Nowadays 3D printers are becoming more and more popular and cheaper, but also they are becoming much more reliable and useful due to technological advancement. Nevertheless, with a 3D printer you can create pretty much anything that can be made from plastic, hard resin, synthetic materials, or even wood. And creativity possibilities are really unlimited, varying from small statues, figures or toys to shoes and clothing made of durable yet flexible synthetic fibers.
Furthermore, adding a cherry on top of that creative cake, properly chosen and adjusted device is capable of printing something as complex and durable as if it was factory-made. You can learn more about printing capabilities of various printers all over the Internet if you want to. Meanwhile we’ll tell you about something more specific in our article.
Is it possible to use 3D printer for cosplay?
Considering all of the above, 3D printers have become very useful and popular in cosplay culture as a perfect instrument for creating costumes if you know how to deal with it. Especially when cosplay stuff began to be made primarily of plastic and polymer foam. 3D printers just added a complexity and speed to the process of creation, thus increasing a variety of things available to recreate popular characters in real life.
It became possible to create amazing and completely authentic costumes - if you look at some enthusiasts, there are even mechanical suits full of integrated electronic components. You won't forget it if you see the 3-meter Warhammer 40k Space Marine suit. Just as an example, take a look at Julian Checkley. He was one of the first cosplayers to make his cosplay using only a 3D printer. He printed a fully functional Batsuit from the famous Arkham game series. And it was packed with mechanical parts and devices. And it looks awesome.
How to pick yourself a good 3D printer for a starter?
We will not give you a complete list of 3D printers because you can find it on the internet. Instead, we will give you some tips for choosing one that’ll suit your needs in a best way. So, first things first - you need a model with a large print volume, high speed, high precision and not too expensive filaments. This will be somewhat important in the case of printing large parts and large suits, so it will take less time and less money. So, you need to opt in for those specs when choosing a good 3D printer:
- Chamber size. Also named as printing volume, this determines the size of what and how you will be able to print.
- Printing resolution. This specification will determine the overall output quality and available level of details, and the lower it is, the better result you’ll get. Somewhere about 200 should be enough for a beginner.
- Head precision. Another measure that affects overall output quality and quality of details.
- Extruder size. SIze of the printer’s nozzle that determines the amount of applied material and must be no larger than 0.4 mm.
- Filament compatibility. For a cosplayer it’s important to be able to use a variety of materials, but don’t get too hard on it.
One of such devices which suits all those specs is is resin 3D printer Wanhao Duplicator 7 1.5, by default made as a Red Edition series starting from this modification. It’s not too expensive yet highly customizable. Another one, much more powerful thus very expensive, is MakerBot Replicator Z18.
Wanhao D7 1.5
It’s a very versatile device for a starter - it has an enclosed frame with a detachable hard case and a detachable build plate and build base. It’s easy to assemble - it’ll take less than 30 minutes to set it up out of the box, including the connection between your PC and a 3D printer. It also has a very useful and pre-configured Creation Workshop software toolkit with the powerful community-made upgrade. It makes this device very adjustable due to having a variety of configurations made to be used with different filaments.
MakerBot Replicator Z18
It has a very large printing volume combined with a very precise head and very low minimal resolution thus being a perfect device for creating models with high level of details. Made using industrial-level standards, it has an enclosed hard frame, large printing chamber and a wide range of compatible materials.
Other ways to use your 3D printer
Concluding all of the above, if you had decided to buy yourself a 3D printer for creating cosplay, it is better to choose something that’s good at all of its specifications. Reliability, performance and quality should come first, so you won't have a problem with it during its usage. In addition, it’ll give you the ability to not only print things for your cosplay suits, but also to print some other things with outstanding quality. As it was mentioned at the beginning of our article, you’ll be even able to print clothes if your printer is capable of using required filaments.