Anycubic Photon and Mono X 3D DLP Printers

[Knuckles]

Try 3D Hubs if you want, some prick stole a 3D mesh off me and gave me a load of gob when I challenged him, managment wouldn't help bevause they were protecting him under the 'confidential' clause bollo cks

 

1st and only involvement with the place.   Of course others have positive experiences.

[Mark]

On 22/10/2019 at 06:56, Mark said:

I use Rhino 3D for my cadds models. The basic structure was created as a solid shell 0.6 mm smaller on each side to allow the bricks to be booleaned on afterwards with a 0.3 mm overhang to allow some depth between bricks for mortar. I did an experiment using 0.15 mm deep on a chimney stack first in the picture below.

 

unfortunately the brickwork is English bond and close examination of the building has required a lot of effort to position bricks to obtain the right position of openings. This means that layers which are predominantly stretchers have the occasional header along the length. I don’t think this can be automated. 
 

i have also started to paint the main structure now.
 

 

Regards

 

Mark Humphrys

The brickwork is painted and I had added some etched parts. Still more work to do.

Mark

[FoxUnpopuli]

Alright, now that's good.

 

How many hours of painting alone are in that?

 

[paul9415]

On 16/06/2019 at 19:35, Skinnylinny said:

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.

Wonderful work ,do you have the wagons available  for  sale or is possible to obtain a copy of the stl?

[Skinnylinny]

2 hours ago, paul9415 said:

Wonderful work ,do you have the wagons available  for  sale or is possible to obtain a copy of the stl?

Hi Paul,

Thank you! I'm currently re-drawing the SER wagon to make it easier to assemble (separate solebars, so that you don't have to spring the axleguards apart to fit the wheels - this was a cause of several breakages). I'm currently also working on a LSWR cattle wagon. I'll drop you a private message about STLs.

 

The aim is for the grey bars to be 0.35 or 0.4mm wire, as I think that printing them would be well beyond the limits of the printer!

Edited January 20, 2020 by Skinnylinny

[Skinnylinny]

And finally got the printer set up after the house move. First test print is looking promising! Still much detail still to be added yet, and I need to look at the bottom planks of the sides - there should be support bars there which I haven't drawn in yet. Also re-considering how I'm going to do the bufferbeams and solebars, possibly as an L-shaped unit.

 

[MikeTrice]

Continuing the saga of my attempt to print a 4mm LNER V2 body the latest print hadf some problems most noticable being the distortion over the cab. Also visible are stripes over the firebox:

 

The large stripe over the cab happens to coinside with the rear boiler backhead and turning the print over, there is very marked bowing due to lack of supports in this area:

 

So, hopefully that problem can be resolved however that does not explain the other marks such as the one on the front of the smokebox:

 

First off let me say here that these are not very visible to the naked eye (perhaps my eyesight is not as good as it was) but are more apparent under magnification. The most likely cause of these are z-axis wobble. Now I could strip the machine down and adjust the z-axis carrier to tighten it up somewhat however decided to bit the bullet and look into a 3rd party alternative. Enter Jackson Products (

https://jacksonproducts.net/shop?olsPage=products%2Ftwin-rail-z-slide-upgrade-for-standard-anycubic-

photon-3d-resin-dlp-lcd-printer).

 

I ordered their replacement z-axis slide assembly last Thursday and the parts arrived today (Wednesday) comprising the main assembly, an anti-backlash follower and a small vial of grease:

 

Shortly after ordering the z-axis assembly I discovered they also did an alternative build plate levelling device (

https://jacksonproducts.net/shop?olsPage=products%2Fz-level-build-plate-levelling-locking-device-for-

anycubic-photon-photon-s) which I added to the order:

 

As can be seen the new z-axis assembly is considerably wider than the original so (hopefully) will be less susceptable to wobble:

 

The quality of these part is superb and it was a real joy to assemble them today:

 

 

Of course the proof of whether it makes a difference, or not, depends on a comparative print which unfortunately will take me a few days to produce as I have some tweaks to make to the model.

 

Watch this space.

