3D printer recommendations

I'd be interested in your process, a friend of mine offered to do printing for me if I wanted to try making some doll stuff.

 

I currently have an anycubic Photon, it's the original and I've heard negative reviews of the current models being released but I have heard excellent reviews from friends who own the Elegoo Mars! That being said if you have any questions about it just send me a message! There is a lot you need to look out for when it comes to shrinkage and such.

 

Sanding filament is tough... the striations can go all the way in so sanding doesn’t matter unless you do a lot of layers of primer. Prime, sand, prime, sand, repeat. Auto primer is the best since it fills cracks really well.

The pros are the machines are usually the most affordable and filament isn’t that bad to buy.

I had a filament printer and then got a Form2 resin printer. They are expensive and the resin is expensive but I can make prototypes or doll accessories and they don’t take a ton of sanding to look really good. I buy the color kit and do a lot of printing in flesh tones for small dolls. They’ve also developed a faster prototype resin I’ve thought about getting for experimental parts. (New hands, new faceplates, etc)

There are definitely some affordable resin printers out there and I would say they’re worth it depending on what you need. I love my form2 and even though it was pricey it is so reliable and it does such a good job. My filament printer felt like an old truck I always had to pamper! But printing is fun no matter what! Good luck!

 

I have 3 FDM printers and an Elegoo Mars and for dolls I would absolutely go with a resin printer, the quality and fine detail possible is far and away superior to what you can achieve with FDM, and the printer itself has been the easiest experience I've had with 3D. My FDMs have all required extensive and expensive mods and hundreds of hours of troubleshooting to get the most quality out of them, but the Mars has been good out of the box.

The only issue is the Mars has a very small build volume so it would be difficult to print larger parts with. Elegoo is making a new larger build volume resin printer called the Saturn which should be available later this year but the MSRP is yet unknown. Certainly higher than $250, but should be very competitively priced versus other resin printers.

 

My FDM is kind of what pulled me fully into the hobby, as I had just been admiring from the edges until now. Given that said printer is barely over a month old, I can't say that I'm any sort of expert, but I have come across a few quirks that I've been curious to see if they were just my own experiences, or shared by others as well, such as stringing issues.

I have been looking at resin printers as well, but that probably won't happen until probably the end of the year, given my current project list.

I think it comes down to exactly what you want to do, what you can manage (I am not likely to be doing any resin casting, as I just don't have the space, for instance), or whether you want your focus to be on making the doll itself, or making all the accessories that go with it.

For myself, I'm mostly teaching myself the bulk of the process, have printed several dolls at reduced sized (1:3 down to 1:6) to save on filament, but still get a reasonable idea of the mechanics, ie., the stringing, the comparison of one type of joint to another, the limitations, and so on. Also, once I get the nozzles ordered, how much layer height and nozzle size affect layer lines. I've seen some nearly flawless prints... but not with the model I have, or with my level (or lack) of experience.

And while the five dolls (six if you count the one I made for the hubby), are all technically prototypes for what will later be a final doll in polymer clay, they are already growing on me.

Oh, as a reference, mine is an Ender 3 Pro, and I got it at MicroCenter for about $200. It's a finicky machine, but we're getting used to each other.

 

I have a FDM (CR-10 V2) and a resin (Form 1.5). Having both i really think its pretty hard to recommend one type of printer because something can be said for both. But if i had to pick one i guess i would recommend an FDM printer as a starting point. These printers and especially the materials are very all-round and affordable. So you can just keep on printing all kinds off stuff without worrying too much about cost. Printing stuff is easier also, less failures and less to set-up/clean.

Digitally sculpting something complex like a doll is most of the time not just sculpting and then printing it out. After the print the next step is making small tweaks and print it again. See how it works, improve/fix parts and print again... and again... and again. So if the resin etc is pretty expensive this could stop you early on. And you can always have the more detailed head/hands/feet printed by someone else or ordered online (when you know they are good because you already printed them a few times to test).

 

I've heard of a clear coat by smooth-on that fills in striations from filament printers. I haven't looked into any reviews yet.

 

Yeah i have seen some from Colido. Believe they don't work with all brands of PLA tho. For ABS you can also use acetone. Hmmm since i have to order some new PLA and resin anyway ill order a kit and see how it works out on my regular PLA.
Oh and to add, on my alien i sanded, primed and wetsanded some parts extensively. Yes it takes alot of time and i kinda had to get a feel for it as well but it becomes super smooth this way.

