# 3d Printers and our hobby. A review from a guy who has found a good $199 solution



## tackindy (Sep 25, 2012)

So, first off this is about our hobby and therefore I feel it can be posted here. Because a lot of us look for detail parts, or people doing certain things, or items from a different time period that nobody makes (like modern people). So most of us have heard of 3d printers that can supposedly print ANYTHING right at home but we've been trigger shy because of price and complexity of using such a device. Well, here is your possible solution and someone's experience with it that will hopefully settle your mind to go for it, or steer clear of this because you are not up for the challenge. 

Here are the some layout related items I printed and it was easy and looks good! Once painted I think they will add a LOT to my layout! Imagine the car loads and things you could create!!!









I looked for a good 3d printer a long time and found most that had good reviews were into the thousands. Well one has finally come along that sounded too good to be true but in fact is not. Monoprice Mini 3d runs around $199 if you can find one. They are selling out every time they produce a new batch so you really just have to order one and wait for yours to be produced. If you try to buy when it's in stock you'll be waiting a long time I think. This printer does what it says and it is in fact easy to use and comes fully assembled. Many of the cheap big ones do not come assembled and putting it together is not that easy!

First, lets talk about the printer. It's good. It will print things nicely if you know what you are doing! For just $199 you can have the 3d printer that will print pretty much anything that is within a 4inch square box. It is fully assembled so you just get it out of the box and do a little setup and you can print a test print of a cat right away! Now, you have to fine tune the printer a little before you just take off printing. These printers do not just print and print and print. You have to be prepared to tweak it once in a while to keep it printing well. But if you are a little mechanically inclined you'll do great. Now, the little "sample filiment" included with the printer will not even print the sample. So you gotta go ahead and order some PLA filiment. It's about $22 for a 2.2 pound spool. Its really a lot! It will be plenty to get you going and last you a little while. Here is are a few pictures of my first print! 









This is the printer right out of the box. The print bed is covered in masking tape. It makes the printed object stick to it better! 









Lucky Chinese Cat almost halfway done!









And here it is! My first print! It was surprisingly strong and tough! Light too! This took THREE HOURS to print! Yeah..... these printers are NOT FAST! But they do good! The more expensive printers don't go a lot faster. The limitation here is the media you are printing and the size of the object. 



So, now that I knew how to use the printer and that it works! I was off and running! Now I just needed to print out a ton of people and objects and cars and..... WHOA THERE BUDDY! Not so fast..

These printers will print anything.... BUT you have to have the object you want to print saved as a 3d object on your computer that can be converted into a layered gcode format that the printer can use to print it! Confused? Let me dumb it down. You cannot just say "Hey I want a 2003 Mazda B2300 2-door pickup with a roll bar like the one I had in college! OK Mr Printer.... GO!". Nope. There are two problems here. One is the fact that you don't have a 3d image of that item in your computer. Where can you get it? Well....... you can either scan it which requires a 3d Scanner (expensive and hard to use), or you can design it in a multi thousand dollar CAD program (maybe you can do it in a cheap one I don't know), or you can do what I do and go online to a place like Thingiverse.com and try and find someone who has made this object before. You can then download the file and use the free software that came with the printer to scale it (change it's size) and save it as gcode that the printer can then use. That is how I do it! I'm not fancy enough to scan object or make them myself yet..... yet. Maybe Sirt can but he's a master and I'm not! 

So therein lies the first problem with 3d printers. You cannot just print anything on a whim because you have to have the file to do it! While many files can be had for free if you really look around the web.... if you want something specific you might have to make it yourself. This right here knocks a bunch of people off the 3d bandwagon. 

The next problem is that while the printer is very good.... it prints in layers. One layer at a time. If you try to print a car with a sloped hood it won't be smooth. Take a close look at that cat's head I printed. You see all those "steps"? Theres the problem. You can sand them away and make it smooth, but it doesn't come out of the printer PERFECT!











Now, I knew this going in so I wasn't planning on printing nice cars. Old trucks and train parts will print fine. But if you want a smooth hood on a 67 Camaro...... you ain't getting it! 

Let's talk about one more problem you will have....... If you wanted to print a person pointing or just with their arm stretched out away from them.... the printer will have to "build up" a support under the arm to hold it up while printing. Think about it... the printer will be trying to dispense/print hot plastic with nothing under it to hold it up! Therefore when you are looking for models to print you don't want to choose anything that has overhanging parts. This includes complex chairs as the seats will be "suspended" over the bed. The printer can and will print supports to allow this but when it's done you'll have to trim away these supports before you are finished. And with our small detail parts you can easily break the item while trimming it if you weren't careful in picking your design in the first place! 

The girl and the firehydrant are two things I found on Thingiverse.com that I could print easily. Other items that would be easy are windows, doors, ladders, etc...... 

But having said all of this if you are a little mechanically inclined and you know how to use a computer you can print many things and have a fun time with this for only $199 plus a spool of $22 PLA filiment! I say go for it! 

Ok, so I think I covered a lot here. Ask me questions and I'll answer them as best I can. And I am NOT a salesperson for this printer nor do I have any affiliation with this industry. I'm just a hobbyist like you guys!

P.S. Here are some M1A1 Tanks I printed and loaded on a flat car!


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## Mark VerMurlen (Aug 15, 2015)

Thanks for the write up. I've occasionally considered getting a 3D printer, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. It looks like they're getting close to the quality I want.

Mark


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

The tanks look a lot larger than 4", did you print them in pieces? How much trimming did they take?

The impressive part is printing the black treads!


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## tackindy (Sep 25, 2012)

Yes I printed them in 7 pieces. Two tracks, two middle, two main body, and then the turrent. That is the limitation of the Monoprice mini. It's MINI! It does make me want to get a larger one and print full size models. BUT then you have problems with overhangs so printing smaller portions and gluing them together works out ok.

There was little trimming and those are painted already. Though, you can buy printers that will print in multi color. Those are the printers that are into the thousands of dollars though.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I must admit, I keep getting closer to buying one of these. OTOH, I don't have enough hours in the day now, so adding this would just make it worse!


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Thanks for that summary. I have to say that, with the exception of the $199 model of 3D printer, there is nothing in your write up that I didn't already know.

For me, though, what keeps me out of the 3D printing aspect of the hobby is the level of detail -- that is, the ability of the printer to resolve fine detail, and minimize the appearance of layering which then has to be dealt with by the modeler. Even this printer isn't down to a level where I consider it an acceptable tradeoff. Maybe as my layout gets down to where I'm doing fine detailing and need unique items that might change. And the technology will probably have improved greatly by that time too. I'm also into miniature figurines, and these require a somewhat finer level of detail than inexpensive printers are capable of rendering. Your models look like O scale, whereas my items would be HO for the layout and either HO or 25mm (about 1/72nd) for figures.

Like you, I have identified many sources of 3D models that could be used, so that's not really an issue.

So, yeah, it's getting there, but still not quite to the point at which I'm ready to jump in.


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## tackindy (Sep 25, 2012)

The level of detail is an issue for sure, especially in figures! But, finding other uses for it is part of the fun. I've designed replacement signs for the current Menard's YORK hotel, and seats, tables and signs for my "Plumbing Shop" that I'm converting into a riverside crab shack!


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