Choosing a 3D Printer

First up, FDM or Resin

 

There are two main types of consumer level 3D printers, Fused Deposition Modelling or FDM, and Resin. The way the two work is very different and are used for different types of jobs. FDM printers can be described as drawing the entire model with a single line that builds on itself, while Resin printers use UV light to build an entire ‘floor’ of the model at once. 

 

Resin printing excels at high detail work, and it is possible to pull a print out of a Resin printer setup and not need to do any post processing work at all. The downside is that Resin printing is really only good for small parts due to a smaller printer size, is more expensive, and requires a LOT more setup involving some rather toxic chemicals. I do not recommend that cosplayers purchase a resin printer for armor, it really is much more suited to things like D&D miniatures, but it is possible. If you go with Resin, please remember that the prints will be much heavier, and more prone to chipping and breakage than FDM.

 

FDM printers are my first recommendation for making 3D printed armor, and they are what I’ll cover the most here. The biggest advantage that FDM printers have is build volume and much safer materials to work with. That’s not to say that there is no risk, but we’ll cover that later in our Risk Mitigation chapter. The downside to FDM printers is that no matter how much you have the printer dialed in and calibrated, you’re gonna have to put in elbow grease to remove layer lines, which is covered in our 3D Printing tutorial here. They also have a much more difficult time with small details, and the resulting prints will not be able to handle anything except basic wear. Parkour is not an option in 3D printed armor. If you scale everything really well, stairs might be.

 

Types of FDM printers

 

So there are several different types of FDM printers, the differences mostly coming down to how certain engineering challenges are solved. It’s difficult to argue which is better than the other, as all have advantages and disadvantages, but let's cover some of them.

 

Bed Slingers - Also known as Cartesian Printers, these types of 3D printers allow the entire printer bed to shift in one direction, typically front to back. This simplifies the gantry mechanism to only having to worry about moving in two directions, typically left/right and up/down, and is how a lot of the earlier printers worked. The main advantage is mechanical simplicity, while the main disadvantage is print stability. With a bed slinger, the printer bed, and the print which rests on it, is constantly being shifted back and forth. If the motion becomes too large, the print can detach, resulting in a failed print.

 

Delta Printers - These printers used to be the speed kings of the 3D printing world, and are very good at printing models that are tall. They work with a series of three legs mounted on a scaffold that move the printhead where it needs to go. As mentioned, their advantages are speed and printing tall objects while remaining stable. Their main disadvantage is that they’re very complicated, require a lot of tuning, and have somewhat limited uses with their smaller side to side volumes.

 

Core XY - also known as gantry printers, or scaffold printers, Core XY printers make it so the printer bed moves up and down while the printhead moves on the X and Y axis. This is a more advanced version of the Cartesian printers, and while they are more complicated machines, they are also much faster, and typically able to handle more detail. If I was to recommend a printer type for someone getting into the hobby, it would probably be a Core XY printer.

 

Belt Printer - These are neat, but somewhat of limited use. A belt printer doesn’t have a traditional printer bed, but a conveyor belt that moves underneath the printhead. Beyond that, it acts mostly as a Cartesian or Core XY printer, but is able to print much, much longer prints. Want to print an entire greatsword in a single print? Belt Printers are your solution. There are disadvantages though. Because the printhead is on a 45* angle, you’ll need special software, and the print itself will be much more likely to warp as you can’t enclose the printer for temperature stability.

 

FDM Printer Drives

 

No matter what type of FDM printer you chose, they all have to get the plastic from the reel to the printhead, and there are two different ways to do that. Bowden Drives, and Direct Drives. The way they work is the exact same, a gear grabs the filament and pushes it into the printhead. The difference is in where they do the pushing. In a Bowden setup, the drive motor is located on the printer frame, and pushes the filament through a Bowden tube to the print head. Its main advantage is lowering the weight of the printhead and ease of access if repairs are needed. It has the disadvantage of not being able to respond as quickly and requiring slightly more oversight. Direct Drives one the other hand, mount the gear directly to the printhead. This weight is added to the printhead, causing possible issues with speed and stability, but greatly increasing the amount of control the system has over the print. Both systems work well, and it really comes down to personal preference on which one you want.

