And then there were 3 ... (D)

Welcome to the Resin side Chris.

And now for a wee tip you were'nt probably expecting

Take a Filament printed model that is showing print lines.
On a well protected area, paint a thin coat of resin onto the filament model.
Let it drain well, and then expose it to UV light
You should have a smoothed out model that will easily sand smooth.

You can also mix the resin with Baby Talc to form a UV curable putty, usefull for both FDM and Resin models.

Both neat resin and the home made putty can be used as adhesive for glueing parts together, and the putty is sculptable.

For all of the above PPE MUST be worn, no part of the uncured resin is user friendly, especially the stuff disolved in water or IPA.

Imust admit I've hade the parts to rebuild my CTC 3D filament printer for a few years and still haven'y got round to it, I just find the resin printers another level up for quality. Build size is another matter tho'

Enjoy.

Paul

 

Hi Chris

On your USB stick provided with the Photon will be a file called R_E_R_F.pwmx (the extension varies depending on the printer).

This is the exposure test file, and you can use this to test any other resins. Word of warning you may find the lowest exposure sticks to the FEP rather than the build plate - no prizes for guessing how I know.

Generally I have stuck with the Anycubic resins, but have used Elegoo resin as well.
The clear resings don't need as long to cure, and the Black resin needed extra time.

The difference between the Mono X and original Photons are night and day from Chitubox

Mono X



Original Photon



I found the Elegoo Grey and Anycubic Grey to use the same settings.

For cleaning the FEP when this happens I use a 25mm bristle paint brush along with the IPA, jabbing the resin stuck on to the FEP from the side often frees off the resin.

My cleaning stuff gathered together

Note the gloves - my hands didn't like wearing Nitrile gloves to overcome this I use the next size up Nitrile gloves and cotton gloves as a liner. I also have cotton sleves that I use if a lot of printing needs doing.

I use 3 IPA baths

1st Bath - Wash Bath
Sistema container on Left approx 6 x 4.
After removing as much resin of the build plate back into the bath as possible, the remaining resin is rinsed off using the brush in this first bath.
Once rinsed down the prints are removed from the build plate ready for the next stage - note for small parts that will need to stay on the build plate for washing in the Anycubic Wash n Cure, I print these on the Photon rather than the Mono as I can rinse the Build plate in the Wash Bath or cheat and make sure the support rafts overlap to have several smaller parts on one base.
This is the dirtiest IPA, and is one step away from being scrap. After use the IPA is passed through a filter and in to the "Wash Bath" bottle, it will settle out. On next use decant the clear-ish IPA back into the wash tank and when the residue starts to come out, put that into your scrap bottle.

2nd Bath - Sistema Pickle Jar (right hand container)
Roughly fill 1/3rd full - I've had some larger part and had to fill it a bit higher.
Place the parts in, clip on the lid and give it a good work out.
Raise the internal drainer and allow to drain.

3rd Bath - Anycubic Wash and Cure.
Normally I'd only fill this to approx 1 litre, but some of my recent prints have had to go upto 3 litre.
Usually I give them a 6 min wash, then allow to dry on paper towels.

Why all this malarky - IPA aint cheap, and I use more IPA than Resin especially with big prints.

The cleanest IPA goes into the Wash n Cure, and tends to stay there until it starts to go cloudy, or I run out of IPA for the first two baths.

The wash n cure IPA is then transferred into a 5L bottle marked up as Pickle tank, and yes is used to fill up the pickle tank.

The IPA from the pickle tank gets transferred to the wash bath bottle (1L) when it becomes too cloudy.

And you've guessed it the wash bath IPA which quickly becomes too contaminated get put in the scrap bottle another 1L bottle.

Most recommendations for disposing of the IPA scrap, is either got to your recyling center, or place the IPA outside in a tray and allow the IPA to flash off and dispose of the cured residue in the household waste. Not realy an option for me as it will take too long to flash off, and we have a cat that like to sit on the window sills, and will knock off anything that takes his perch.
The solution I have come up with is to half fill a clear plastic disposable cup with scrap IPA and cure it in the Wash n Cure. It will form a gellatinous blob, puncture the top and drain out the liquid into another cup, then remove the jelly and dump in the bin. Repeat until I have got rid of my scrap IPA.

Sorry if I have waffled on too far, but hopefully some of it will be useful

Paul

 

Hi Andy

Your issue is down to supports and that you are printing paralell to the plate.



That is one seriously thick / solid model

Use the heavy supports and increase the density of the supports.

If you manually place the supports, then edit the supports you place on the bottom face

Increase the contact diameter and contact depth



This will mean you will need to cut these supports off, and they will mark the surface, but this is the underside of the wall so wont be seen.

Try removing these supports before curing.

Increasing the z height of the supports will give the supports more distance to create the base, middle and top sections.

these may also help





I bet you weren't expecting homework - distance learning how typical

Slow the lift speed and try raising the lift height 1 or 2 mm.

Angling the model 45 degrees would help

Paul

 

Ah that's nothing, when I worked in the wire and cable making department our reels started out as 2 Tonne coils of 5.5 mm dia steel rod, sorting one of them out when they were twisted was fun.


I have 2 Photons, the first one cost almost as much as the Mono X, and I still use them for smaller parts, while the larger parts tend to be done on the Mono X, I still drool over the Phenom etc with the 13" screen, and would go for the Mono version, but at £3K upwards, don't think it will happen too soon (I've just heard a muttering behind me sounded like not gonna happen).

There is a learning curve, but then that's half the fun.

Paul

 

Andy & Chris

Do you have the rear sensor enabled to detect the lid is present. On the Mono's this can be turned off - mine is set like that, the Photon is not that far advanced. Rather than pause a print, I just remove the lid and add extra resin while its printing. Also has the advantage of not having as much resin in the vat at the start.

On my latest version of the chassis print Ihave used predominately Heavy supports, with the stem size increased to 3mm dia, and the top contact size increased to 1mm. This will leave a mark, so will need cutting off, rather than just breaking off.



I'll find out how well it worked in roughly 3 hours

Paul

 

I keep thinking the learning curve is abit like Mount Everest worst face, it's the hobby that just keeps giving.

The print earlier failed

But I had reduced the bottom layer cure time from 40 to 20 sec, as I'd just watched a video saying that if your bottom layer cure time is greater than 5 or 6 time your normal cure time then you could be bamaging your screen.

Back at 40s again, also concerning is the supports that have failed on the left hand side, but then that could be a result of the right hand side flopping about.

Doing a print with both the parallel print and a 15 degree print.

Paul

 

Both of them worked

Checking them all of the supports appear to be connected

Paul