Best 3d Printers?

[lastspartacus]

So I guess ideally US based, anywhere works. Really, there seems to be little general knowledge about the best places to get your master molds printed. Besides Shapeways and some on this site with their own, Moddler is the only place I know of with very high quality prints, though costly. I'm just trying to see if there is any kind of competitive market out there, I'm thinking there has to be more than what is currently known.

I spoke at a convention that 3d printing is kind of a catch all turn for processes like objet, perfactory, etc. As a guy trying to get top notch master molds, I'm just trying to poll the pool and broaden my horizons.

[mangozac]

I had the Fiddler kit printed by . It's a good service, but far from cheap. I guess the prices are fair for the quality/resolution.

[Fleafa]

Vision Proto are fantastic, basically the best quality you'll get. I think they use Envisiontec Perfactory. They are based in Texas, I think?
The downside is the cost and cleaning off the support pins, as it can be hard to work with.
Wax prints are also amazing, with no support material, but it is easy to damage the surface.
Perfactory is the process used by Hawk Wargames for the Dropzone Commander miniatures.

[mangozac]

Yeah cleaning up the supports was a big pain in the butt, that's why I generally recommend people use wax based printing processes if they're planning to do resin copies of the part.

[Malika]

But if it's so easy to damage the surface, won't it get damaged during transport? Isn't the wax super soft?

[lastspartacus]

I got to talk to Dave, the Dropzone Commander guy at Templecon for a couple hours. First time I'd heard 'perfactory', but I couldn't figure out who did it and what exactly it was.

[mangozac]

[Deadmeat30]

perfactory is made by envisiontec. about £40k worth of kit.

[lastspartacus]

Sounds cheaper than some high end printers? I thought that was like, the fancy new method.

[Fleafa]

I have never had any trouble with wax, but I always treat it with care. It isn't going to melt in your hands but a determined fingernail could cause damage.