 

Printer Food

 

This will be fairly brief, but the type of plastic you want to print will have some say into printer choice, so I’ll cover the basics of what you’re looking at. The main things you’ll need to know is what temperature your hotend and bed needs to get to work with a material, and if it needs an enclosure. The two most common plastics for cosplay work are PLA and PETG, both of which are well within the specs of most commercial 3D printers. Things like ABS will need higher temperatures and a full enclosure, so make sure your chosen printer is fully boxed in and can hit the required temps.

 

Build Volume

 

Not all printers can handle the same jobs, and one of the biggest limiting factors is the build volume. This is measured on an X*Y*Z basis, and is typically done in millimeters. For example, my printer has a build volume of 256*256*256, meaning each side of the biggest cube it can print is 256mm. If your model is bigger than that, you’ll have to cut it into multiple parts and glue them together afterwards. There is a lot of variance in printer volume, but the general rule of thought is that bigger is better. But bigger is also more expensive, so you’ll want to find the biggest volume that you’re willing to pay for. Ideally, I’d like something in the 300^3 range, that’s large enough for me to print an entire helmet in one go.

 

Safety and Risk Mitigation

 

This may come as a surprise, but there are several health considerations that you need to be aware of when it comes to 3D printing. First off is fumes. Your hotend will get up to over 200*C, and turning solid plastic into a liquid goop. This will give off small clouds of chemicals that are not good for you, especially your lungs. Keep your printer out of rooms that you spend a lot of time in. Do NOT put it in your bedroom (the noise would keep you awake anyways) or in your office. Ideally, you’ll have a small enclosure with an air filter system attached that lives in a garage, or at worst you vent the air from the printer outside. Either way, I do recommend an enclosure of some type. Some printers are built into an enclosure, or you can build your own with some scrap wood and plexiglass, but beyond air filtration, they serve a very important purpose, temperature stability. See, 3D prints don’t like when the temperature changes while printing, it leads to things like delamination or fractures, and will make the print weaker. You want all your temps to stay as stable as possible for best results. Also, remember that a 3D printer has a lot of moving parts, and some of them are VERY hot. Do not burn yourself, or get your fingers crushed. Keep your hands out of the machine while it’s working.

 

Slicers

 

Again, this will be brief. Slicers are the computer programs that take the model you want to print and turn it into a language the 3D printer understands. There are a bunch of them out there, but the main thing is that they’re software, typically free, and don’t require a commitment from you. Find one you like that works with your printer, and you’re off. Upgrade or migrate to a new one if you so choose. If you want something basic, Cura is well known and supported.

 

Resin Printers

 

Just because I don’t recommend them, doesn’t mean I can ignore them entirely right? Thankfully, I don’t have as many points to cover for Resin printers. They all pretty much work the same way, so the only two points you’re really looking for are build volume and screen resolution. In both cases, bigger is better but also more expensive. The bigger the volume, the bigger prints you’re able to print, and the higher the screen resolution, the higher level of detail you can achieve on your print. The main issue with resin printers is that you need the printer, the washing station, and the curing station, not to mention that the entire process produces a lot of waste that you’ll need to take to a hazardous waste site. This stuff is no joke. You clean it with isopropyl alcohol, and use ultraviolet light to cure it. I do have a Resin printer setup, and my general rule of thumb is that I don’t use it for anything larger than the palm of my hand, and only if it has a high level of detail. The vast, VAST majority of my 3D prints come from my FDM printer.

 

Conclusion

 

And that’s it! Thank you everyone for fighting your way through that slog of text, I know it’s a lot of information, especially since I didn’t tell you a single printer to look at, but I hope at the end of the day you feel better informed on what type of printer you want and what features you’re looking for. Remember, this is a field that advances rapidly, so I will provide changes as new technology comes available or is simply more popular, so check back for updates. Photos will be added soon, but for now you’ll just have to handle the giant wall of text. If I missed anything, find me on the discord and point it out, I’ll be happy to update the document. Until next time, happy building everyone!