Why are some Bases Printed on an FDM Machine and Not Injection Molded Like the Others?

Quick Summary

When it comes to tabletop bases, you might notice some are 3D-printed using FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) technology, while others are injection-molded. The reason is simple: injection molding requires expensive molds, which aren’t practical for unique or less common sizes. As a small business, we use FDM printing for these cases to keep costs reasonable and ensure availability for all types of games.

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The Deeper Dive: Balancing Cost, Flexibility, and Quality

Tabletop games demand a wide variety of base sizes and designs to support the diversity of miniatures players use. Here’s why some bases are 3D-printed rather than injection-molded:

1. Injection Molding: A Costly Solution for Niche Bases

Injection molding excels at producing large quantities of consistent, high-quality parts. However, the upfront cost of creating molds—often thousands of euros—makes it impractical for niche base sizes or designs with lower demand. This cost barrier is especially challenging for smaller businesses like ours, which prioritize variety over sheer volume.

2. Covering All the Popular Games

While common sizes like 25mm and 32mm are readily available through injection molding, the bigger or less common sizes needed for certain games aren’t always accessible. That’s where FDM printing shines: we can produce these weirder sizes to fill gaps in the market and support a broader range of games.

3. FDM Printing: A Flexible Solution

FDM printing allows us to create bases with a high degree of flexibility:

• Custom Designs: From time to time, we design custom bases tailored to specific needs.
• Broad Compatibility: We strive to offer base sizes that cater to all the major games, ensuring gamers have what they need.
• On-Demand Production: Bases can be printed as needed, reducing overhead and waste while ensuring availability.

4. Material and Durability

We use matte black PLA for our 3D-printed bases. This material offers durability comparable to injection-molded bases, although gluing miniatures to them can be slightly more challenging due to the material properties. With proper care, they hold up well to gaming use.

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A Look Ahead: Supporting Creativity and Functionality

By leveraging both injection molding for common sizes and FDM printing for unusual ones, we ensure tabletop players have access to bases that suit their miniatures and their games. In a future update, we’ll include pictures of some of the larger and less common bases we’ve made to highlight the variety and creativity that FDM printing makes possible.