Elbows, don't want you to feel like I skipped your post, so I rolled answers to your post into some of my answers to worktroll here...
Two thoughts:
1) I'd remove the "slope" from the raised hex centres - the layering just looks a bit bleh.
The slope is designed to make the scenery rings self-center when placed around a hex, and to keep stacked hexes from shifting. I'll experiment with different contours, but I'm hesitant to remove them completely since they're primarily functional. If I land on a less obtrusive solution, I'll probably go that way. My original design had a thinner, narrower ring with locating pins, but when I got it 3D printed it was
so thin and the pins were so small that I immediately scrapped that design and started over. I'm only attached to the functional end result, not that specific appearance.
I just found out I'm getting laid off in about a week (yay. :-[) so experimentation time will be sparse, but I will try a thinner ring in ABS with a lower center hex area.
2) I assume that the hex pieces are hollow underneath, in order to minimise plastic consumption? If so, are there any possibilities to use an upside-down normal hex to represent L1 or L2 water?
Actually... I have dedicated hex pieces for that! O0 Yes, the main modules are hollow underneath, mainly for stacking and printing concerns on my single-extruder printer. I made dedicated reduced-height single hexes, with recessed instead of raised central hex areas, for Depth 1, 2, and 3 water.
And I have to echo Elbows; 1.5" or 2" hexes would be infinitely better for playing on, but of course increase the volume - a 2" hex would use 4 times the plastic as a 1.25" hex, even allowing both to be hollow inside.
The limiting factor is actually the build volume of my personal printer which I use for my prototypes (280mm diameter cylinder), and engineering concerns for the flow dynamics of injection molds. The more square inches the part footprint of a mold takes up, the more tons of injection pressure you need for a good injection stroke - about 3 to 5 tons per square inch. More tons equals more expense for an injector that can keep up. 1.5" or 2" hexes would start pushing the twelve hex field piece, which is the upper limiting factor, close to the size of an 8.5x11 piece of paper, and that's potentially in the neighborhood of needing a 500 ton press :o. I was planning on 20 tons, using a converted shop press and pneumatic bottle jack.
I'd originally envisioned this as a hybrid system that brought the aesthetic 3D appeal of hexless terrain maps to the original hex-based system, but if the demand is there for larger-format hexes... Well, shoot, cutting more geometry in 3dsmax doesn't cost me a thing except time. :)
Do you have any idea on the production cost per hex in terms of plastic consumption, not counting your time, or the electricity?
I can get a readout of how much filament material each part takes and the print time of each during gcode generation, but I'm not comfortable even brushing past the subject of cost or price given board rule 10. Sorry.
Also, PMing you a link - there are people out there kickstarting projects where the deliverables are .STL files, not actual product.
W.
Got it. Thanks! Will take a look in more detail. I'd have to think a bit about how to make a kickstarter work with my desire to always keep the STL files open source. I suppose beyond that, it'd need to be brainstormed in more depth on another site.