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Anycubic Photon and Mono X 3D DLP Printers


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I can thoroughly recommend this stuff if you want an alternative to IPA

 

https://monocure3d.com.au/product-category/resinaway-cleaner/

 

With IPA having gone up in price, difficult to get and long delivery times from most places, I thought I'd give it a try and it's a revelation! No stench, no traces of uncured resin seeping out after you think you've finished, no post wash tack to the prints. It also seems to remain effective longer than IPA. 

 

I tried the 0.5L sampler and ended up ordering 2L more I was that impressed with it. Not the cheapest but certainly the most effective cleaning medium I've used so far. 

 

Tom. 

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12 hours ago, TomE said:

I can thoroughly recommend this stuff if you want an alternative to IPA

https://monocure3d.com.au/product-category/resinaway-cleaner/

Tom. 

Thanks for mentioning that Tom.  I did a quick google for a UK stockist. Amazon UK list it as currently unavailable. I found a Dutch site https://www.fepshop.com/shop/accessories/cleaning/monocure-3d-resinaway/   but couldn't see delivery prices - only they use DHL.

 

Then I found this Photocentric Resin Cleaner with an almost identical claims and it comes in 1L at £24 inc. vat and shipping at £7 or £8.   https://3dgbire.com/products/photocentric-resin-cleaner-1lr?variant=12832668287029   Next size up id 5L at £114 and probably no free delivery as ex vat is under £100.

 

They state "You can also use Photocentric Resin Cleaner in an ultrasonic cleaner to increase its lifetime for multiple uses without the need for filtering or refilling" which is a useful attribute.

 

This stuff might be easier to dispose of as well ----- no! Just read H&S data sheet and it says "Transfer to a suitable container and arrange for collection by specialised disposal company". I guess maybe the same for IPA. So far I've left used IPA to evaporate outdoor but it takes ages.

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Delivery from FEP shop was about 9 Euros. I’ve ordered several times from them and their service is excellent. 
 

I believe Resinaway evaporates, although I haven’t needed to dispose of any yet and unlike IPA it’s not flammable so can also be used in an ultrasonic cleaner. 
 

Tom. 

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I'm lucky to have a significant supply of IPA, but that does sound very good. Biggest improvement I've found is rinsing in two different IPA washes. I'm too tight to throw away the IPA after each rinse, but do find it degrades very quickly once you've rinsed a few models.

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Got some of that a month or so back - along with a cheap ultrasonic cleaner to use it with. It definitely has more re-useability than IPA - I'd say the half a litre I've used so far is the equivalent of at least 4  litres of IPA and the prints come out non-tacky and clean.

 

As a personal bonus to me only, their factory is about a 20 minute drive from my work so I can pick it up for nix..

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Wow, that's impressive. Now it's sunnier here I've found just leaving IPA in a clear container in a sunny place means you can easily filter it at re-use it. I'm sure if I "cured" it via UV lamp that would also work, but is obviously something I'd actively have to do.

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  • 4 weeks later...

We use Meths (2 Form 2 and 1 Form 3 printers on the go constantly). We pay £13.54 ex VAT per 5 L collected from Mole Valley Farmers, (other Agricultural suppliers are available). http://www.molevalleyfarmers.com/search/go?w=methylated+spirit

We use a 2 stage wash and filter resin from the final rinse to re-use in the first rinse process. Curing by UV heated chamber.

Regards Maurice

Osborns Models ltd.

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  • 3 weeks later...

It is a long time since I posted anything constructive on this topic so time for an update.

 

Some of you might have noticed that I have sort of volunteered to print some LNER v2 loco bodies as replacement for the original Bachmann body. Not the ideal time to take this on as certain materials seem to be in short supply at the moment.

 

To date my preferred resin is that made by Anycubic. Due to shortages I was forced into buying a couple of litres of Elegoo ABS-Like resin instead. I cannot in all honesty say I liked it and with some Anycubic ones coming back into supply have reverted back to them. So what didn't I like? Well it printed Ok but is a bit on the thin side. When printing large jobs the resin would separate out from the pigment and printed items, even after post curing remain slightly tacky to the touch. The Anycubic on the other hand changes colour slightly on curing giving a visual clue to its cured state.

