Where to buy 3D printed minis?

[armored76]

Hey,

 

Looking at the plethora of 3D model files available online, I as wondering if there is any established shopping place for printed minis? Having an own printer is out of question for several reasons but I'd be up paying for some printed stuff.

 

Does anyone have a suggestion? I only saw Etsy so far but the offer is somewhat limited and Ebay has close to none, surprisingly.

 

Many thanks in advance!

Edited September 12, 2020 by armored76

[Niall]

Assuming you are looking a sites like www.Thingiverse.com, I think you can get the files printed by www.Shapeways.com.

 

Download the file(s) from the hosting site and upload them to Shapeways and they will print them for you.

 

Check that the file designer is OK for you to do this.

 

In addition you will need a viewer for ".stl" files(there are many freeones available), so you can check the file(s) are exactly what you need, as some designers provide several options, like arms with and without shields as separate files.

[armored76]

Thanks Niall! Shapeways is indeed an option but their prices are rather high. I'm also looking at some of the stuff at myminifactory.com which is not free. My hope is to find a place to buy these minis already printed instead of going through buying the models AND pay for printing.

[Schwarz-Brot]

That is probably not going to happen, at least not legally. Most designers do not permit selling of their printed product! So it is not legal to offer this as a service. The printer would need to buy a commercial license to print and sell the miniatures. Some designers do offer these licenses, most don't. I never saw a shop that bought such a license to make some money. If you provide the file and pay for the printing as a service you circumvent this problem.

[ratsmitglied]

1 hour ago, Schwarz-Brot said:

That is probably not going to happen, at least not legally. Most designers do not permit selling of their printed product! So it is not legal to offer this as a service. The printer would need to buy a commercial license to print and sell the miniatures. Some designers do offer these licenses, most don't. I never saw a shop that bought such a license to make some money. If you provide the file and pay for the printing as a service you circumvent this problem.

Depending on what it is, some designers have very simple license terms for printing - e.g. 10% of revenue from sales of prints from their items.

I have picked up a couple of licenses for print ranges because they were either that arrangement, or the price to pay for the license was not significantly greater than buying the models myself.

Trick is that even if the designer does offer this ability you have to find someone who has the license. In a lot of cases the MMF designers don't offer licenses, or if they do it's hard to find out the cost and/or requirements

So in that sense, you are best to buy the model and then find someone who'll print as a service.

[armored76]

I was afraid that was going to be the outcome 😄 Thank you gentlemen!

[Niall]

www.thingiverse.com has loads of 3D print designs which are almost all available to download for free, for home printing.

 

On Shapeways prices, there is quite a lot of labour involved in making a print, both in processing the .stl file so their printers can make the print and in removing the print from the printer.