harryc

Thanks very much for the offer, but I think I'm sold anyway. I am curious though...since the limiting factor for xy resolution is the thickness of the plastic material (if I understood correctly), then is it possible that thinner plastic becomes available in the future? Would this allow for greater xy resolution, and if so, would this be something a current Ultimaker could be made to use or would it require all new engineering?

Hi Michael, The link I posted previously (http://www.hive76.org/insane-3d-printing-resolution-ultimaker-under-the-micro) is the detail level I'm after. In the picture of that yoda figure in the link the xy resolution doesn't look nearly as course as .3mm so maybe I'm not understanding what is meant by xy resolution.

Just as an example, I have a scale model of a rally car I built that came without a driver and navigator figure. I have created a 3D scan of the seats in the car and with my rudimentary knowledge of 3D programs have designed figures for both that I would like to be able to print and use in the model. These would probably be about 30mm figures if standing. It's not for professional work, but at the same time I want comparable results to the rest of the models I use (which is why Ultimaker is appealing to me, given its ability to get such fine detail prints). I don't care if it takes 20 hours to print a model. Thanks again for the info.

Thanks for the answer Tom. It's posts like this that have made me a bit apprehensive about jumping in right now however. It's not just a software issue (which I'm more comfortable dealing with) to get results like http://www.hive76.org/insane-3d-printing-resolution-ultimaker-under-the-micro then? [edit] It's posts like this that terrify me: http://groups.google.com/group/ultimaker/browse_thread/thread/b8a6bdf43b803c73

I've been following 3D printers for a little while now and am almost at the point where I'm ready to jump in, but I do have some questions that I can't find answers to... Most of my plans for 3D printing are for scale model/miniature work (models between 25-50mm big). It looks like, out of all home 3D printers currently available, Ultimaker is the champion when it comes to printing fine detail work. What I'm interested in is what kind of work is necessary to setup the machine for printing in such fine detail assuming it arrives at my door today? I get the feeling from looking at as many posts as I can that it's not going to be as simple as "open box, plug in machine, print in extreme detail right away". Is this something that is going to take a whole bunch of tinkering and/or extra parts to achieve? Thanks in advance for any information.