 

Both the Anycubic and Elegoo resins are a bit on the brittle side if dropped so I investigated the option of adding a proportion of Monocure Flex100 which was bought at great expense from France. In fairness the seller in France did a good job of getting it to me and I don't think was any dearer than anyone else. I tried two mixes, 1 part Flex to 9 parts Anucubic and 1 part flex to 4 parts Anycubic. The new mix tended to need longer exposure settings but I managed to print several test pieces. Now the Anycubic resin is quite stable and when printing the front half of the V2 body they come out very well however when the Flex100 is added the body warped dramatically which I am hoping will be visible in the following image over the straight part of the boiler:

IMG_3106.JPG.f26679b239f1b59503dbbfb6a1c6d5d2.JPG

 

Warping aside I did not find any improvement in the print's brittleness and have now given up trying to use the Flex100 for the time being. Once some of the tough resins reappear in stock I might try them.

 

Reading various online forums regarding the various exposure setting I thought I would try to change the vertical lift speed from its default of 65mm/minute to 50mm/minute. This controls the speed that the print is lifted from the FEP so reducing it to 50 is less traumatic and is supposed to improve print quality. It certainly looks to be the case and I have now set it to 50 for all my prints. I have also read that a 0.035 layer height is not natural for the Photon so have recently adopted 0.04 with a 12sec exposure and I really cannot see the difference.

 

The second game changer I read about related to the removal of supports. Now so far I had taken a freshly washed print from the machine and before post curing used a sharp scalpel to cut away the supports, a very tedious process. Various people reported that the easy way to deal with the supports was to plunge the print with its supports in very hot water and just pull them away with minimum marks from the attachment points. Well I can report that it works very well and it has simplified my post print process considerably.

 

I was starting to get some odd artifacts on my prints and some parts were not printing correctly. The problem seemed to be on tall items after they had been printing for some hours. I was also getting some deposits left on the FEP which did not make sense. A failed print looked like this:

IMG_3103.JPG.2a16ec9521c5c3354e7279b920733bc9.JPG

 

How I resolved this I will leave until later.

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Continuing from my previous post a very slight diversion.

 

I had never really considered exactly how the Photon and other machines worked. I knew the basic components but not how they worked together.

 

At the base there is an array of 4 UV emitting LEDS which direct UV light upwards. There is then an LCD screen which functions as a mask permitting the required shapes of resin to be cured. The UV LEDS generate an amount of heat which over time degrade the LCD screen to the point of failure. Anycubic consider the LCD to be one of the consumables for the machine along with the FEP and resin. When testing the LCD screen things appeared to be OK however I deduced that the location where the print failures occured could be due to the LCD screen overheating.

 

People have reported various lifetimes for their LCD screens with 6 months being quite common. I bought my machine in January 2019 and since then have got through 10.5 ltrs of resin and periods when the machine was running 24/7.

 

Knowing I had this batch of V2 bodies to print I thought it would be wise to get a spare LCD screen and FEP sheets a few weeks ago just to play safe so on Saturday I decided to take the gamble and replace my screen with the new one and did the FEP at the same time.

 

As mentioned previously there seems to be a general shortage of spares and resin at the moment. A lot of the components in the Photon are the same as corresponding components in the Elegoo Mars and are often cheaper so having seen an LCD screen for the Mars advertised as also being suitable for the Photon, did some investigation, and bought an Elegoo one. Likewise it was Elegoo Mars FEP sheets I bought. Both components were considerably cheaper than the Anycubic versions and at the time the Anycubic ones were out of stock anyway. I spent a lot of time researching how to fit the Mars screen to the Photon. The screen designs have changed and now both manufacturers supply the basic screen with an interface adaptor for the earlier printers. Failing to fit the adaptor could result in damage to the new screen and the Motherboard. Having watched both manufacturer's how to videos I set about the replacement managing to lever out the old screen with a wallpaper scraper. It went without a hitch and after replacing the FEP and relevelling the build plate I was back in business. So I though I would get some more Elegoo screens to replenish my spares cupboard only to find they are now also out of stock :(

 

One difference between the two manufacturer's products is the Mars version comes with all the replacement tapes needed. I think for the Anycubic you need to source these separately.

 

One other change I made whilst doing all this was to place some Kapton tape around the edge of the new screen so that in the event of a resin spill it would not seep into the internal workings of the machine.

 

I went on to do a small print with the refurbished machine to check all was well. Perfect. Reprinting the troublesome part and normal printing seems to have been restored so I am once again a happy bunny especially if I manage to source further replacement screens as spares.

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I've gone through 3 LCD screens in my Photon. The latest problem is  I'm just getting a faint glow from the screen. The LED's still light up but replacing the LCD  yet again didnt fix it so I'm thinking its probably  a motherboard issue.

 

At $158 for a new one, and the fact that I've got a working Mars as well as a Saturn due in September means that I'm unlikely to spend the money on it in the foreseeable future.

