On a different forum the question came up about how the gas station I posted in the N scale section here might print with a resin printer vs. the filament printer I used. I thought that the following might be useful so decided to post it here also. ================================================ NOTE: How would printing this or other prints that I've designed look like if it was printed with a resin printer vs. the Ender 3 Pro filament printer I've been using? If you have printed some of these with a resin printer I'd like to hear your comments and hopefully also see some pictures of the prints. You could contact me ( HERE ). In the mean time here are my thoughts. When printing with my filament printer I find that with the stock nozzle it can't reproduce detail much smaller than down to .012”. I usually use .014” to 015” as the smallest detail I'll design into a print ( about 2 ½ inches in N Scale). If you aren't picking up a print and examining it very closely it is hard to see detail much smaller than that from normal viewing distances on a layout. Saying that I wouldn't attempt to print a loco shell with a filament printer but for my standards it is acceptable for a lot of N scale items, including buildings. I bought a resin printer almost 2 years ago as I type this, an ANYCUBIC Photon Mono 4K. Embarrassed to say but I haven't used it yet. I really need to but I've been pretty busy on other aspects of the layout and just got back into designing recently. The Ender is in the house right behind my computer so it is very easy to design and print a minute later. Also with the filament printer one doesn't have to mess with cleaning and curing a print. So I'm lazy and keep using the filament printer. The resin printer is out in the shop due to the anticipated smell and cleaning procedure that I'll have to go through so the old 'out of sight, out of mind' thing is what I'll use for an excuse for not using it yet. Lets look at some images for further thoughts on designing for a filament print vs. a resin print. For the gas station I was hoping to get the exterior walls to look as close to those in the picture above. A panel look where the panels were indented in a pattern with no real cracks in the panel. I also wanted a stepped design around the bottom of the upper building and overhang like above. In my first design attempt this section of the building wasn't as tall and the the stepped design had smaller measurement. The .025” elements of the design would be 4 inches in real life. I was happy with the print but trying to paint the .025” steps was difficult as I wanted the center recessed section to be a different color than the raised steps. I was happy with the indentations. Hard to analysis them from a photo as how they appear is influenced by the light and photo angle. Actually viewing them I think I have them as close as possible for the filament printer.I'll post a picture of the second version after I've painted it. In the closeup above the indentations look more like grooves than actually viewing them. I feel that if this was printed with a resin printer they would definitely look more like square grooves vs. indentations since is it capable of printing the .015” x .015” square grooves more accurately. Not sure how much I'd have to change the print dimensions but would think I'd have to probably make the grooves more like .004” x .004” to achieve the same printed look. Maybe at some point I'll finally get the resin printer going and find out or someone else will print this and reply. The main point though is that I feel for most things with detail you have to design with one set of dimensions if you are printing with a filament printer vs. a resin printer to account for the differences in printer print resolution. Sumner
I'd be happy to print that on my Photon SE. I'm pretty sure it would fit on the build plate, if not I have a Mono X as well but I've been printing on the SE today and just topped off the resin so I could give the station a go and post results. You can PM me if you want to set up a file exchange. Looks like a really cool kit! -Mike
Thanks Mike, I'll try and get the files up on my thingiverse.com account later today and will send you a PM when I do. Look forward to how it prints on a resin printer. Sumner
You can find the files to print this on my thingiverse account ( HERE ). You can find all the files to 3D print this object and others on my thingiverse.com account ( HERE ). Sumner
