I was originally going to print out Vyo's excellent unit emblems and follow his tutorials for emblem bases on my Tohaa. Then I realized I have a great opportunity to break in my new 3D printer. The goal is for each base to have: The unit's emblem on the top. The unit's name centered on the front of the bevel. A facing line etched int the front half of the base. I took a little artistic license with the Clipsos logo to make sure the model has stable footing. I'll post photos of the bases once they finish printing. As always, feedback is welcome and appreciated!
Those designs are nice - what kind of a printer do you have? I've had difficulty printing things out with enough precision for minis use when using a PLA extruder type printer.
Thanks! I have an Elegoo Mars. It's a resin-based SLA printer, so it can do layers down to 0.01 mm and an x/y resolution of just under 0.05 mm. Ironicaly it goes for about $300, which is about a third the cost of the FDM printers I have for my engineering classroom. Spoiler: FDM (ABS.PLA) vs SLA printers FDM is great for larger items and has a much wider range of materials, but SLA is vastly superior for detail work. FDM also has much less hazardous materials - PLA in particular is super safe (it is actually used for medical implants) and tends to leave the area smelling like cupcakes. The resin for SLA has an Obviously Toxic odor, and requires careful handling and PPE (skin contact = wash thoroughly then contact your doctor). I got it with the goal of learning Blender and sculpting my own minis digitally. My wife is a self-proclaimed "dice goblin", so custom dice are also going to happen. I'm still very new to this printer and SLA printing in general, so I have a lot to learn as I go.
Here is the first test run. I have learned that lines as fine as 0.5 mm show up clearly on the x/y axis. The engraved ring and petals on the Clipsos base are all 0.5 mm thick. The text looks great in CAD, but is too thin to print clearly, so I will make it bold and try again. As it is, it might be able to catch an ink wash. I think I'll remove the raised part in the split lotus petals on the Clipsos base - I think there will still be a solid enough foundation to attach the mini without them.
Thanks! I gave the names a quick black wash and the names did take the paint, but were still not as visible as I wanted. My wash was also probably a wee bit on the weak side... Making the text bold only made the letters 0.01 mm thicker, so something more significant was called for. I extended the bevel all the way to the base to give me more room, then increased the text height from 1.5 to 2.0 mm. This made the text about 30% thicker, which I am hoping will be enough. Plan C is to emboss the names instead of engraving them. Here are the revised designs, which are currently printing:
Care to make short tutorial on how to make these ? I know how to make logo on a base in Netfab, not sure how to make unit name on the side.
Sorry for the long delay since the last update! Transitioning the engineering classes I teach from a hands-on, lab-intensive format into a 100% virtual one has been keeping me way too busy lately. The last version looked good overall, but the lettering was hard to work with. It took a wash readily enough, but every method I tried to paint the bevel without hitting the text kept finding its way into the text. I put very little care into painting the rest of these as I was really only concerned with how the text took paint. Version 1 was definitely too small a font. The As, E, and L in particular did not want to accept the wash. Version 2 was much better, but you can see how much trouble the raised area engraved text gave me. I have done lots of black lining before, so my only guess is that the wash got into the super-tiny layer lines and dry brushing couldn't hit those areas. Getting this to a quality I would accept would be more work than free-handing the text. I am going to try embossing the text instead of engraving it. I was worried about this messing with the outer diameter of the base, but don't think anyone will care about a 50 micron (0.05 mm) difference. We're literally splitting hairs at that point
Thank you! Once I get these to a quality I'm happy with - and get CB's blessing - I'm hoping to make and start selling these for each faction. I'll keep you posted!
I'll give it some thought once I get these finalized. I'm not familiar with Netfab - I do most of my design work in SolidWorks. Does Netfab have a wrap tool?
Not that I am aware of. It doesn't matter tho, I realized I could do it in Blender fairly easily and then I sold my Tohaa and most of other Infinity I owned so I will never actually use this idea :-D
I would suggest to use black paint that you make fluid enough to easily paint the engraving but not diluted to become transparent or to the point of being a wash. It will end with a very pronounced black inside which It will provide the contrast you're looking for. Once done, it should be easy to correct the extra paint on the outside.
Thank you, those are excellent tips, and I'll try and follow them when I reprint the v2 bases. Now that you mention it, I think I may have thinned the black too much. I also should have primed these things white instead of painting on bare resin. I was way too impatient when I painted those... Later on I even tried some black India ink, but it just wouldn't flow into the letters on that one base. The ink was actually beading up on top of the letters instead of flowing in. It makes me wonder if something went funky with the resin or curing process and caused that part to become hydrophobic.
Have you tried using a thin fine liner such as Sakura Pigma Micron 01? That's how Gundam modellers often use as a quick and easy way to line grooves between armor plates.
