3D Printing - How Small Can You Go?

Looks like someone else is trying to push printing limits!

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Is There A Point Where It Get's Silly?

I'm kinda embroiled in pushing the limits of my 3D printer and - importantly - my knowledge of 3D printing to the edge of what either of us is capable of! 😄

And here, I have to admit that I suspect a good proportion of the issues that I am having while I attempt to 3D print vehicle model at 1/150 scale are due to my inexperience and lack of knowledge about the settings of my printer's software.

That said, for a novice in 3D modelling and 3D printing I am quite pleased with the current batch of N Gauge cars and vans that have been coming off my Flashforge Adventurer 3 printer (a printer that is now regarded as 'old tech' being both one that has been in production for about five years now and because it is based on older FDM technology). 

Above: The latest model off the Milgeek 3D production line. This 1/150 scale
ice-cream van isn't too bad, in my opinion, and certainly good enough for
the purpose for which it was designed. So I'm quite pleased!

Here's an 3 year-old review of my printer (for reference): Electromaker - The Flashforge Adventurer 3

Though I must stress, many people still happily use FDM 3D printers and also the reason that the Adventurer 3 is still in production - despite the version 4 having been released - is because many people swear by it! Not everyone needs one of the newer, high resolution, fancy-nancy resin printers - particularly if you are only a casual user and working in medium sized objects.

So why stress about producing ridiculously small models?

The short answer is - to see if we can!

Honey, I Shrank the Gamzas!

Anyway, by sheer co-incidence, I am not the only modeller who is curious about how far we can push the limits of 3D printing when it comes to scale model making. The YouTuber Gamza - who specialised in 28mm tabletop gaming miniatures - has just produced a video entitled 3D PRINTERS CAN PRINT HOW SMALL?!

It's an interesting watch if you, like me, are into small scale model making...

I have t say, I won't be trying to do any N Gauge scale figures for my layout with my current printer. I think I've reached the threshold of what it can do. Though I might have been tempted - given Gamza's results - had I a quality high resolution resin printer. 

For now, I'll stick to vehicles! 😄