 

Its a pity,  it was a great machine that got me off and running into the world of  3D printing.

 

Edited by monkeysarefun
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  • 3 weeks later...
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On 06/07/2020 at 11:12, MikeTrice said:

The replacement Anycubic screens seem to be back in stock @ £68.99. I only paid £24.99 for the Elegoo one!

They're the same thing, just use the Elegoo branded one! I put a generic Anycubic screen in my Photon and it cooked the mainboard. Quite a few reports of similar happening. Anycubic sent a new one, but still... I've just used Elegoo screens since. The newer Mars don't need a 90 degree connector, but do include one (I think, I've not changed my Photon screen for a while!).

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On 06/07/2020 at 01:44, MikeTrice said:

It is a long time since I posted anything constructive on this topic so time for an update.

 

Some of you might have noticed that I have sort of volunteered to print some LNER v2 loco bodies as replacement for the original Bachmann body. Not the ideal time to take this on as certain materials seem to be in short supply at the moment.

 

To date my preferred resin is that made by Anycubic. Due to shortages I was forced into buying a couple of litres of Elegoo ABS-Like resin instead. I cannot in all honesty say I liked it and with some Anycubic ones coming back into supply have reverted back to them. So what didn't I like? Well it printed Ok but is a bit on the thin side. When printing large jobs the resin would separate out from the pigment and printed items, even after post curing remain slightly tacky to the touch. The Anycubic on the other hand changes colour slightly on curing giving a visual clue to its cured state.

 

Both the Anycubic and Elegoo resins are a bit on the brittle side if dropped so I investigated the option of adding a proportion of Monocure Flex100 which was bought at great expense from France. In fairness the seller in France did a good job of getting it to me and I don't think was any dearer than anyone else. I tried two mixes, 1 part Flex to 9 parts Anucubic and 1 part flex to 4 parts Anycubic. The new mix tended to need longer exposure settings but I managed to print several test pieces. Now the Anycubic resin is quite stable and when printing the front half of the V2 body they come out very well however when the Flex100 is added the body warped dramatically which I am hoping will be visible in the following image over the straight part of the boiler:

IMG_3106.JPG.f26679b239f1b59503dbbfb6a1c6d5d2.JPG

 

Warping aside I did not find any improvement in the print's brittleness and have now given up trying to use the Flex100 for the time being. Once some of the tough resins reappear in stock I might try them.

 

Reading various online forums regarding the various exposure setting I thought I would try to change the vertical lift speed from its default of 65mm/minute to 50mm/minute. This controls the speed that the print is lifted from the FEP so reducing it to 50 is less traumatic and is supposed to improve print quality. It certainly looks to be the case and I have now set it to 50 for all my prints. I have also read that a 0.035 layer height is not natural for the Photon so have recently adopted 0.04 with a 12sec exposure and I really cannot see the difference.

 

The second game changer I read about related to the removal of supports. Now so far I had taken a freshly washed print from the machine and before post curing used a sharp scalpel to cut away the supports, a very tedious process. Various people reported that the easy way to deal with the supports was to plunge the print with its supports in very hot water and just pull them away with minimum marks from the attachment points. Well I can report that it works very well and it has simplified my post print process considerably.

 

I was starting to get some odd artifacts on my prints and some parts were not printing correctly. The problem seemed to be on tall items after they had been printing for some hours. I was also getting some deposits left on the FEP which did not make sense. A failed print looked like this:

IMG_3103.JPG.2a16ec9521c5c3354e7279b920733bc9.JPG

 

How I resolved this I will leave until later.

Reading various online forums regarding the various exposure setting I thought I would try to change the vertical lift speed from its default of 65mm/minute to 50mm/minute. This controls the speed that the print is lifted from the FEP so reducing it to 50 is less traumatic and is supposed to improve print quality.  Where is this setting in Anycubic slicer? TIA Chris

 

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6 minutes ago, MikeTrice said:

I don't use the Anycubic slicer, I use Chitubox, which I find much better, and can change the lift speed under print settings. You can also edit the lift speed using the Photon File Validator.

 

Same here Mike. Chitubox, and then make minor adjustments to lift speed and such like on the printer in its in-print settings. 

 

I haven't used the file validator, or any additional programming beyond chitubox, but the Photon S seems to be working fairly well as it is. On switching to anycubic Green, I did get a reduction in print failures, and a greater exposure tolerance window too. Still looking to try other resins as well. 