Tricky thing with all these measures is not too work too quickly and remove your detail as well

 

I'm looking for a few days now, which printer should start and I'm pretty much on the CR-10... However, the CR-10S and the CR-10 mini have stuck a little bit. I don't have enough room for the CR-10S where I mostly want the printer, however I can almost perfectly fit a mini there (it might be a little too tall for the space, but I can move it away from the wall enough it should be okay). Another point I can do to fir CR-10, but it is less convenient. There is no other place.
Construct size isn't so much a question as the size of the machine. A lower price is obviously better but I'm all right with the additional 10S.

 

I've heard great things about the Creality resin printer, and its what I've set my eyes on, and its right in budget at 249$ on Amazon. With resin printing you do have to worry about washing and curing, I gather, and while Creality does offer a system to do that at 149$ I've seen plenty of tutorials and setting up your own using tubs and such as.

Edit: you'll also have to consider the price of your printing material, ofc.

 

I have both filament and resin printers and over the course of lockdown have been learning lots about printing dolls

I'd actually recommend a small resin printer for printing dolls! You can get started for around $200 and can produce a more finished doll without the need for casting. There's still some sanding needed to clean up supports, but I find SLA much easier to sand than FDM prints. Then if you still want to go ahead with casting to reproduce the doll it's still an option!

I own a Longer Orange 30($180) and have been able to print slim MSD sized dolls on a bed of 250x250x520mm. I used about one full bottle, 500g, of resin for a doll that size, so less than $20 in supplies. I haven't used them before, but there are also water washable resins that make the washing step much easier!

 

I use water washable resin and I have mixed feelings about it. I feel like the wash water gets too gunky to reuse faster than when using isopropyl alcohol (though the tap water in my city is hard as rocks, I heard it's not as bad if you have soft water) so I end up using more water than I would with IPA and water evaporates more slowly than IPA so disposal takes longer if you do the "wait for the wash water to dry out and cure all the resin" method instead of turning it in to a toxic waste disposal service. I currently prefer Sirayatech Simple which needs 15% IPA and seems to have less problems with sticky prints that I have with the ones that need higher concentration IPA to clean and less problems with gunky residue that water washable does. And using a little bit of IPA seems to help with water washable resin to avoid having residue.


I use an Elegoo Mars 2 Pro. The build size is good enough for 1/3 heads, but some of the other body parts need to be split. Probably going to upgrade to a larger printer if I want to do bodies.

 

If it's for doll printing, then absolutely the resin printer will give you far superior results. I use both filament and resin printers.
I currently use the Geeetech A20m PLA printer and the Elegoo Mars 2 Pro resin printer.

Below is a side-by side comparison example. The left was done on the filament printer, the right was done on the resin printer.
The difference is like night and day. It's a big-scale picture so hopefully you can zoom in and see in detail.
Hope this helps.

 

I would also suggest the Elegoo Mars 2. It's my first one and I'm still learning to use it properly, but I think it's really worth it.

I've used both resins and I'm sticking with the water washable one mostly because it's more environmentally friendly.
In my case I didn't notice big differences in both resins except that the water washable resin is more liquid than the regular one and it seems to me that it takes a little more resin to make the same piece than the other.

However it's true that the water gets cloudy a lot faster than expected. I wash my pieces in the mercury wash and cure machine and it tells that you should change the water after ten rounds, but I actually feel the need to replace it every about... four times or so.
Still you just have to put the resin water in the light for a couple of days and the reuse it, so it's not a huge issue to me.

I would be interested in trying the plant base one at some point.

 

can you make small doll parts with the printer?
my poor boy is missing his man part.

 

Yes, the resin printers are very accurate.

 

I have the Mars 2 Pro. It can absolutely print details. I printed a downloadable BJD and made a set of demon hands for him that have long nails. and the nails came out well.

 

I originally started out with the Elegoo Mars and it's a great first resin printer, nice and simple to use. However, after a time, I began to find the build plate size was quite limiting and so eventually opted for the Elegoo Saturn, which is the Mars's bigger brother and has a much larger buildplate area. It's a decision I have not regretted.

 

I was looking for a nice 3d printer to buy for my kid and did a lot of research, so I figured I'd share my thoughts here. I wanted something good, but not too complex to use (and also not too expensive if possible) I decided on the Creality Ender after hearing a lot of good things about it, both for its ease of use and the great quality prints it produces.
There was some assembly required when we received it, but it took no more than a couple of hours and it wasn't too hard to be honest. My youngster has been using this device nonstop since then. It's been working great, and I'm enjoying how it's turning me into a little engineer. We did had to confer with corporate tech support a few times, and they were really swift and efficient in responding to our difficulties, so for that price, it's a deal right now, and I'm very delighted with the decision I made.

 

I have an Ender 3, and two Photons (S & mono x). All three highly recommended. They all work great once calibrated, and because they’re popular there’s loads of help online!