So, while everyone's saying that this is an amazing printer, why am I saying the opposite
Well, I'm not going to say that the print quality is bad, because they're absolutely amazing
and you've just shown me online there's an idiot who doesn't know what he's talking about. And the build quality of this machine is absolutely outstanding
especially when compared to other consumer-grade printers. So why am I saying don't buy it
Well, to quickly summarise my reservations with this printer, here's Vin Diesel to help me explain
Oh, and hi, I'm Russ, and welcome to Farhammer videos. You see, this printer is capable of unrivalled results at the present time
To show you just how good it is, I've partnered with almost all of the top miniature STL creators out there, and printed a selection of each of their ranges
So, unlike my previous printer review, where I printed some probably naughty Warhammer models
this time I've printed directly comparable models without any risk of IT breaching
Oh, and for any Warhammer fans watching, what do you think of 3D printing
Is it a collector game for a chop? If so, in what way
Let me know down in the comments, and I'll share my thoughts with you at the end of this video
So, since this printer's capable of arguably the best quality out there right now
what's the problem? Well, there's a few. And thankfully, due to the pain Satan's trials have gone through
along with the other concerns I've had, not only will I show you the problems with the printer
I'll also show you the simple solution. Most of them, anyway. Now, personally, I've had some technical difficulties which I'll get out of the way first
Number one, the bed would not level. And it turns out, this was useless shredded screw from the factory
I tested this by printing small squares in each corner of the build plate
and making sure each would adhere. But I have failures all over the place at various different orientations
To compensate for this, I started printing my base layers at incredibly long exposure times
in order to bridge any gaps the unbalanced bed was leaving. Unfortunately, this, coupled with the deeply laser-etched plate
required me to literally hammer and chisel the print off the build plate
But some of this was also caused by a likely slicer issue, which I'll get into later
On the third, I continued printing with some awesome Loot Studios models
Despite Loot Studios' terribly excessive support, I was printing these to compare the quality with another printer that I was reviewing at the time
After only a day of fairly successful prints, along with unsuccessful and uneven calibration efforts
I came down the next morning to find that my largest print yet had failed halfway through
Worse than this, the LCD was dead. It should be concerned, but it had not been on the display
But the good thing was, Frozen's printer-specific case book group and their support team were absolutely great
They diagnosed the screen and sent me some replacement parts, and fortunately this took two weeks of work to process
The actual LCD replacement is easy enough, but the black border of tape they send is very difficult to see
You could easily crop out a portion of the printable area if it's not aligned properly
and there's no way to clearly tell if it is. It's also worth noting here, and this is the bit that terrifies me
Unlike other printers that have a solid black screen above the LCD
in this case, the raw LCD panel is what the FEP sits on
So the issue here is that if you get even the slightest amount of resin on the screen
which can happen if you accidentally tear off the LCD mid-print and it still is on the glass
then your panel is ruined. You can apparently soak it off with isopropanol and sticky tape
but I don't want to attempt that. Since there's no LCD protector available
I opted for making sure to put an extra sheet of FEP over the screen
Unfortunately for me, my replacement LCD screen was dead on arrival. So they sent me another replacement LCD
and to be sure, they also sent me a replacement motherboard. I also need to stress here that they're not doing this as I'm a frozen partner
I bought this printer with my own money. This video is in no way sponsored by Frozen
So on receiving the second replacement LCD, I followed some advice that I've read online to tape it down using Capcom tape
This is really strong tape used in electronics. It's also semi-oiled tape, and that really helps with alignment
It's really thin, which also helps with bed leveling. Because bed leveling is the first big design problem with this printer
and more than a few people are having this issue. Now, remember at the beginning of the video when I said that the quality of this printer is amazing
I think this may be causing the issue. You see, your bright arms on the print bed are so strong
that when you try to level the bed, this inflexible metal actually causes the bed to shift as you tighten the screws
So once again, thanks to Dennis Wang, who has the best solution
and that's to A, use two sheets of A4 paper, not one, when you're leveling it
When tightening the screws, only crank them until you feel the initial bite
then do a quarter turn on alternating corners until it's tight. Well, I've also found it's best to try and push down evenly on the bed as you tighten
because this significantly helps, especially if you've still got that thick black tape from Frozen around your LCD
because that raises the height too. If you still can't get it level, then I'd recommend burning some sage
and praying to the machine gods. Honestly, getting this dead on is trial, error, and muck
So, now I've got a working LCD and a level-ish bed, it's time to actually print some stuff
To start off with something small, I printed out some shoulder pads and various heads and other custom components
that I could use on my Horus Heritage Space Marine for some painting tutorial videos that I've done
I also had a friend who wanted some shoulder pads for their armor as well
And whilst the 8K resolution all but eliminates the voxel lines, so those are the lines that you'll see on the edges of large round surfaces
you will still see some layer lines at certain angles, even at 0.02mm
As I've shown previously, even the smallest layer lines can still be seen on a 3D print
especially when you're drybrushing or washing. However, when adding in just the minimal amount of anti-aliasing
and 2-part image blur, every single line is eradicated without any perceivable detail loss
I have never seen detail like this. But before we get into the Porsche case of miniatures
there are some more issues. First, this 8K resolution. A lot of people have described this as a double-edged sword
and I'm not going to do a comparison with other resins in this video because it'd be way too long
but it's already been made clear in various sources online that this 8K resin outperforms the 4K resin when it comes to the detail
And that 4K resin is an absolutely incredible product. This stuff is much more precise with a glossier finish
but for miniatures, there's a bit of drawback. It's quite brittle. This initially came to light when I first got the printer back in February
The few parts I was able to print suffered more from this issue
but that's due to the time of year. Long story short, this resin needs to be at 22 degrees Celsius minimum
