I got a new 3D printer!

I usually make a point of not buying things on Black Friday, but I won’t say no to something I’m already shopping for going on sale for half off.

I bought an A1 from Bambulab. I am not super pleased with their efforts to progressively restrict their software ecosystem, but they’re hard to beat for reliability and ease of use. Based on my experience with printers from 2014/2015 I didn’t want to make 3D printing my hobby again, I want a turnkey solution, a tool that does what I need with minimal faffing about.

I think the A1 mostly delivers on this front.

This A1 has been busy! I’ve put in several 12 hour prints and plenty of 4-8 hour ones just in the couple of weeks I’ve owned this machine. Most of this time was spent on the 0.2mm nozzle printing things like tabletop miniatures for WH40K. The 0.06mm layer height is getting close to invisible layer-lines, especially at tabletop distances, and the print times at this scale aren’t unbearable.

Here’s a primaris scale Death Watch Space Marine printed at 0,06mm on the A1. I’ve done a some post processing with sandpaper in places like the top of the power pack, but nothing major. This happens to be the first space marine that I’ve ever held let alone painted!

I think these results are beyond impressive for FDM.

Here’s an original miniature I put together in Hero Forge for a friend’s DnD campaign.

Some size comparisons with a WIP ork nob, primaris marine, t’au pathfinder, and the ever ubiquitous Tamiya glue bottle.

If you happen to like the model in the images above, here’s a link to the Heroforge builder: https://www.heroforge.com/load_config%3D529529581/

Now for something a little bigger.

It’s hard not to love imperial knights, look at the scale of that hand! Fingers outstretched it’s the height of one primaris space marine piggybacking of another.

Assembled it forms one of the corpse emperor’s mighty god machines. I’m stoked to paint it!

It’s incredible to see how far this technology has come in 10 years and that great 3D printers can now be had at a fifth of what you’d pay back then. I wish that I still had pictures of the miniatures I attempted to print back in 2016. I can tell you from memory that it’s a night and day difference in terms of detail.