Re: The view from my work bench - 3-D Printing
The printer I have is a Prusa Mini that was given a good rating by "Which". The cost of the printer as a "partly assembled kit" was just under £400 but the base plate is large enough to print a 1/1250 battlecruiser. The reason that I selected the airship Hindenburg rather than a ship as a first print was because the envelope is curved in all three dimensions. All printed airships have a tendency to have steps at some point on their curved surfaces and this is a serious test for most printers (and all Shapeways printers so far) but I am delighted with the performance of this printer on the mission impossible. The prints do require a little fettling to remove strings and lumps of plastic but this can be minimised by printing components separately and using Poly Lactose Acids (PLA) filament produces a hard finish which is easy to file and takes paint well (I can send photographs via email, see above).
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