I have been trying out the Anycubic Photon Resin 3D Printer
The print quality is amazing, much better than an FDM printer.
It has a 2K screen and a rigid all meat case.
I am not interested in printing miniature figures but did a few to see the quality.
My use will be for patterns to make metal castings. As the surface finish is so good it will not need sanding or painting.
It has a 2K screen and a rigid all meat case.
I am not interested in printing miniature figures but did a few to see the quality.
My use will be for patterns to make metal castings. As the surface finish is so good it will not need sanding or painting.
It is not a messy as I expected and reported by others. Sure it is more difficult handling
liquid resin than a roll of filament but once I got used to it it's really no trouble at all.
If you are printing several models there is no need to empty the resin vat between prints.
I initially had problems getting the prints to stick to the build plate. The included test cube printed fine and looks amazing but by first attempts with my own designs ended with nothing on the build plate, the prints were on the PEP film.
This was solved by increasing the exposure time of the first layers, getting the bed Z setting correct and making sure the PEP film was tight enough.
Unless the print is paused it can be some time before you realise the print has failed as it cannot be seen until the plate rises high enough form the vat to view it.
It is a good idea to listen when the build plate rises for the first few layers. If a ping is heard it is a good sign. This is the cured resin sticking to the plate and releasing from the PEP film.
After printing, the parts need curing in UV light. I have been putting them in the sunshine for this but I have a design for a very cheap UV oven. Details to follow.
VIDEO
Today 20/09/2019 I have been trying some Anycubic plant based resin.
I was expecting the results to be not as good as the regular resin but they are equal.
Usually so called "safer" products have something missing that reduces their performance.
This resin is made from Soya and is biodegradable, safe to handle and does not smell. The prints can be washed with soapy water after printing instead of isopropyl alcohol.
Here are my top tips!
Get some descent heavy duty nitrile disposable gloves. The ones supplied were fine to
start with but I ripped them removing the from my big hands and fat fingers. The ones I bought are the type worn by tattoo artists, they are much stronger. If you wash the gloves whilst still on your hands with IPA they can be used many times.
I found 2 sheets of paper to level the build plate worked best for me. The paper I have is
80 gsm, 2 sheets together give a thickness of 0.2mm.
I increased the exposure time of the first layers in the slicer to 100 seconds and the off time to 6.5 seconds.
Listen for the ping as the the build plate rises on the first few layers, this indicates the print is sticking to the plate and not the PEP film.
Print the funnel for filtering the resin back to the bottle to save spilling.
Check the tightness of the PEP film before printing and adjust if necessary.
Further developments after 2 weeks with the printer.
After printing the rook several times suddenly the prints began to fail. The print was sticking to the build plate OK but only printing about 4mm of the model. There was a layer of cured resin stuck to the PEP film. I tried 3 times and got the same result every time.
Examining the film showed there was a deformed section in the centre.
I tried again, this time reslicing the model and positioning it not in the centre. It was now printing as normal.
This damage would have been done during my learning phase when I could not get anything to stick to the build plate. When this happens you get the print sticking to the film instead and removing it is what causes the damage by stretching it where the print is.
As mentioned above increasing the exposure time of the first layers was my solution.
There is spare film included with the printer and more can be bought.
My suggestion is do not always print in the same place to prolong the life of the film.
See the printer here: http://bit.ly/2kOHdwf
$10 off coupon code for Photon and Photon S: ACP2019
