Anycubic Photon and Mono X 3D DLP Printers

[Alan_LSWR]

On 14/06/2019 at 06:57, Charlie586 said:

Also, would a 40 ft (160mm) carriage body or even side fit diagonally on the bed?

 

Have a look at this thread by SkinnyLinny starting here https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/130588-great-southern-railway-fictitious-exploring-3d-printing-lswr-lavatory-tricomposite/&do=findComment&comment=3540954    where he has bought a Photon and begins to build a carriage.

[Charlie586]

6 hours ago, Alan_LSWR said:

 

Have a look at this thread by SkinnyLinny starting here https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/130588-great-southern-railway-fictitious-exploring-3d-printing-lswr-lavatory-tricomposite/&do=findComment&comment=3540954    where he has bought a Photon and begins to build a carriage.

Thanks Alan, I'll take a look.

I've decided to get one, if the smell/chemical disasters are too bad then I'll either resell it or give it to a relative to do the nasty bits and print me the occasional/often thing.

[Skinnylinny]

With the Photon, I have been able to print Stroudley (26 foot) carriage bodies in one piece. I would reckon on doing bogie coaches in at least two parts, and glueing them together. My next projects are some LSWR bogie carriages. I'm still figuring out the best orientation to print parts, to avoid support marks on visible surfaces while minimising warping/risk of parts not adhering to the print bed.

I can highly recommend joining the Facebook group "Anycubic Photon Printer Owners"  ( https://www.facebook.com/groups/AnycubicPhoton/ )if you're on Facebook - there is a very very active and helpful community there with a huge wealth of knowledge. If you have a question, someone will almost certainly have asked it before and had at least half a dozen replies!

Regarding the level of detail that can be produced with the Photon, I have been absolutely delighted - this wagon print is at 4mm scale, and the rivets and other details have come out beautifully, being drawn as 0.2mm diameter and 0.2mm depth.

 

 

The Stroudley full-brake carriage here has quite chunky (!) handrails (0.5mm) but I have seen these successfully printed (albeit slightly not-straight) at 0.3mm. The slight stepping at the bottom of the carriage side is due to the turnunder and the carriage being printed flat on the bed - had I printed at an angle it would likely not have occurred. I'm especially delighted with the solebar bolt-heads.

Edited June 16, 2019 by Skinnylinny

[njee20]

Edit: double post

Edited June 18, 2019 by njee20

[njee20]

On 13/06/2019 at 11:24, Alan_LSWR said:

The IPA used to clean is pretty vicious as well. I read about one person who spashed it on his trousers and didn't take immediate action and it badly damaged the skin on his legs. Some people use methated spirits. Take care.

Obviously i’d always counsel care when using any sort of chemical, but unless it’s not actually IPA that’s not a normal reaction. Contact will dry your skin out, but most people shouldn’t have any sort of reaction like that, particularly through clothing. I use 99% IPA frequently, including a wipe to get oil off my hands sometimes. It’s also good for removing stains from clothing. Meths is nastier IMO. 

 

The resin, however, sounds very unpleasant. 

[Alan_LSWR]

2 hours ago, Skinnylinny said:

The slight stepping at the bottom of the carriage side is due to the turnunder and the carriage being printed flat on the bed - had I printed at an angle it would likely not have occurred.

 

Great prints Skinnylinny. I for one will be interested in seeing a comparative print at an angle. I notice that on the curved wagon ends there is no stepping. Was that printed at an angle?

 

My own limited prints so far have shown no stepping on curves. I printed at the default 0.05mm layer but I've read of users printing OK at 0.025mm. Plus we now have the anti-alias firmware but logic tells me that anti-alias can only compensate for coarseness in the slicing software and not the physical finesse of the printer.

[Skinnylinny]

Thanks, Alan.

The wagon was printed on-the-level, with the bottom of the wagon facing the build plate. What you see there is a one-part print (although the ends now also have strapping and bolt detail).

The Stroudley full-brake is printed as a bodyshell and then axleguards, brakes, and buffers are added separately. I'll be doing another test print at an angle at some point soon, I reckon, and I'll put up photos on here.

[David Bigcheeseplant]

Well I have just ordered a printer, so now waiting for it to turn up! If I order some extra resin what is the best type and where is best to get it, also do I need anything else while I pop an order in?

 

David

[JohnGi]

On 16/06/2019 at 11:13, Alan_LSWR said:

Plus we now have the anti-alias firmware but logic tells me that anti-alias can only compensate for coarseness in the slicing software and not the physical finesse of the printer.

 

There is a good explanation of how anti-aliasing works in this thread on ngrm 

 

http://ngrm-online.com/forums/index.php?/topic/23532-anycubic-photon-users-group/&page=3

 

See post about half way down on page 3 by Mark Greenword (greenwoodma).

 

The video he links to is also very good.

