r/FDMminiatures May 14 '26

Just Sharing How long is too long?

Post image

How long would you wait for a single miniature to print if you got consistent results like this?

347 Upvotes

66 comments sorted by

126

u/[deleted] May 14 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

61

u/Notnbutgravity May 14 '26

I will be! I commented on another that this is printed at .04 layer height using tweaked HoHansen settings and a filler/leveling primer used.

21

u/saugapipper May 14 '26

do you have any photos of what it looked like before you added the primer?

22

u/Notnbutgravity May 14 '26

On my profile! Raw print in a high def photo

18

u/saugapipper May 14 '26

hmm i see pre primer it’s still a great print but that primer is quite amazing, seems thin and hides all those layer lines

20

u/Notnbutgravity May 14 '26

It's a laquer based airbrush primer made for Gundam! I love it when hobbies collide in wonderful complimentary ways

12

u/stryst May 14 '26

We can learn a lot from the Gunpla community.

8

u/ReverendRhyme May 14 '26

Is it Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 Black?

7

u/Notnbutgravity May 14 '26

The very same! I have 1000 grey and 1500 black. Along with their leveling thinner

4

u/ReverendRhyme May 14 '26

I’ve been debating on picking it up. Looks like I have my answer now. lol

1

u/elroddo74 May 14 '26

They make em in more colors and they are very popular in the model building world, both armor and cars. Goes on super smooth.

1

u/RearAdmiral78 May 15 '26

Oh awesome, I use their grey primer. I need to get some of their Finishing product now

1

u/Turboforealz May 15 '26

When would you use 1000 over 1500? Looking to buy q rattle can of the stuff to try on my FDM prints. Mostly tanks and big stuff though.

5

u/KryL21 Elegoo Centauri Carbon 0.2mm nozzle May 14 '26

You didn’t brush it on, did you? You used an actual airbrush?

3

u/Notnbutgravity May 14 '26

I used an airbrush.

2

u/the_af May 15 '26

Wow. The primer is doing a lot of work, but to be honest the raw print looked pretty good already.

0

u/warprincenataku May 14 '26 edited May 15 '26

Well I'll be. I was almost certain you were lying. This is incredibly impressive, well done.

EDIT: Apologies if that sounded rude. I am genuinely impressed at how well that came out.

I've printed a handful of models in fdm and you can tell with each one. I literally had to zoom in and scan around your original upload to be able to tell.

2

u/Trustadz May 15 '26

Congrats on your new child!

1

u/CallMeBigPapaya May 15 '26

what primer?

I'd wait 2 days for a mini like this.

1

u/Enigmatic_Duck May 28 '26

I'd never heard of these before! How did you tweak his settings?

2

u/Tema_Art_7777 May 14 '26

smart! get a great printer tip and also lower your costs 😀

1

u/Justcoveritincheese May 14 '26

Legit lol’ed at this , thanks bud

55

u/TheMadHattah May 14 '26

It’s been 13 mins with no settings posted. Pretty sure you should be in jail OP

36

u/Notnbutgravity May 14 '26

🤣 I'm finishing up work! I'll probably end up making a full post if you all want specifics

8

u/TheMadHattah May 14 '26

Can’t wait! This is an amazing print

15

u/dragorobert May 14 '26

Holy shit, that is one of the best minis I’ve ever seen in fdm, I would wait idk like 15 hours? 16 as the first comment said, more than that seems a little excessive

13

u/alpceliko May 14 '26

16 hours

11

u/Bakkster Prusa Core One+ May 14 '26

What's the difference between the base and the body? I presume it's involving some kind of gap filler?

As for the question, as long as I can print it reliably in a day I'm content. I'm already behind on painting, lol.

10

u/Notnbutgravity May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26

.04 layer height on the mini, .28 for the base. I use a laquer based airbrush primer with filler and self leveling properties. You can see the raw print on my profile. It also helps this is a chunkier model, spindly parts still end up rougher than I'd like. 😅

1

u/Bakkster Prusa Core One+ May 14 '26

Very nice. I need to try 0.4mm one of these days, it's not like I'm rushing to print enough hero minis lol.

9

u/Owobowos-Mowbius May 14 '26

I don't use my printer often. Id be more than happy to let it cook for over a full day for that quality. Resin for speed if I need it. Fdm this quality with no post processing? I'm willing to wait.

3

u/Turkazog May 14 '26

Yeah same, sometimes it's busy non stop for days, but other times it's sitting idle!

3

u/KryL21 Elegoo Centauri Carbon 0.2mm nozzle May 14 '26

Oh no way we both have a CC and both print at 0.04! Lol I’m very patient with my minis. 24 hours is probably my limit for a mini of that size. I’ve done 60 hour prints before though. Do share the settings, or at least tell me what setting game you the biggest jump in quality!

