3D Printed Terran Siege Tank

[Zhall]

Hey guys,

I just 3D printed the Terran siege tank!

Check it out!

 

[Dr Super Good]

So why was it printed not flat?

 

[Zhall]

So why was it printed not flat?

The turret would have been too hard to support internally.

 

[Ardenian]

Looks cute <3

Do you plan to paint it ?

 

[Zhall]

No, but I will send you one if you want to paint it, I'll need to fix the seige mode one though since the turret is messed up

 

[Ardenian]

Oh thanks, but I was interested if you do or if it is 'only' a 3D print.
Maybe you intend to use it somewhere for something, isn't there a board game where they use printed units and color them theirselves ?

 

[Zwiebelchen]

What is btw the average manufacturing cost of such a model?

 

[Dr Super Good]

They are quite small however the material is quite expensive. I would recon a few US dollars each.

Guessing by the YouTube channel I think the cost is not really of a concern as this may have other commercial backing behind it. In any case costs are minimized by keeping the model small. This is probably why there are often manufacturing defects as it is closer towards the limit of printing detail than it not being able to print such a shape.

 

[rulerofiron99]

They are quite small however the material is quite expensive. I would recon a few US dollars each.

That's a pretty accurate estimate. I've printed similarly sized models with filament (material) cost ranging from $2-5.

Factors influencing the price:
- Type of filament you use. Aside from the cheap and common ABS and PLA, there are also special filaments that cost up to 2-3x the price, like nylon (stronger), flexible (rubber-like prints that can be bend out of shape and spring back to what they were), transparent, food-safe, metal particles like bronze, wood particles.
- Amount of infill. A normal plastic part is filled in 100% using traditional manufacturing methods, but a printer can be set to do anything from making a completely hollow structure or filling it 100%. Common infills are 10-30%, which makes a very light object that is still quite strong. Infill patterns could be square, hexagonal or other shapes.
- Supports. You'll notice in the video that there are lots of pillars holding up parts of the model. This is needed at any parts of the model where the newly printed area isn't above any other part of the model, or has a very shallow incline. Mode complicated models with lots of arms and stuff can use a large amount of support. A good alternative is to print all the parts separately and glue them together afterwards.
- A very minor part of the cost is the energy required for printing. This goes up if you have prints that take longer (slower speed for accuracy) or have more layers (using a higher resolution, which is how thick each layer is)

However, if you have your own filament maker, the cost can be much less. You could recycle old models and supports, or buy ABS pellets that are much cheaper than filament.

Needless to say, the biggest cost (not included in the figure above) is the price of the printer itself. They start at about $300.

 

[Dr Super Good]

- Supports. You'll notice in the video that there are lots of pillars holding up parts of the model. This is needed at any parts of the model where the newly printed area isn't above any other part of the model, or has a very shallow incline. Mode complicated models with lots of arms and stuff can use a large amount of support. A good alternative is to print all the parts separately and glue them together afterwards.

Supports can also be optimized. You are placing them aimed at reliability of print instead of minimum material usage. If you were mass producing something with printers it becomes worth while to optimize support placement since you could probably save a few pence here and there.

- A very minor part of the cost is the energy required for printing. This goes up if you have prints that take longer (slower speed for accuracy) or have more layers (using a higher resolution, which is how thick each layer is)

They use similar power to your desktop computer, probably less. Models I have seen range from 100W to 350W.

Needless to say, the biggest cost (not included in the figure above) is the price of the printer itself. They start at about $300.

Which is then divided over its life time. If you end up printing 3,000 models a $300 printer will cost only 10c per model. Approximating use in your case it will probably end up at $1 or less for you since you do use yours a fair bit.

The material cost is more of the whole "printer scam" that is currently operated by companies like HP rather than it actually costing a lot to make. As you pointed out, if you go industrial and start making your own materials then stuff suddenly becomes a lot cheaper.

 

[Richasliodo]

Be cool if you can get colour detail to it