 

John

[Ian Morgan]

4 hours ago, David Bigcheeseplant said:

Well I have just ordered a printer, so now waiting for it to turn up! If I order some extra resin what is the best type and where is best to get it, also do I need anything else while I pop an order in?

 

David

 

See page 1 of this very thread for a photo of ancillary bits and pieces suggested as being required. A good quality filter mask might also be a good idea.

 

[monkeysarefun]

Is Monocure resin available there? I've found it cheaper than Anycubic and just as good.

 

I'd be getting an extra couple of FEP sheets too, you get a spare one with the kit but its annoying if you damage one and have to wait to get another one delivered and it'll cost no more in P & P if bundled in with the printer.

[Alan_LSWR]

On 18/06/2019 at 07:39, David Bigcheeseplant said:

Well I have just ordered a printer, so now waiting for it to turn up! If I order some extra resin what is the best type and where is best to get it, also do I need anything else while I pop an order in? 

 

David. See my attached costings s/s.   This is for the AnyCubic and all the accessories/PPE and a home made curing box with turntable -  a UV nail varnish machine will be cheaper. S/s includes URLs, mostly to ebay.

3D System Specification with Costs ex Fume Box.xlsx

Edited June 19, 2019 by Alan_LSWR
Updated s/s with respirator

[john new]

On 03/03/2019 at 19:42, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

It really does change model making remarkably, especially when teamed with other new technologies.

 

For example, here is a Turkish howitzer in my local park.

 

I walked around it taking 23 photos of it, about 3 minutes work, Then imported those into 3dFlow, which is a photogrammetry package with about a 20 minute learning curve. The free version is all thats needed here.

 

 After about 20 minutes  of processing time the file was ready to convert to an .stl, then sent off to the photon slicer and printer so now I can have as many as a like, at any scale and the whole process I didn't touch any tool other than a camera, laptop and 3Dprinter...

 

 

Apologies if this is a slight thread drift. Follow up regarding your mention of 3DFlow. My brother in law has a 3D printer (filament type). I have a loco part for one of my old Tri-ang locos it would be very handy to have reproduced on a 3D printer. The reason is that although I have obtained a 2nd hand replacement in complete condition it is as likely to break long-term as the original one did for exactly the same reasons, wear, age and stress across the narrowest element. 

 

Reading the above post it reads as if all (and that's obviously highly subjective) that is needed is the free version of 3DFlow, several photographs of the part, and it will then generate the necessary file I can send off to Chris, my B-I-L, for printing. 

 

Is that a correct summary or have I missed something? I will be comfortable working with, and learning, new software but working from scratch/blank sheet with attempting the job in a native 3D CAD package probably a learning curve too far. I have used CAD before but only on 2D drawn files and not for many years.

Edited June 19, 2019 by john new
Grammar correction

[monkeysarefun]

3 hours ago, john new said:

 

Apologies if this is a slight thread drift. Follow up regarding your mention of 3DFlow. My brother in law has a 3D printer (filament type). I have a loco part for one of my old Tri-ang locos it would be very handy to have reproduced on a 3D printer. The reason is that although I have obtained a 2nd hand replacement in complete condition it is as likely to break long-term as the original one did for exactly the same reasons, wear, age and stress across the narrowest element. 

 

Reading the above post it reads as if all (and that's obviously highly subjective) that is needed is the free version of 3DFlow, several photographs of the part, and it will then generate the necessary file I can send off to Chris, my B-I-L, for printing. 

 

Is that a correct summary or have I missed something? I will be comfortable working with, and learning, new software but working from scratch/blank sheet with attempting the job in a native 3D CAD package probably a learning curve too far. I have used CAD before but only on 2D drawn files and not for many years.

 

Broadly yes, bit there are a heap of caveats... Firstly the smallest item I've ever done is small garden gnome size - around a foot high. I don't know how successful it would be on tiny objects. Its worth a try though, if you have a camera that can get detailed enough close ups - an iphone etc isn't going to cut it due to the small sensor.

I've not had  much luck mounting the camera in one spot and rotating the object, it seems to rely upon the background to position the object in space so maybe mount it on a piece of wire stuck in blutack or similar in a place where you can walk around it and get clear shots. It DOES take practice before you get a photoset that works well but the software is free and all you've spent is your time.

 

If it is successful and you work through the process you end up with a textured mesh that you can export as an .obj file.  3dflow has no idea of the scale of the item so you'll need something like Flashprint (which is free and the one I use).  There are tutorials on youtube for this (and for 3dflow) but it is a simple package to use for what we are doing. Flashprint will import the object and give it a size, which might be 2mm or 1000m, its pretty random. There is a scale option so here you make it the correct size. When you are happy with the size save it as an .stl which is the format that most 3D slicing software packages will recognise. Your B.I.L should be able to create the file from the .stl that his printer can print.

 

Thats a pretty quick rundown, and like I said I've not tried tiny things so I can't say for sure if you'll have any luck but you might as well have a go. Let me know if you need any further info or clarification.

