3D Resin printing custom zoid parts/assembly/painting

[dchan]

Update: still ironing out the bugs on this whole home-printed plamo idea... but at least it's something. Takes a lot of work though-- just the cleanup alone feels like building a resin garage kit. Right now a lot of the joints are not at the right balance of firmness/smoothness I'd like, in fact it reminds me of the most frustrating aspects of an HMM Zoid haha. I've found this black resin is really strong, feels like ABS (unlike the ones called "ABS-like", which are extremely flimsy), but does not quite have the resolution I'd like.

http://instagram.com/p/CO9irAognme

[Maethius]

Sweet work! Can you have the kit printed by someone (or a company) with a higher end machine, if just to see it in higher resolution? Really some marvelous work there!

[dchan]

I think if I just want to see it, I can use the gray (for minis) resin and just glue everything in place. So basically I feel like I can make a "looks like" prototype and a "works like" prototype but not both at the same time

May have gotten in at the right time though-- they just teased an 8K printer as well as a new resin that supposedly is both strong and detailed.

[Maethius]

I've been strongly looking into the Form Labs Form3. It is very expensive, but not for what it does. Basically, the Form3 is an entry level commercial resin printer.

[dchan]

The Form 3 does look amazing. I've heard that detail-wise, the Elegoo/Anycubic/Phrozen etc are actually comparable, but what intrigues me more is all the accessibility stuff that's shown off in their promo video-- the precision/consistency, the automatic file orientation, optimizing supports both for the build and for removal, etc. I'll have to look into it more, but my tentative plan has been to learn the ropes with on these cheap ones before making the leap.

[Maethius]

I was also impressed with the strength of the samples I ordered from Form Labs. The pen is, quite honestly, amazing... completely smooth and almost impossible to believe it's a print.

[derrickberlin]

Well I just thought that I’d join in with the conversation here. New to the site, & just happened to see the topic.

Found this site through a random web search (looking for specific manuals to kits I’m restoring), but over the last 6 months I’ve been tinkering with scanning vintage or newer figures so that I’ve got a digital scan for either reproduction or custom purposes.

1 very important thing to have is a good 3d scanner to produce a good scanned copy. I’ve used an Xbox 360 Kinect & or a EinScan-SE setup as well. I still use David 3d (I did a scan the other day of a fly… & with the Xbox & David 3d… I was able to get a scan where you could see each hair on the fly's body. You could almost see the blood vessels in the wings too.) for a # projects, but I like EinScan as well because sometimes 1 program can do something that another 1 can’t.

Sometimes you’ll scan something & it will have all sorts of artifacts in it (sometimes you can’t help that), but you want an object that’s as clean as possible because that will carry over in the print. And if you get a good scan where you don’t have to clean it up (as much)… it makes your life a lot easier. I just mention that in relation to repro parts.

I’ve got a Photon Mono X… & that’s a great little machine! Especially with custom toys, mods, & all that stuff. I think that I got it for a little over $800 shipped (to California). It’s a Monochrome screen… but super crisp prints. Maybe not as sharp as some of the big $5,000+ machines… but it’s too darn close to tell! Sometimes I’d argue that it isn’t much of a difference because it has to deal with the slicing & printing options that you load the file up with sometimes. Just a slight tweak… & you’ll get a print THAT IS just as good as these higher end machines in my opinion.

A lot of Photon’s resins are good… but I’m also a fan of Elegoo abs like resin as well…

www.amazon.com/ELEGOO-ABS-Like-UV-Curing-Standard-Photopolymer/dp/B07PB7VCP6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?tag=uncle05-20&crid=HJOSO95D3QLV&dchild=1&keywords=elegoo+abs+like+resin&qid=1610199756&s=industrial&sprefix=elegoo+abs+%2Cindustrial%2C171&sr=1-1-spons&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFISjJIV1JNNzFSSjMmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTA3NjE0NjkyUk0xWjYzVFI0M1VPJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTAzNjI3MjNSU1VXVTBSMVA1M0cmd2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGYmYWN0aW9uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl&linkId=ed1514a12877ec29cf3d63832f58e66c&geniuslink=true&th=1

I’ve printed up some repro LEGOs with it… & never had a problem with any of the pieces that I’ve made breaking… or degrading in time.

And sounds stupid… but before each time you print… stir the resin in you vat. You’d think that it would be stirred enough if you shooked the bottle & poured it into the fill tray/vat… but it’s just as important to stir the contents in the tray before you print because more than often the resin will be like juice that has been sitting in the fridge too long. Watery on top, but concentrated at the bottom.

Stirring the resin in the tray before you print will mix the molecules up even better, & this will help with less print failures & make a stronger print because the compounds are more mixed up.

Maybe some of this is redundant, but I just thought that I’d join the conversation & throw some commits in from the peanut gallery after the thread so far. Little stuff like this can come in handy.

Hopefully this is some help to someone.

[Maethius]

Thanks much for this! I've been concerned with finding that balance of detail, part strength, and cost. Do you find resin prints are fairly durable?