 

Chris, 

 

You alter lift settings, and other speeds on the printer control panel itself (assuming much of the interface options are the same on the Photon as they are on the S). 

 

Cheers, Paul. 

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Being a Chitubox user I have lost touch with the Anycubic software products. They recently introduced the Photon Workshop alternative slicer presumably to cover both the original Photon and Photon-s models. This does allow you to change the lift speed.

 

The Photon File Validator is very useful for detecting unsupported islands and removing any small ones. It also allows you to change all of the print settings including exposure times without having to reslice the original model (except layer height). I usually save my .photon file from Chitubox then load it into the Validator and fix any minor islands (investigating any major ones) then save the fixed file and print from that.

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Mike and Paul. Thank you for the replies. I hadnt seen anything on the lift speed before so I left that setting alone even though I use Chitubox. Well what a dummy I am. I'll do a print on the weekend as see how it goes. The marvels of the group- here I am in Australia and I get a reply from halfway around the world. Yeah!!!

 

Cheers

Chris

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Hi,

 

I've been thinking about buying one of the Photon printers in the Anycubic sale this week.

 

However, a quick read through this thread reveals a few 'known' and common problems (screens cracking, levelling problems). My question is, are these problems in the minority compared with the number of prints being undertaken?

 

Although fairly cheap, I would like to know whether it is truly worth it, or am I going to be stuck have problems with the majority of prints?

 

Simon

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46 minutes ago, St. Simon said:

Hi,

 

I've been thinking about buying one of the Photon printers in the Anycubic sale this week.

 

However, a quick read through this thread reveals a few 'known' and common problems (screens cracking, levelling problems). My question is, are these problems in the minority compared with the number of prints being undertaken?

 

Although fairly cheap, I would like to know whether it is truly worth it, or am I going to be stuck have problems with the majority of prints?

 

Simon

 

Hi Simon. 

 

I went for the Photon S, but they've got other options now (such as the Zero). 

 

The two S's I use, have both been reliable thus far, but like any hobby machine, need a bit of attention. bed levelling has to be done with care. I've seen a few videos and people who have the bed levelled "tight" down to the screen, its not necessary and can cause premature screen damage, level with paper for sure, but don't make it super tight, just the lightest drag, flatness to the bed is more important, the rest is bridged in the first layer. 

 

You'll find, generally, the first print of a new design or substantial support modifications, will probably fail, not through the printer, but lack of support, incorrect settings etc. the whole thing is a massive learning exercise and you will make mistakes as you go, but you get better and better with practice, and eventually, you'll be printing right first time. once you get a file right, it will usually continue to work right until the fep sheet wears out. 

 

In summary, you can read a lot of experiences, but you've really got to build your own experience and expertise profile to be happy with the printing. 

 

Thanks, Paul. 

 

 

Edited by Paul_sterling
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Perhaps I can attempt a reply.

 

Some problems such as levelling are down to education. For a long time I have a standard build original generation Photon. I think I only had to level it twice and never had problems due to levelling errors, mind you I did watch a lot of youtube videos on the subject and keep track of user groups issues. A while back I decided to upgrade my machine and fit dual z-rails and fitted an alternative levelling device which again has proved very reliable.

 

There are a lot of complaints about prints not sticking to the build plate. These can usually be attributed to one of five major causes:

  • Levelling errors.
  • Wrong ambient temperature when printing.
  • Insufficient supports.
  • Insufficient exposure times.
  • Incorrect FEP tension.

Armed with that knowledge it is extremely rare for me to get a failed print but I did have to go a sort of learning curve. If it does fail the reason is usually fairly obvious and of my own making.

 

Some parts of the printing process use what most printers consider consummables over and above the resin itself being:

  • LCD screen
  • FEP

My machine has produced a lot of mouldings including the recent run of replacement 4mm LNER V2 bodies. Over the life of the machine I think I have replaced the FEP 2 (might be 3) times and the LCD once. I have found that it is cheaper to buy replacement products for the Elegoo Mars rather than Anycubic as they are cheaper and in the case of my machine, compatible.

 

Does that help?

 

 

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Hi Both,

 

Yes, that’s helped immensely thank you, I feel that compared with going to Shapeways (my current arrangement), at the current price a Photon would repay itself very quickly, with better quality.

 

My other concern is regarding ventilation and workspace. I live (on my own) in a flat with a living / bed room and a kitchen. Both can be well ventilated, but I’m slightly concerned that it might not be enough. I understand that the cleaning etc of prints can be toxic and unpleasant, but I’m unclear how far it needs to go to be safe?

 

Simon

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