But when you have the temperature set, this resin is so detailed that you can easily heat up the resin in hot water
before it's final cure and just pull the parts off the support
with very little cream of need. The finer components will still need to get in there with a pair of fine clippers
just to avoid the parts snagging instead of the support snagging off
The other issue I had early on was with the thickness of the raft, and this was in no way Frozen's fault at all
I found throughout all my prints that the base layer was incredibly thick
like three to five millimeters thick, and I initially assumed that this was due to a gap
between the screen and the build plate, but there was no way that the gap between the screen and my build plate
when it was set to zero was five millimeters. The solution was simple, I just stopped using lightsheet
and sliced it in ChikiBox instead. Then the issue completely disappeared. I'd still use lightsheet to arrange and support my model
but then I'd export that as a single STL, load it up in ChikiBox and slice it there
Problem solved. So now that it was working, I went a little print crazy
I wanted some models that I could print to compare with Warhammer figures, my personal favorite range
and the current pinnacle of quality when it comes to the retail price
but without having a video that was at risk of copyright infringement
So I reached out to a load of top miniature creators on MyMiniFactory
hoping at least a few of them would let me print some of their miniatures, and well, all of them said
yes, here, Traffid Army. So I'll show you some big prints in a minute
but for now, here's a look at a few of those models. Where Games Workshop have a very distinct style of large flat surfaces
all of these models can go that extra mile. And to match those smooth flat surfaces where needed
well, in the case of textured areas, you can not only see muscle definition
but you can also see things like pores, spot marks, and general imperfections and skin tone
Wood with even finer grain, and for sharp details, you can get spikes that literally stab you
But while printing these, I did notice a couple of more issues with the printer
Whenever my prints started, I could hear a mechanical pop sound as the bed lowers to its set print position
Apparently, this is a common issue, and can be easily resolved by tightening the screws of the bed rod
But I also have an issue where the base layers split on the build plate
I can easily remove the models now, but the first few layers, the burning layers
are so adhered to the build plate that I need to crack them off
which often sends pieces flying all over the room, across my desk, into my vat
and even in my hair as I found out one evening in the shower. But I can solve this by turning on transition layers
which I've currently got set to zero. So to really test this printer and to have some final thoughts
I decided to print something really big. So I reached out to Black Forge Games, who are one of my favourite creators
In fact, I'm just going to say this, if you own a 3D printer, you should have a model from Black Forge Games
because they are absolutely incredible. And once again, that's a completely unsponsored statement
I went and bought their initial models because I absolutely love them
so that's just my opinion. Black Forge was kind enough to send me a copy of their corrupt Tenjin model pre-release
I'd already fallen in love with their original Tenjin model, and I used that in an earlier 3D printer review
Black Forge have knocked it out of the park with this corrupt version of the same guy
and this model is so huge that I actually ran out of the 8K resin
before I could finish the print. So I've still got some wings to do
And whilst we can all agree that this 3D print looks smooth, crisp, and most importantly, awesome
it's not testing the detail that this 3D print is capable of
So I shrunk it down to 32mm heroic scale, supported it myself, and printed it out
And just look at this detail. This is far beyond anything that Games Workshop or Forgeworld have ever produced
And you can even see detail in the recessed areas like the armor plates
or within the beams hanging from them. There are some huge benefits to 3D prints over what Games Workshop produces
but the main benefits I think are twofold. One, in many cases, you can print a ready-built model
and just snap it off the support and it's ready to paint with minimal clean-up
And two, models can now have voids. You see, due to the inherent process of casting
big manufacturers of miniatures can't create recesses at certain angles. Think Space Marine Bolters with no barrel holes
That's the most obvious example, but this limitation is present all over your favorite little army people
Gaps and mold lines are an absolute bane when it comes to miniatures
but with 3D printing, you often have none of this. And with the intelligent placement of support
and in all cases here, these will prove support of miniatures, you can literally print it, snap it off, cure it, and it's ready to paint
And all that's before the super sharp detail that's available to you here
And once again, thanks to this printer, you not only get that detail, but you also get no layer lines
Just to hammer home that point, here I want to show you an example of a 3D printed model I painted with nothing but a dry brush
Dry brush uses naturally highlight any layer lines or imperfections in the surface
Here, there's not a layer line in sight, showing just how perfect this printer is
It's currently unrivaled in the consumer space. And for me, this is the biggest problem with the printer
I'm a diehard Warhammer fan. Almost every model they produce either goes on my must-buy list, or I buy it
But this 3D printer, coupled with the models created by the designer shown here
have completely distracted me from Warhammer ever since I started printing with it
So if you're currently a Warhammer fan like me, definitely do not buy this printer
Honestly, the print is amazing. And the 8K resolution in the small but oddly shaped print area is absolutely unrivaled
And this is coming from the guy telling you everything wrong with it. And again, this isn't sponsored by Frozen
I bought this printer with my own money. From this point on, there's no need to look for innovations in 3D printers
with higher resolution than this. I think going forward, we need to see some use of youth innovation
And whilst resin 3D printing has been around for a good few years
with this quality level, the battle for the highest quality miniatures not only starts here
but it starts with most of the war already won. So, okay
Go and buy this printer now. Whilst I do a showreel and a huge thanks to our patrons
I just want to do a quick thank you to you as well for watching. If you have enjoyed this video or it's helped you in any way
then please hit that like button, and don't forget to subscribe and hit the notification bell
I really appreciate you being here, and any feedback you can give me down in the comments
will help us to make more and better content in the future. Let me know what you think of 3D printing
and let me know what you think are the best miniatures for 3D print. I'll see you guys next time
Foamhammer out