3D printing at home?

[Parrot]

Has anyone ever 3D printed any buildings for themselves at home?  I see a couple of sites that sell the files for print at home buildings and I am more and more interested in the idea, but I have NO idea where to even start.  Any advice on what to get, how to use it or what things look like when they are printed? (quality)

[matakishi]

I don't tend to print buildings (I like making them by hand) but I print lots of other stuff.



This is how I got started:
https://www.matakishi.net/3d-printing-odyssey.html

Other 3D printing examples:
https://www.matakishi.net/3d-printing.html

Lots of 3D printed stuff in my dungeon set:
https://www.matakishi.net/dungeon.html



And caverns:
https://www.matakishi.net/caverns.html





And my Fantasy RPG games:
https://www.matakishi.net/frpg-adventures.html

Big Wiggler from start to finish:

[jmilesr01]

I have a 3D printer - specifically a creality Creality CR10S.  I got it for two reasons - one to explore using it to make war gaming terrain and two to try to find a way to get my son who is a senor at Carnegie Mellon and tech crazy back into the hobby.

I’m enjoying learning how to use the new tech but it is both finicky and slow.  Printing a building that 3x4 inches in 15mm can take 4-5 hours based on printer settings and level of detail in the model.  You’ll also experience a lot of misprints at first.  While i’m technically savvy for an “old guy” I really needed my sons help to fine tune the printer. 

When I first started out I was getting 3-4 misprints for each successful job.  After a few weeks, i m running about a 90% success rate.

3d printing is still in its infancy but I think it holds lots of promise but you need to be prepared to do a lot of tinkering to get something done
Y
Below is a link to my blog with some 15mm scale building i’ve Printed

https://lairoftheubergeek.blogspot.com/2018/08/15mm-napoleonics-3d-printing.html

[zemjw]

I'm printing off a number of spaceship interior tiles from the Fat Dragon Ultimate Starships Set. It's slow going, as all the pieces for one corner take about six hours to print, but it's a background task and something that can be left running while I do other things.

I've also used it to print off some engines and landing gear for a 28mm shuttle conversion (think Enterprise shuttle rather than space shuttle). The biggest thing I've printed was a 3-wheel truck, an idea shamelessly stolen from an entry in this year's Build Something Contest.

On my to-do list is to make some smaller scenery pieces for the starship tiles, things like beds, tables etc. I have some resin pieces from Ainsty and Grendle, but there's always room for more

Definitely worth putting one on your Christmas list (it's not that far away). There's a huge amount of stuff out there for free, but expect to have to learn some 3d software, even if just to scale or modify pieces that you do find.

In terms of what printer to buy, the one I went for has a very small print bed (5" x 5") so is limited in what it can print. When I buy a new one I'll be going for a much bigger print bed. In terms of material, make sure it prints PLA, as ABS has a reputation for being toxic. Equally, if you plan to print small models, you may want to look at resin printers, although they have their own set of requirements as well. YPU is currently printing Epic scale tanks on his resin printer - http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=111311.0

You will need to learn to be patient, as the print times can be very long. I suspect that the spaceship tiles for a basic set will take me several months to print, printing something most evenings and pretty much all weekend (although never overnight). Still, it will probably still be quicker than any other approach I might take, and, as mentioned, prints away happily while I'm doing other things.