 

Meanwhile I've been honing my skills using monumental masonry and I am starting to have the basis of a weirdar5e gothic style chess set or something.

 

 

 

Edited June 19, 2019 by monkeysarefun

[john new]

Thanks for the feedback. As you say it is free so worth a go anyway.

[David Bigcheeseplant]

7 hours ago, Alan_LSWR said:

 

David. See my attached costings 3D System Specification with Costs ex Fume Box.xlsxs/s.  This is for the AnyCubic and all the accessories/PPE and a home made curing box with turntable -  a UV nail varnish machine will be cheaper. S/s includes URLs, mostly to ebay.

Many thanks.

 

Is there variations in the resin as in do some produce a more harder or brittle finish, can any make of resin be used?

[Alan_LSWR]

4 hours ago, David Bigcheeseplant said:

Many thanks.

 

Is there variations in the resin as in do some produce a more harder or brittle finish, can any make of resin be used?

 

In short yes but I've yet to use another make as I thought I should stick to the manufacturer's stuff initially in case I made a claim. There's a s/s here of people's experiences: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1crvzMnt_8NJXAsABinoIhcOjE8l3h7s0L82Zlh1vkL8/edit#gid=0

 

PS I updated my earlier s/s to include the respirator (originally it was under the fume/containment box that I did not include costing for).

Edited June 19, 2019 by Alan_LSWR

[monkeysarefun]

20 hours ago, David Bigcheeseplant said:

Many thanks.

 

Is there variations in the resin as in do some produce a more harder or brittle finish, can any make of resin be used?

 

I use Monocure rapid now, its cheaper than the Ancubic resin down here. I bought a bottle of their flexible resin, can be used solely, to produce a near rubber like object or mixed in varying proportions with standard resin to make items less brittle..

 

 

[AdeMoore]

On 19/06/2019 at 13:58, monkeysarefun said:

 

Broadly yes, bit there are a heap of caveats... Firstly the smallest item I've ever done is small garden gnome size - around a foot high. I don't know how successful it would be on tiny objects. Its worth a try though, if you have a camera that can get detailed enough close ups - an iphone etc isn't going to cut it due to the small sensor.

 

 

 

Ah glad the question was asked I was going to run off and do a coal wagon that sits close to work with my iPhone.

Glad I didn’t waste my time doing that. The additional software you need for scaling to was another gem that I wouldn’t have known about, thanks for sharing.

 Cheers 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/145232-3dflow-and-the-anycubic-photon-3d-dlp-printer/

 

[monkeysarefun]

17 minutes ago, AdeMoore said:

Ah glad the question was asked I was going to run off and do a coal wagon that sits close to work with my iPhone.

Glad I didn’t waste my time doing that. The additional software you need for scaling to was another gem that I wouldn’t have known about, thanks for sharing.

 Cheers 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/145232-3dflow-and-the-anycubic-photon-3d-dlp-printer/

 

Also shiny things - reflections confuse it too much. So your new car won't work..

[MikeTrice]

Thought I would download and install the antialiasing firmway to try it out and cannot find it on the Anycubic site.

[Trofimow]

https://www.anycubic.com/collections/anycubic-photon-3d-printers/products/anycubic-photon-3d-printer?variant=28767658442812

 

Download the 4.2.17 beta firmware

[MikeTrice]

Thanks for that. They appear to have moved things around on the Anycubic site so I could not find them. Previous links just gave a 404 error. Your URL did however let me get the download which I have installed and after relevelling the machine am now printing my first print with anti-aliasing (hopefully).

[MikeTrice]

Something I have wanted to do, more as a challenge, was to attempt modelling a locomotive chimney and dome. A number of early models cry out for decent chimneys/domes of the correct profile not least of all the old Lima LNER J50. Dave Sutton (Chris P Bacon) of this parish has produced an etched chassis for the J50 so a decent chassis is possible. Why bother when there is a good Hornby model available? Basically I have a couple of these Lima models tucked away for a rainy day so why not?

 

Here the original Lima body has had various lumps removed in preparation:

 

The mouldings printed on the Photon:

 

Not shown in the above are the mouldings for the tank fillers as I forgot to include them.

 

The two footplate halves are glued to the boiler bottom:

 

Here is the body with the new mouldings in place:

 

 

And compared to an original body:

 

So that is as far as I have got. Common sense tells me that I need to do a replacement front step and sandbox but that is probably all.

 

After priming, a great improvement:

 

 

 

 

Edited July 7, 2019 by MikeTrice

[MikeTrice]

Sometimes more can be learnt by what goes wrong rather than what goes right. Take this early attempt at the footplate:

 

Two things have happened here. First the cleaning solution really needed freshening and it was too saturated with resin, secondly it was taken out in the early afternoon during a very hot period of the day with strong natural UV light being present resulting in the unwashed resin curing almost immediately.