooks and crannies underneath let me know that.
Doc took 15 minutes to pull off the support. Not only does he have tentacles and a med kit, he also has three legs. The ABS plastic is strong, and he held together.
Captain Yid took less than half the time to clean. Two legs, normal arms, and a moon shape body.
Doc took 15 minutes to pull off the support. Not only does he have tentacles and a med kit, he also has three legs. The ABS plastic is strong, and he held together.
Captain Yid took less than half the time to clean. Two legs, normal arms, and a moon shape body.
Next steps will be to prime and paint these guys and see how they compare to the the other set.