As avid gamers all of us need a cool-looking gaming house we are able to name our personal, however what does that appear to be? A pleasant gaming chair? An adjustable gaming desk like one from Flexispot? Copious quantities of LEDs and lighting options like those from Nanoleaf? However how will we stand out from the group – particularly if you wish to turn into a streamer or simply need your mates to see you’ve gotten one thing they’ll’t?
3D print issues your self that’s how. There are an absolute ton of 3D printable fashions on the market, some free, some paid for and when you have a 3D printer, or are considering of getting one, you may set to work creating your personal bespoke gaming paintings in your room.
Which 3D printer?
For this mission, we’re going to use the brand new Bambu Lab A1 which not too long ago got here out on the finish of final yr. With its multi-material AMS Lite add it will probably print in a number of colours on the identical print simply, which, whereas you are able to do on different printers, the AMS makes it a lot simpler.
Having stated that, in the principle, we’re going to print our fashions in a single coloration and try to color them to a typical that appears half-decent. Due to this, we are able to print them in any previous filament we now have mendacity round that we possibly don’t use that a lot.
Another excuse we’re utilizing the A1 right here is as a result of, proper now, we don’t need to tinker and mess around with settings. For probably the most half, the A1 simply works out of the field. Many different 3D printers want fine-tuning and tweaking to get the very best out of them, even protecting a watchful eye to ensure nothing goes incorrect. Until you might be unfortunate the A1 ought to allow you to print and return later when it’s carried out (though it’s good observe to repeatedly verify on what’s occurring, simply in case.)
Our mannequin right here is that this glorious chibi model of traditional gaming hero Duke Nukem from 3DXM. As a result of we’re going to paint him, we’re simply going to make use of some inexperienced filament we don’t thoughts utilizing up.
Popping the mannequin into Bambu Studio – the slicer software program that comes with all Bambu Labs printers, sizing it to the scale you need in your desk or shelf, including helps, and slicing it able to print ought to take solely a minute or so.
From there you may ship it over wi-fi to the A1, select the colour you need to print in when you have the AMS Lite, hit print, and sit again. This Duke Nukem took round 5 hours to print at 100% however had we pushed the printer into Sport and even Ludicrous mode it might have been a lot sooner.
In case you are new to 3D printing it’s best to know that any a part of the mannequin that hangs suspended in mid-air will want helps whereas it prints. Your A1’s nozzle can’t simply make issues seem in mid-air. Because of this this help materials is a) a waste of filament and b) must be eliminated when the print is full. It needs to be a case of simply pulling it off, however it may be sharp and you may lower your self so possibly pop on a pair of gardening gloves and even washing up gloves for a bit safety. Having stated that you just haven’t lived till you’ve got your blood throughout that good mannequin printed in white filament that you just simply spent 9 hours printing.
As you may see from the image the helps pulled away properly, leaving a great-looking mannequin., even when at this stage he appears to be like a bit just like the Hulk due to the colour.
At this stage, you may select to evenly sand him all the way down to easy out the strains between the layers and take away any anomalies from the printing course of. For this function, we didn’t trouble however you may spend as lengthy on this part as you want till you might be comfortable.
With the print of the mannequin full and the A1 having carried out admirably we set it happening our subsequent mannequin for our room, a free Jigglypuff Pokemon from Makerworld. Whereas that is printing in simply over two and a half hours we are able to hit our Duke Nukem with a few coats of white primer to prepared it for portray. We used Military Painter Matt White however any gentle primer will do. We particularly use white as a result of we’re going to paint him with Military Painter Speedpaints 2.0 which works finest on a white primer.
Due to the inexperienced filament used, we ended up needing three gentle coats of primer to cowl out the inexperienced fully
After letting Duke dry we took him over to the workbench and used a base coating brush for probably the most half to use speedpaints for a (very, apologies) down-and-dirty paint job so you may see what is feasible in round half an hour. Clearly, you may spend rather more time in your portray in the event you like.
By now you may see the Pokemon Jigglypuff was full and the Bambu Lab A1 did a incredible job and got here up with a very easy ball form. There was a small quantity of stringing for no apparent cause however you may take away that by hitting it with a lighter for a second or two to burn it away. Now, you may simply paint it and have a print of one thing else going whilst you do.
By the tip of a day of printing, you can have a shelf stuffed with actually nice fashions from about half a roll of filament (which is able to price about $22.
Is the Bambu Lab A1 the very best 3D printer for learners?
On this mission, we simply needed great-looking fashions as a part of our Video games Room redesign. We didn’t simply need to exit and purchase the identical Funko Pops everyone has so we would have liked a frustration-free methodology of getting our sport characters out. As a result of the A1 not often appears to have points – a minimum of in our expertise – you may set a mannequin going and head off out if you might want to.
In case you have extra expertise with a extra hobbyist moderately than newbie printer you may be capable of do the identical, however in case you are new to the 3D printing maker house then the flexibility to simply get out of the printer what you anticipated is a boon.
The A1 isn’t a big format printer and the scale of fashions and busts you may print may be a hindrance. We might be trying on the spectacular Elegoo Neptune 4 Max quickly, which is a helmet-class printer that wants a bit extra consideration to get nice outcomes, however if you wish to print a lifesize model of the man from Fortnite for the nook of your room, you will want to up the scale of your printer.
Bambu Lab A1 settings for Bambu Studio
If you need increased high quality prints it’s best to change your layer top from 0.2 all the way down to one thing like 0.12 and even 0.08. This gives you finer element however will take considerably longer to print.
You could possibly additionally put money into a 0.2mm nozzle to swap out the bottom 0.4mm that comes with the A1. They solely price about $15 from Bambu Labs, could be swapped in seconds not like different printers, and it’s all the time good to have in your printing arsenal.
Hopefully, you’ve gotten been impressed to make a few of your personal sport room decorations and even to select up a 3D printer for the primary time. We might be bringing you extra options that will help you degree up your gaming house sooner or later.