[Mark]

4 minutes ago, MikeTrice said:

Continuing the saga of my attempt to print a 4mm LNER V2 body the latest print hadf some problems most noticable being the distortion over the cab. Also visible are stripes over the firebox:

 

The large stripe over the cab happens to coinside with the rear boiler backhead and turning the print over, there is very marked bowing due to lack of supports in this area:

 

So, hopefully that problem can be resolved however that does not explain the other marks such as the one on the front of the smokebox:

 

First off let me say here that these are not very visible to the naked eye (perhaps my eyesight is not as good as it was) but are more apparent under magnification. The most likely cause of these are z-axis wobble. Now I could strip the machine down and adjust the z-axis carrier to tighten it up somewhat however decided to bit the bullet and look into a 3rd party alternative. Enter Jackson Products (

https://jacksonproducts.net/shop?olsPage=products%2Ftwin-rail-z-slide-upgrade-for-standard-anycubic-

photon-3d-resin-dlp-lcd-printer).

 

I ordered their replacement z-axis slide assembly last Thursday and the parts arrived today (Wednesday) comprising the main assembly, an anti-backlash follower and a small vial of grease:

 

Shortly after ordering the z-axis assembly I discovered they also did an alternative build plate levelling device (

https://jacksonproducts.net/shop?olsPage=products%2Fz-level-build-plate-levelling-locking-device-for-

anycubic-photon-photon-s) which I added to the order:

 

As can be seen the new z-axis assembly is considerably wider than the original so (hopefully) will be less susceptable to wobble:

 

The quality of these part is superb and it was a real joy to assemble them today:

 

 

Of course the proof of whether it makes a difference, or not, depends on a comparative print which unfortunately will take me a few days to produce as I have some tweaks to make to the model.

 

Watch this space.

I had a go at printing a boiler last year and also got a step at the front of the smokebox which coincided with the front wall. I had modelled it as a simple cylinder and the end walls had sharp internal corners. I found the solution was to put a generous fillet on the inside. I think what was happening was the step change in section was causing slight distortion when lifting off the FEP so the fillet introduced a gradual transition.

 

Mark

[Kelly]

On 23/01/2020 at 15:20, Skinnylinny said:

And finally got the printer set up after the house move. First test print is looking promising! Still much detail still to be added yet, and I need to look at the bottom planks of the sides - there should be support bars there which I haven't drawn in yet. Also re-considering how I'm going to do the bufferbeams and solebars, possibly as an L-shaped unit.

 

 

 

That is looking rather good. Though with the support structure it looks a little reminiscent of the Luggage from Discworld.

[The Great Bear]

1 hour ago, Mark said:

I had a go at printing a boiler last year and also got a step at the front of the smokebox which coincided with the front wall. I had modelled it as a simple cylinder and the end walls had sharp internal corners. I found the solution was to put a generous fillet on the inside. I think what was happening was the step change in section was causing slight distortion when lifting off the FEP so the fillet introduced a gradual transition.

 

Mark

 

Some guidance on things like this here, albeit mainly for functional parts not scale models: https://ameralabs.com/blog/3d-design-parts-sla-3d-printing/

 

Also I've read on Phrozen facebook page that slowing down the print, in particular the speed the plate lifts off the fep can help resolve  some distortion/banding issues, reducing the forces. Still experimenting with this on my own prints.

 

Edited January 29, 2020 by The Great Bear

[njee20]

I installed the z-axis upgrade, and whilst it’s not been transformative it has definitely helped with those ‘banding’ lines. 

[Skinnylinny]

13 hours ago, Kelly said:

 

That is looking rather good. Though with the support structure it looks a little reminiscent of the Luggage from Discworld.

A bit off-topic, but I had my own Luggage moment last weekend.

I was travelling from Partick (West of central Glasgow) back home to Edinburgh. I caught a train to Glasgow Queen Street, where I changed onto a fast Edinburgh service. On arrival at Edinburgh, I realised to my horror that I had left my suitcase somewhere en route. A quick check of the Real Time Trains website told me that the train I had caught from Partick to Queen Street was actually a stopping service... to Edinburgh! So I wandered over to the platform to meet it, explained my situation to the amused barrier staff, and hopped on the train when it arrived. There was my case, still in the overhead luggage rack. 

Truly a case of my luggage finding its own way home!

[paul9415]

On 23/01/2020 at 15:20, Skinnylinny said:

And finally got the printer set up after the house move. First test print is looking promising! Still much detail still to be added yet, and I need to look at the bottom planks of the sides - there should be support bars there which I haven't drawn in yet. Also re-considering how I'm going to do the bufferbeams and solebars, possibly as an L-shaped unit.

