Potential Solus User questions

[ZachJ]

Hello all,
For the past year Ive been considering adding custom miniature products to my business, Baphominiatures. I currently only commission paint miniatures around 28mm scale (like 40k, Infinity, etc).

Needless to say, finding a 3D printer that can print believable, smooth surfaced miniatures in house has not been easy. I saw some posts of minis done with the Solus in a facebook group and its brought me here. So my questions are:

1) How finicky overall is the Solus? Can I rely on it for moderate sized production with minimal babysitting, or is it something I need to keep a close eye on during prints?

2) What resin is everyone using, or what would you use to get optimal results for miniatures of a smaller scale and surface area?

3) How much manual cleanup will be needed for every part? Ive seen the support structures on some prints, and while Im used to cleaning gates off of resin casts, I have read references to manually cleaning up
surfaces on the Solus prints. How is that done and is it indeed always necessary, or just once in a while?

4) Is there a consensus on what the most user friendly projector and/or the best quality result producing projector there is to pair with the Solus?

5) Ive read on these forums that curing has to be done with alcohol but can also be done with water in an ultrasonic cleaner, are there indeed a lot of ways to go about it and do they all require UV curing?

6) I cant imagine this being a no, but does Contour pair well with designs done in Blender or Maya? Is Contour reasonably intuitive?

Sorry for the pile of questions, Im almost sold on it but its quite an investment, especially for someone who has never owned a 3D printer. Thanks for any help!

[mongerdesigns]

Hi,

Since you're gonna be using the machine for miniatures, I recommend the SolusProto resin, which makes things so much easier when it comes to clean up. It requires less supports and the surface quality is amazing.

The only cleanup you will need is the little bumps or spots left by the supports. Luckily with SolusProto resin, you can make the support tips tiny (i use 0.1mm tips) and removing them is clean.

All the recommended projectors that will work with the Solus are more or less the same. Currently the ones recommended are the Optoma HD37 or the Vivitek 1186. You can get order the Vivitek along with the Solus, in the Junction3d online store.

[ZachJ]

Awesome, thanks. Anyone else have thoughts on my other questions?

[nzfinescale]

Hi Zac

You can follow my exploration of 28mm miniature printing here:

http://www.nzfinescale.com/index.php/blog

Overall, I'd say the Solus is a good option, but happy to have a PM exchange if you have any questions.

Lawrence