Does anyone reading this own or frequently work with a 3d printer? Have any experience adding weights to things to give them a better feel in the hand the way they put a metal slug in the center of nice poker chips? Is this a thing that's possible? How about adding color to some portion of a printed item? Is after-printing painting the best option? I'm considering printing a set of Hanabi tiles since the published ones are out of "print" and $300 on eBay. #3dprinting #3dprinters
@benhamill I want to get a 3D printer so bad. Probably won't be able to into it in earnest until later this year when my youngest starts school.
@alice At this juncture, I don't think I'd use it often enough to justify owning one. I just want to figure out this design I have in mind and then contract one out, as it were. Ideally, I'd find someone locally who'd let me pay a reasonable price to offset the plastic and time cost, since I doubt a company will add weights in. But I might have to find and join a maker space or something.
@alice @benhamill While I don't own a 3D printer I have worked with prints via friends and shops, and generally I print and then sand and paint it by hand. Makes for good, smooth results.
As for weighting it, the printing software usually fills the inner space with supports to strengthen the object structure. You'll have to specify an intentional empty space for the weight. If possible, print the object in 2 parts that snap together so you can get the weight inside it.
@polychrome @alice Interesting. I hadn't considered snapping together. I'd assumed you'd insert it and then continue printing on top. But if it snaps together, you could use sand or something fluid that would fill the void, rather than something static that might rattle around. They use a slug with poker chips because they're pouring the chip material, not printing it. Hmmmm.
@benhamill @alice Keep in mind that the thinner the walls the more elastic the plastic. You can use that for your advantage and make snappable things and such. I think Autodesk Inventor can help you with that (free for non-commercial use).