Resin Addict Forum

OK Well as some of you who are connected through Facebook know Im doing a career change soon and moving to the Wild Reaches of Redneck-Ville Alabama.... I am going to be Buying out my Grandfathers Self Storage Warehouse business and retiring my Badge and duty Sidearm. I think its going to be a lot less stressful but more Labor intensive..... But I will be my own Boss and make my own hours.

Anyway I am taking out a $500K-750K loan to purchase the business, so this is one time where I want to get things right. I will have NO CREDIT once this loan is complete and cannot afford to mess it up. I want to buy a 3d printer and have it rolled into the loan for the property. I am able to get the property for cheaper than the loan and should have money to buy one.

Without getting TOO personal about my finances here is my plan:
1)Get 1/2 million dollar loan (actually this SHOULD be EASY, 3/4 should not be)
2)Buy property and business
3)Have leftover money to buy Harley, 3D printer and put several $$ into petty cash for operational expense.
4)...???...
5)Profit...

Now here is my dilemma.... I need a GOOD quality printer that can print out in either Wax or ABS plastic (I think Wax is the best for our applications??) and come with all the software needed to run OR have it readily available. This is drivers and 3d rendering software. Is this something "ready in box-plug and play" or something I should build myself part by part??? This would be used for prototyping parts for miniatures and I would basically hook up anyone on here for cheap, so quality is more important over lowest price. Also Im kinda dumb so ease of use is pretty important to me also. SO people..... Pitch me a machine.

** disclaimer All of this is provided I get BANK financing and "buy out" write in on the approval letter. If I do not for some reason, I still buy out my grandfather but do it as a Owner financed option Meaning I have no extra cash, but make percentage payments from the profits earned. I would still like your input (aka your dream machines) as Even if its owner financed I still can save my pennies and purchase it sometime soon- being in a year or 2....

Heres some Looking about I saw....

3Z pro Video:


the cheaper, smaller print but same detail quality 3Z studio


and a Buildable printer..... On the cheap.


Im a novice with NO electrical background BUT I can learn and Im mechanically sound (meaning I can build stuff) Thoughts on these 3 options??

And more on solidscapes:

Alan did a LOT of research (months of it - I got sick of him talking about the latest printer he discovered all the time ) and the wax printer he got is what he settled on. You'll have to hit him up if he doesn't show up here.

Yea I pmed him about it when he posted about his first figure..... And Im Kinda hoping he will drop in.

Im leaning toward something similar to what he got but again if all goes right i will NOT be able to just get another one for some time. Imkinda wanting to get it right the first time for once.... LOL

Yeah he's flat out at the moment hence why he hasn't been around much. Either that or he doesn't like you and is ignoring your PMs but I'm pretty sure it's the former

Apparently the premium used machine market is definitely worth investigating too!

I'm here I'm here. Lol.

OK, as Zac said. I have done so much research into 3d printers I have driven him up the wall. I even went to a 3d printer convention to do research. I settled on a Solidscape printer. The printers are some of the most detailed print out for the cost. Sure envisiontec can match it. But there machines are nearly twice as much.

The 3z pro and studio are the same, just the studio is limited to 25 micron layers minimum and has been programmed to print at a slower speed.

Second hand printers is a market to look at. The T76 plus is a lovely bit of kit!

It's all about the research, get test printings don't. I've got scores of the stuff. It's a huge investment to do.

Talk to the manufacturers themselves.

Yeah. They normally take machines as part exchanges.

It's not wax but I would look into sterolithography resin printers. Seems to be the highest res printers out there. The Formlabs printer is where I would look.

Lawsuit aside, Formlabs is still far from high enough surface finish quality.

Yeah the form labs is excellent for its price. But for what we need. Just doesn't cut it. Give it some time and there will be modded versions that would work well. As well as new resins.

Ahhhh See experience and knowledge had saved me from wasting cash. I kinda figured with the price difference that it was not quite what I needed.

Hit me up on Skype under this username for a chat about it.