[derrickberlin]

Jun 23, 2021 12:21:43 GMT -5 Maethius said:

Thanks much for this! I've been concerned with finding that balance of detail, part strength, and cost. Do you find resin prints are fairly durable?

With the stuff that I’ve done… yeah. Like I said, I’ve done LEGO pieces… & after a year or 2 they’re still going strong! I wanted to test that just because just snapping it together & pulling it apart puts a lot of tension on the piece… & nothing has petered out on me so far.



I’d say that transparent materials are more fragile, but still pretty tough. It’s the ultra small stuff that tends to break… & you’re most likely to do the most damage/something breaking before everything has chance to cure. That’s usually where things go sideways/don’t turn out right.



I’ve been trying different resins seeing if 1 brand is better than the other, & haven’t I haven’t seen a huge difference. I personally like Photon’s & Elegoo’s trans clear, white, & black for my solid & rubber resins, & just use Formlab’s dye to color it if I need it.



But like I said the most important thing is having a good scan & a good slicer. That way that you get a clean/sharp print. I’ve got no complaints with the detail I’ve gotten off my Mono X. Some cases the repro I made looked better than the original because I cleaned it up or fixed some QC issues with the original piece. But sharp lines & very detailed… if it had detail.



Probably the only thing that I can think of to add to it/advice… is just enjoy the ride. Sometimes people rush the process because you can spend the whole day printing parts… but just move slow & don’t rush things. Just doing that will give you better looking pieces in the end.



That’s all that I can think of really!

[Maethius]

You've given me plenty to think about, thank you! I may do some scanning (maybe to preserve some kits or to build rare finds without having to ACTUALLY build them!) but I am looking to start constructing my own customizing components from the ground up using Blender. I will definitely enjoy the ride, but I know it may have its share of potholes... and bridge out signs!

[derrickberlin]

Jun 24, 2021 15:17:35 GMT -5 Maethius said:

You've given me plenty to think about, thank you! I may do some scanning (maybe to preserve some kits or to build rare finds without having to ACTUALLY build them!) but I am looking to start constructing my own customizing components from the ground up using Blender. I will definitely enjoy the ride, but I know it may have its share of potholes... and bridge out signs!

No problem man! If it helps out… MORE POWER TO YA! If I can help out more… LET ME KNOW!



Ironically… that’s what I was going to do (scan Zoid parts).



My uncle used to work for IBM, & at the time they were still prototyping the 3D scanners/printers that we use now. He was the 1 that turned me onto this because I was going to school for computer animation at the time. The thing was when 3D printing/scanning 1st came out I didn’t really know what to do with it because I saw so many uses for it… but I wanted to scan the last Zoid that I got at the time (Dark Spiner) because it was the 1st & last Zoid that I came across that was defective factory sealed. Some of the ‘caps’ on it’s tail were injected wrong, & I couldn’t get replacement parts at the time. I CAN NOW… but not then! 


So I was actually thinking of scanning some of the stuff that I’ve gotten in & scanning it because depending on the part… it’s quite cost effective. It’s about $60-80 a L for the resin (depending on the resin), & you’ll maybe spend 3-7 hours printing the parts depending on the resolution & the size. Considering that some of these guys can be pretty pricy… this can be a cheaper alternative… & a WHOLE LOT FASTER than waiting for it in the mail. If this is something that you plan for personal use… who cares? As long as you enjoy it? Right? Considering some of the guys I'm looking at are $200+.


I actually wanted to talk shop with you to be honest. Since you’ve got a custom in your tag line, I wanted to see if you could turn me onto & maybe direct me to possible parts that I could use to make a custom Triceratops. My favorite dino. I’ve never felt that they ever nailed it. I think Mad Thunder is the best looking triceratops… but maybe it’s me… but the Thunder kind of struck me more of a protoceratops than a triceratops. If you take away the horns… it very much looks like a protoceratops because of the shape & curve of the frill.



What kind of started me on all this was last week I got in a Seismosaurus that is missing a few pieces… & because the motor is screwed up… I went online looking for tutorials seeing if I could fix it. I don’t know if it’s a motor or switch that’s bad… it’s just not working. I haven’t cracked it open to see… so it can be anything.



But just by random chance… I found a guy I guess that’s from JPN that did a motor swap in an Ankyrox. After seeing a vid, I went out & bought a few for myself & plan on doing the same thing. Interesting experiment & frankly adds character to fig in my opinion. The faster motor is a major improvement to me.





www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqaSS0N-Xek



And here’s the motor in question…



www.ebay.com/itm/274784839382?hash=item3ffa73e6d6:g:38cAAOSwp51djczV







I figured that this would be a good opportunity to learn something new & make a custom. Sizes of pieces don’t matter that much because once scanned, you can alter their size. With 200 Zoids to choose from though, I don’t know who would be a good parts study.



I like the facesculpt & feet of the Tryke/Tricerdogos/Stylaser have, but I don’t like the overall design. So I’d like to build something that fits in with the rest of the classic Zoids (in terms of scale).



I’d also like to fix my Seismosaurus & maybe a few other guys if you had the parts. So I just wanted to bug ya & see if you could help out.



DB