this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2023
38 points (97.5% liked)

3DPrinting

15545 readers
276 users here now

3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.

The r/functionalprint community is now located at: [email protected] or [email protected]

There are CAD communities available at: [email protected] or [email protected]

Rules

If you need an easy way to host pictures, https://catbox.moe may be an option. Be ethical about what you post and donate if you are able or use this a lot. It is just an individual hosting content, not a company. The image embedding syntax for Lemmy is ![](URL)

Moderation policy: Light, mostly invisible

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

I'm creating a board game that has custom 3d pieces. I'd like to test out my print before I send it to the game manufacturer and also want to make demo sets. They need a huge tooling fee before they'll do samples. There are app. 10 designs and no bigger than 45mm.

I'm not sure as to whether I should buy a starter printer or would the learning curve be so big that I should just have a POD company do it. I know blender really well but have never printed anything from a file. I was going to make the file from blender for the company too. Any thoughts? I think my SO and I would use it for other things, probably, maybe, if it's not so complicated that I give up on it.

Thanks for any advice on this, I don't know what direction to point on this and I have a ton of work to do already.

Edit: You guys are awesome. I went from totally lost to ordering the Neptune 3 Pro and it should be here next week. Thanks for everything and I hope it goes pretty smoothly, I'll keep you posted. Thanks again.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is my first game with pieces like that, I probably should have mentioned that. Thanks for the suggestions on models, that Elegoo Neptune 4 series seems to be perfect in price range too since I think a POD would have cost about that much.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In fact Neptune 3 pro can be cheaper option. It would be slower to print but still create perfect prints. I do print with A Neptune 3 plus, a larger version of the 3 pro, and quite happy with it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We were just looking at the differences. I wonder if we should spend the extra $100 to get the 4 pro in a couple of weeks or get the 3 pro while we're still excited.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Depends on your patience. If you are very impatient go for the 4 pro as it's built for faster printing. Otherwise they are very similar for print quality.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

4 pro wasn't available at all in the US, so we ordered the 3 pro. Thanks for all of the advice.