 

Hi there , wonderful work on the cattle wagon. couple of questions - how do you create the planking lines- is simply a matter of using a line on your drawing   & how do you  insert wheels- do you drill out the back of the axleboxes, glue in brass bearings  & then attach  the solebar/ axle box to the underside of the body  & then the corresponding one, much as you would do with  a plastic kit? 

[Skinnylinny]

Thank you! The planking lines are drawn by drawing two lines 0.2mm apart where I want the planking line, then recessing that by 0.2mm. Effectively this creates an engraved line. The axleboxes have holes in already, ready for brass bearings. so that you can insert bearings, insert the wheels then glue the two solebars to the floor.

[monkeysarefun]

Got my second  LCD screen failure - had a failed print and just  a pale mauve glow when doing the LCD test to see what went wrong .

 

Was ok when I used it last, but between then and now there were a couple of days of 45C + temps, making it closer to 50C in the tin shed, maybe that killed it.

 

I've ordered 2 this time...

[JSModels]

I've been thinking about getting one of these for a couple of years now, and nearly bought one just before Christmas as they seemed to be on a very good offer. The only thing that's causing me to hold back is that I'd like to see one in the flesh, and talk in person to someone who's had good results with one.

 

Is there anyone in the Keighley/Bradford area who owns one who'd be willing to have me visit and chat to them about it, and maybe print a couple of files for me to see the results (in exchange for beer tokens, of course)?

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Jonathan

[Paul_sterling]

Hi Folks, 

 

I wasn't going to bother people on here, but I'm after some advice with this printer. I've recently got the Photon S, and after two weeks of printing, I still don't have what I would call a satisfactory print. I've followed guidance from one of the Photon Groups on Facebook (being careful to distil the info between those posting about the Photon and the Photon S), and i'm still finding relatively dissapointing prints, where I cannot get clear detail, as reducing the exposure is increasing warp, and increasing exposure is causing the parts to be oversize. Its literally down to a window of a second or two, and at either end of the window I seem to be getting extremes of the effects. 

 

I noted the comments in this thread about the parts growing by around 0.1mm on the ends of surfaces, but the S anti-aliasing software is supposed to resolve for that (?), and its not 0.1mm, its more like 1mm. 

 

Specs,

 

Anycubic Photon S

 

Elegoo Mars ABS-like Grey Resin.

 

Slicer- Chitubox (medium supports, using the auto function, with some removed/replaced with better cantilvers

 

Layer height 0.02mm

 

Bottom layer count 10mm

 

Exposure time 8.25s (m/c rounds to 8.3)

 

Bottom Exposure 50s

 

Light-off delay 6.5s

 

Bottom light-off delay 0s

 

I've run an exposure test, and although rather subjective, it indicated an exposure time of around 6s. 

 

The last two prints were as follows. The diesel shunter (see attached pics), 6.5s exposure printed at an angle (nose end up) at 30 degrees, the surfaces and detail were pretty good, but it was parallelogram-ed, leaning back towards the cab. The following print, I put two of the shunters on, one flat in its "normal" orientation, and the other with it stood up on the back of the cab, 8.25s exposure, see IMG_1005 (specs as above, as they were from a directly comparable printer and material. As you can see from 1002 and 1004, the two engines are very different dimension-ally, and weren't meant to be. Each is out in a variety of directions/dimensions, but anywhere from 1 to 2mm, in either length, width or height.

 

So I'm just wondering if anyone has any guidance, as to where I'm going wrong, as these prints and the printer itself aren't of any use to me if they can't print anywhere near remotely accurately. 

 

Thanks. Paul. 

Edited February 21, 2020 by Paul_sterling

[MikeTrice]

Paul, all very odd. I don't have an "S" so do not have first hand experience of the machine, nor have I ever used that specific resin however I would not have thought it different from the standard Photon and Anycubic resin regarding sizing.

 

As I have discovered in the past and have reported here there can be a degree of expansion of a moulding which in my case is around 0.2 in each dimension. This is caused by the UV light leeking through the resin effectively hardening adjacent pixels to those intended. Reducing exposure times minimises this, increasing exposure times makes it worse.

