I’m creating a board game that has custom 3d pieces. I’d like to test out my print before I send it to the game manufacturer and also want to make demo sets. They need a huge tooling fee before they’ll do samples. There are app. 10 designs and no bigger than 45mm.

I’m not sure as to whether I should buy a starter printer or would the learning curve be so big that I should just have a POD company do it. I know blender really well but have never printed anything from a file. I was going to make the file from blender for the company too. Any thoughts? I think my SO and I would use it for other things, probably, maybe, if it’s not so complicated that I give up on it.

Thanks for any advice on this, I don’t know what direction to point on this and I have a ton of work to do already.

Edit: You guys are awesome. I went from totally lost to ordering the Neptune 3 Pro and it should be here next week. Thanks for everything and I hope it goes pretty smoothly, I’ll keep you posted. Thanks again.

  • fsniper
    3•11 months ago

    I suppose as you are a builder ( a game designer it’s most probably is) it would be a great help to have a 3d printer at hand.

    Bambu printers,
    Elegoo neptune 4 series, Prusa mk3/4s are great ones to start with.

    • @PeleSpirit@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      2•11 months ago

      This is my first game with pieces like that, I probably should have mentioned that. Thanks for the suggestions on models, that Elegoo Neptune 4 series seems to be perfect in price range too since I think a POD would have cost about that much.

      • fsniper
        1•11 months ago

        In fact Neptune 3 pro can be cheaper option. It would be slower to print but still create perfect prints. I do print with A Neptune 3 plus, a larger version of the 3 pro, and quite happy with it.

        • @PeleSpirit@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
          1•11 months ago

          We were just looking at the differences. I wonder if we should spend the extra $100 to get the 4 pro in a couple of weeks or get the 3 pro while we’re still excited.

          • fsniper
            2•11 months ago

            Depends on your patience. If you are very impatient go for the 4 pro as it’s built for faster printing. Otherwise they are very similar for print quality.