THE ARCHOSAUR ASYLUM VOL.5: Awe Yee-yah, we be shippin'!

Part Five of the Archosaur Asylum blog sings songs of boxes shipping! We finally got over the hump a bit... the printer problem hump, that is. It turns out that the resin tank design for the particular printer in question is flawed. So, problem solved then? Well, not really, but we are making progress.

We are using Formlabs printers. They are arguably the best, most reliable pseudo-commercial resin printers on the market. They also boast the highest resolution obtainable from a printer that is sub-astronomical in price. If you do a quick search for "Best Resin 3D Printer 2022," Formlabs will surely be on top unless the writer focuses only on bang-for-the-buck. There are plenty of cheaper Chinese resin printers, but they are a PIA to use; they are unreliable and break down quickly. Ask me how I know.

Why is there a picture of battling t. rexes when we are talking about 3d printers? Stay tuned... I'll tell ya.

The Form labs printer that gets the most attention nowadays is their relatively new Form 3+. The From 3+ is the natural evolution from the From 2 and Form 3. The Form 2 is more diminutive with a smaller build volume, and the Form 3 is an early, slower version of the Form 3+. The Form 3+ was our first good, reliable printer. It has been a tank, and is responsible for the lion's share of Ancient Era Artistry order fulfillment as of late.

After an auspicious beginning at Ancient Era, with orders flowing in, I purchased a second Formlabs printer, but this time a bigger, meaner mama-jama. This time I picked up the Form 3L. This sucker boasts a build volume five times the size of the 3+ and has two built-in lasers as opposed to one in the 3+.

That's the form 3L on the left, and the Form 3+ on the right.

So, I got in touch with Formlabs' customer service. They turned out to be pretty amazing. They told me that the resin tanks for the 3L have a known flaw and that some of them fail ( a flexible membrane becomes too slack) under the pressure of a large build surface area. Printing multiple small parts is not as much of an issue.

Well, that is not good for us, since we need some large prints. So, Formlabs went on to let me know that they are working on a replacement design, and in the meantime, they would not only work with me to get better results, but they would keep me in replacement tanks ( a $300 consumable item) until we have a reliable replacement tank. While we wait for that, we work together to set up models in the slicing software (Preform-the software used to load the models into the printer) to try to minimize the potential of damaging resin tanks.

We have had mixed results so far, but as said above, we are moving in the right direction. Eventually, this will be water under the bridge. While a permanent solution looms, at least we can say that our models helped design a more robust, user-friendly piece of technology for everyone to enjoy.

I got the "Right Where it Ends" 1-35 scale Torosaurus Combatant diorama pre-orders rolling, and if you ordered one, you should see it within three weeks. Oh, and while we are talking about the torosaurus diorama... I'm flattered that since "Right Where it Ends" debuted, I have seen a couple of copy-cats out there. While Imitation is the highest form of flattery, it also feels like it serves to water down the impact that one's countless hours of work has on the world, lol.

So if you've purchased a "Right Where it Ends" diorama, be proud to have the original design.

What about that battling t.rex scene above?

That is a sneak preview of another model that will be offered up pretty soon. I have shown a WIP or two of it online before, but this is the most anyone has seen of it. While it is still a WIP (work in progress), I am pretty close to done with it.

That's "Omar" on top attacking "La Tore" for having the audacity to re-enter the territory he displaced her from in the past. This scene is the next scene in the story after 'Scent in the Air". In "Scent in the Air" Omar is stirred awake by a distinct order... the order turns out to be La Tore looking for retribution.

Did you happen to notice the Dracorex running away from the battle? I had initially planned to have multiple Pachycephalosaurs ( a Dracorex is a juvenile Pachy) running away, but then I decided it felt too cluttered. I made one face-planting into the dirt (as if it tripped while running), but I have since scrapped that idea. What do you think? Is one enough, or should I add another?

Look at her go! It looks like she made it out just in time. At only ten feet long, "Nessa" could easily be squished to death by a pre-occupied forty-foot long fifteen thousand pound tyrannosaurus rex. Never mind two of them.

Since I put all that work into making "Nessa" The Dracorex Hogwartsia*, I decided to offer her as her own free-standing figure. She will debut as a 1-10 scale ( 305 mm measured along the spine) model. See below.

*Bob Bakker and Robert Sullivan named Dracorex Hogwartsia after a group of inexperienced paleontologists discovered it. The name means "Dragon King of Hogwarts" after the Harry Potter storyline by J.K. Rowling. At some point, after it had been considered its own genus/species in the clade pachycephalosaurid, it was deemed a juvenile form of Pachycephalosaurus wyomingensis.

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