"Done" with Resin Printing [Updated]

[Kurgan]

I've got to say that over the last six months I've had numerous 3d printed (resin) figures that I purchased on etsy break on me. Just so you know, I use my miniatures for playing on the board. I'm the only one who handles them and I'm pretty gentle with them. I store them in a plastic fishing box with foam padding. I subject them to what I would consider "normal use." They seem to fair worse than a plastic (polystyrene?) toy designed for 10 year olds in 1990, which is a disappointment. Looking back on my childhood I'm pretty sure we broke the "flames" off of the candlesticks on purpose one day, and one Skeleton got broken off of its base when it was stepped on by accident. Probably one or two other figures had their swords bent from similar incidents but overall the plastic held up remarkably well for nearly a decade of intense use by three children ages 6 and up. I had hoped to find something similar in 3d prints but we're not quite at that level yet it seems.

At least a half dozen prints have broken, from original 3d prints to re-creations of some of the old HQ minis. Limbs, swords, bits, have broken off or cracked, all within a short space of time. I'm not talking about dropping them off the table and finding them broken, but rather they're broken inside the case, at different times.

Let me reiterate that I'm not one of those guys who just tosses his minis into a box and tosses them around. I don't keep metal minis in there with my (mostly reaper but also some resin minis). I like to think I take good care of them and most of them are not broken (with the exception that I dropped a HeroForge "colored plastic" mini from about waist height onto a linoleum floor and a thin pistol part broke off). I'm sure however if the figures had stayed on a mantelpiece or something, they would probably still be pristine, but that's not what I use miniatures for.

Despite how good printed resin looks (and I've been told there are so many types of resin) I'm going to refrain in the future from buying such prints. I do print my minis but only give them the most basic jobs because I use them on the board (often on camera) as opposed to putting them up for display only. They were great for awhile, but simply don't hold up over time.

For the cost of these figures, it's just not worth it to me. I can easily glue them back together, but they're never the same and these are just too brittle. I'm not just talking about thin, spindly bits on custom designs that are obvious weakpoints, but like legs and arms. The old classic HQ style uses fairly "thick" designs that should be more resilient (other than the obvious "broken off swords" issue that the original plastics often suffered from in the hands of kids).

This may be a common problem, but if you too have gotten prints from Minis3D (one of the more popular sellers on etsy) after a year, have they broken? Sadly I already left him positive reviews. If he's on this forum (which may be the case) please know this isn't an attack on him so much as an attack on the process/material used that doesn't fit my needs.

From now on I'm either printing the stuff myself or having a family member do it for me using non-resin material. Thankfully it's getting easier and easier to do this rather than relying upon sellers on etsy or ebay (or other sites) to provide good looking minis that may or may not hold up. They're certainly not worth paying the prices people are asking for in these small batches for personal gaming... at least not in the resin being used.

I'm sure someone out there is going to come on here and reply that there's a better, stronger (and more expensive) resin that would solve all my problems, and new 3d printers are coming out all the time that are better than the last, etc. I'm open to learning about this, but at the same time, until it's my own printer or I am personally acquainted with the one printing, I'm not set to risk sinking anymore cash into that process.

[lestodante]

You're right, that's why I did my female wizard in plastic and not with homemade resin.
Unless you have to just paint them and put the miniatures in a cabinet or you intend to play one time only with them (as special monsters), 3D printed figures have always been known for being fragile.

[bleugh]

Why be 'Done' with it?
Just buy a resin printer and use BETTER resin!

There's a whole rabbit hole you can go down
I print all my own stuff, it's not as hard as made out for those who are methodical and want to learn.

As a guide though, a 'cheap' 1L bottle of resin costs about £25......that'll be a bit brittle
an expensive 'flex' bottle of resin could cost £75
there's in-between costs AND you can mix stuff also to get a compromise of end qualities

I'm just in the process of figuring out a nice ratio of expensive to cheap to make the ££ go a little further

and, 1L would be enough to print almost an entire Heroquest mini set
so, 2L would give you ample experimenting resin and plenty leftover

[Kurgan]

With my current living situation there's no way I can 3d print myself (don't have the space or proper ventilation), but even so I admitted above I'd rather do it myself than buy something printed from somebody online, just because it looks cool, when in fact despite the price I pay, it's brittle like glass. BoardGamesMaker has some very good looking, more durable plastic minis, but there's are so expensive I might as well be buying metal at that point (even though that has its own downsides).

Proxies like Reaper minis are cheaper, look better, and are much more durable. Or I can track down the originals on ebay, though it might take awhile. I managed to find a few rare figures that I wanted, but I'm lucky I'm not super nostalgic about those others.

I've been told by many people on the discord that there's a newer, better resin that's bendy that is better. The Minis3d guy is on vacation but he has offered to take my photos of the broken minis. We'll see if we can work something out. I ordered mine in 2020 (ordered a LOT from him, in fact).

[Kurgan]

I'm happy so far with the plastic (PLA) 3d prints my brother in law has done for me. I reached out to Minis3D, the etsy seller who sold me a bunch of resin minis a couple of years ago (six figures have since broken, the material proving to be brittle after all). He offered to replace them free of charge with the "new" resin. I'll let you know how it works out...

[Kurgan]

So I heard back and Minis3D sent me replacements for the six broken pieces I bought from him a couple of years back. The new ones have a bendier quality to them and are much better. He replaced them for free pretty quickly and was very courteous, so I am satisfied. If you buy from him in the future, I imagine you will get much better quality than in the past!

[lestodante]

Good! Did you try to smash them on the floor to check their thoughness?
Speaking seriously, it is possible the previous ones were empty inside (to save resin) or only partially filled. I've read somewhere that using a honeycomb structure inside the minis is the best way to improve their thoughness.
Could you post some comparison pictures to check the difference beetween the new ones and the old ones?

[Kurgan]

I've heard of the honeycomb structure (BoardGamesMaker admits to doing this with their 3d prints), but these bits broke off like bits of glass, and you don't see any air pockets or anything in the broken bit.

I can post pics, although I'd only have stock picks to show because the ones I bought were all painted. The video would just be me pushing on the bits and having them snap and fly off, while the new one would be it showing some "give" (without stress fractures).

I haven't done a complete stress test (I HAVE done that, accidentally, to a reaper bones mini, that company has done that at shows themselves, having people stomp on them, etc).

[Chwat]

any updates plz

[Kurgan]

I got a set of the skinny Fimirs (that look cool and modern looking) and one of them I dropped from head height onto my linolium kitchen floor and the arm exploded off of the figure and flew into a some dark place never to be seen again. Minis3D doesn't guarantee against dropping even with the new resin. He did promise me a discount if I ordered again in the future.