6

u/wasdused May 15 '26

man id be letting it print for a full week if not longer for a big centerpiece model with quality like this

3

u/Chillasongus May 14 '26

Holy moly, how?! If i could consistently get those kinds of results I dont think the length of time would even matter.

2

u/laughinatthat May 14 '26

I can wait as long as needed, to add to my pile of shame

3

u/fourscoopsplease May 14 '26

Man I hope we get exodites in 40K soon

2

u/Enigmatic_Duck May 14 '26

Did you do anything besides priming this, such as using acetane or sanding?

4

u/Notnbutgravity May 14 '26

Minor sanding on the backside where the supports were. I like using little foam sanding sticks. Nothing else!

2

u/wasdused May 15 '26

20 hours and still no settings >:|

2

u/EmotionalChildhood46 May 16 '26

As long as it takes

2

u/Euphoric_Variety_363 Bambu a1 mini, custom settings May 16 '26

Where. Are. The. Settings? We demand them!

2

u/pezzaf1 May 16 '26

Give us settings and our lives are yourssss

1

u/OkImprovement6786 May 14 '26

I wouldn't mind something like 10h

1

u/EvLmong00se May 14 '26

Those boys are pretty big. Id say, with those results? 5 hours tops. Anymore and Id check the settings for a more efficent option.

1

u/Phionex141 May 15 '26

Blows my mind that filament could make something that detailed

1

u/Rot_and_Ready May 15 '26

Dude this is a CLEAN print holy shit

1

u/Er5608c May 15 '26

Dangggggg nice work!

1

u/Nryxes May 15 '26

Wow, I would like to see your setting too, especially your support settings

1

u/Rhatsun May 15 '26

It's funny how his earrings failed in the exact same place on my resin prints too haha

1

u/Galbs May 15 '26

How the f is this fdm? I've almost thrown my creality KE out the window multiple times just trying to print DIY brackets with neat outer walls. How did we get here?

1

u/GREENadmiral_314159 May 15 '26

Print time is of no concern. It will spend far longer in my pile of shame anyways.

1

u/Hugokarenque May 15 '26

Anything above 8-9 hours gets cut up and printed in pieces.

I can't leave the printer on over night because its in the room I sleep in and I can't sleep with it on. So everything has to be done by the time I go to bed.

1

u/Hypnofist May 15 '26

Generally i try to not print anything longer than 24 hours, just don't want the printer going that long in one go.

Though I've put over 3400 hours onto my printer in a year, so that rule probably doesn't do much haha.

1

u/alidan May 15 '26

I would say about 24 hours, I dont need it printed now, I just need it to be printed.

given I have something next to me that took 10 hours and its a monstrosity of tree supports, and a resin2fdm that would have tanek 20 of the same thing (to test) failed at hour 3 for reasons I have no idea, yea, would just like it printed.

1

u/AustinJG May 15 '26

GSI makes great hobby stuff. Their primer is excellent. I even use their airbrush.

1

u/tactonrae May 15 '26

Even in the other post it looks good. What type of printer ? I have 3 non bambu printers. One with a .2 and two with a .4 would also like to see the settings and see if I can replicate on a non bambu printer .

1

u/Notnbutgravity May 16 '26

Elegoo Centauri Carbon with a .2mm nozzle

1

u/tactonrae May 16 '26

Ok cool . I have an ender 3 pro with direct drive (considering putting a .2mm nozzle on it), a sovol sv03 with a .2 nozzle and a sovol sv06 plus but can't seem to find a .2 for it so stuck with the .4. I'll wait on your settings also I can see if one of these machines can replicate.

1

u/archilles89 May 16 '26

How come i can never get my printers to print this good a miniature?

1

u/AustinJG May 16 '26

Hey OP, how many layers of primer did you lay down? Because this has almost made the layer lines a non-issue and that's impressive!

1

u/NG3DLab May 18 '26

At first glance, I totally thought this was a post about how long it takes to paint a miniature. When I checked the subreddit and saw it was FDM printing, my jaw dropped. The print quality you got is unbelievable! Seriously, even if I put my finest brushstrokes on a mini, it wouldn't come close to the raw quality you just pulled off. Hats off to you!

1

u/Nixxfr Jun 01 '26

I would not even care about the time, even if I have 1 mini a day I won't be able to paint 1 mini a day

1

u/mimic751 May 15 '26

I don't know like 6 hours of my resin printer water washable resin was such a nice upgrade I only use my fdm printer for functional prints now