 

Having said that I seriously doubt it would have the sort of impact you are getting. Is the dimensional distortion in one axis only? For example if the distortion is always in the "z" axis it might be that the stepping is not the dimension you think it is. Is the FEP correctly tensioned?

[MikeTrice]

Following up my earlier photos of the LNER V2 body I have been working on, it has gone through yet another iteration and now looks like this:

 

I have deliberately uploaded a large image so the print quality can be seen (RMWeb seems to have reduced the image size which has foxed me). The z-axis upgrade has smoothed print considerably however I am still getting some odd grooves in the firebox/cab area along the z-axis. Since the print was made I have replaced the FEP which might have an impact. There are still a few tweaks that could be done to the model including additional support to stop the distortion of the side cab windows but overall really happy with this.

Edited February 24, 2020 by MikeTrice

[Paul_sterling]

1 minute ago, MikeTrice said:

Paul, all very odd. I don't have an "S" so do not have first hand experience of the machine, nor have I ever used that specific resin however I would not have thought it different from the standard Photon and Anycubic resin regarding sizing.

 

As I have discovered in the past and have reported here there can be a degree of expansion of a moulding which in my case is around 0.2 in each dimension. This is caused by the UV light leeking through the resin effectively hardening adjacent pixels to those intended. Reducing exposure times minimises this, increasing exposure times makes it worse.

 

Having said that I seriously doubt it would have the sort of impact you are getting. Is the dimensional distortion in one axis only? For example if the distortion is always in the "z" axis it might be that the stepping is not the dimension you think it is. Is the FEP correctly tensioned?

 

Thanks Mike, 

 

They are very similar the Photon to the Photon S, but the latter has a different light source which needs less exposure time, and a twin rail system by default. 

 

I've now printed 3 50x10x5mm bars, straight onto the bed (i..e no supports) to get some dimensional comparison. Anycubic notes in the manual that sometimes (rare) the bed size needs to be tuned, so printed them for X and Y direction comparison, and a 45 degree one (I'll host a pic shortly a the pic will be a better explanation. 

 

Once the 0.1mm edge expansion measurement was removed from each end, it worked out that X and Y were both 5.5% out, so I adjusted the bed size on Chitubox, and retried. 

 

Unfortunately I adjusted the wrong way (it isn't all that intuitive) and they were hence 10% longer, so I've now corrected my error, and its printing the new parts now. 

 

Once X and Y are good, I'll set up Z. Much like my FDM printer I believe the rules are that you must get X and Y right for calibration before setting Z axis. 

 

I'll report back after that, but hopefully this will at least remove one issue. 

 

Cheers. Paul. 

[MikeTrice]

Paul, sounds as if you are making progress. I was lucky and have not had these problems with my Photon.

[davidw]

3 minutes ago, MikeTrice said:

Following up my earlier photos of the LNER V2 body I have been working on, it has gone through yet another iteration and now looks like this:

 

I have deliberately uploaded a large image so the print quality can be seen (RMWeb seems to have reduced the image size which has foxed me). The z-axis upgrade has smoothed print considerably however I am still getting some odd grooves in the firebox/cab area along the z-axis. Since the print was made I have replaced the FEP which might have an impact. There are still a few tweaks that could be done to the model including additional support to stop the distortion of the side cab windows but overall really happy with this.

It really looks very promising. 

[FoxUnpopuli]

15 minutes ago, davidw said:

It really looks very promising. 

 

Agreed, it's a good looking model - well done & keep going!

[Pete the Elaner]

I've just got into 3D printing by buying one of these. I have a few things to get going with:

 

Window frames for buildings - I have not been very successful making these from plasticard & I an copying real buildings so generic ones from the likes of Peco & Will just won't do. I figured these would be simple items with which I can learn how to use the CAD & printing software.

Platform lamps from the 1970s & 1980s. I have never found these commercially available. I will also try casting them in clear resin so I can light them from beneath.

Steam pipes for LMS 6170 British Legion.

Conversion parts to make a Turbomotive from a Princess.

[Paul_sterling]

50 minutes ago, MikeTrice said:

Paul, sounds as if you are making progress. I was lucky and have not had these problems with my Photon.

Thanks Mike, I would be very interested to get your insights into support structure and angles etc, please, as I've not found a completely happy medium as yet. 

 

Thanks, Paul.