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Anycubic Photon and Mono X 3D DLP Printers


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I have been following this thread with interest and succumbed with a photonS. After a few failed attempts because I didn’t give enough curing time and a replacement FEP I have successfully printed a set of MK1 coach axle boxes and leaf springs. Conscious of the issue of light bleed I pondered how to get the laminations on the springs to print and concluded that the best way was to create each spring lamination individually and sweep a sharp pencil profile along the curves before booleaning the laminations together using Rhino 3D. I am quite pleased with the results so far.

 

 

14114A45-8855-4183-9273-5536BB4027F8.jpeg

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I've also been printing small parts to mass produce wagon wheels.  I use a Shuffle which is very similar to the Photon.

 

s-scale-wagon-wheels-001.jpg.48da79fb06b74353c4217f5bac2955f8.jpg

 

This is an early stage using Phrozen Grey ABS resin.  The tyres are turned steel.

 

I'm making the centres an easy fit in the tyres and retaining them using cyanoacrylate glue.    I've designed the spoke centre with raised lands to give registration which also allows clearance for the adhesive.

 

s-scale-wagon-wheels-010.jpg.b50f076eb3082a58ecd49a7cbd044d3b.jpg

 

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A selection of wheels assembled using the Phrozen Grey,  and the Phrozen Rock Black resin.

 

s-scale-wagon-wheels-014.jpg.626170510e9bd464e5223d66ae170d71.jpg

 

...and the latest test with split spoke centres using the black resin.

 

I am also printing the the centres directly on the plate.

 

s-scale-wagon-wheels-009.jpg.d8a9c1596e1c960aed3c0f73388583d2.jpg

 

...and I have reduced the start layers to two instead of six and they are still staying firmly in place.   The Stanley blade is my removal tool of choice. :-)

 

The remarkable factor is the accuracy of the prints.  I had expected to have to print the centres with no axle hole and to have to produce this in a lathe setup.  But I tried printing the axle hole and reaming this out to be a push fit on the 2mm axles.  I use a 2mm hand reamer and restrict its depth of cut to leave a small taper to give a press fit.   This reaming can be done in a drill press.   All construction can be done in a drill press so that everything is assembled square.    I've checked the runout on the samples I have done so far and they average 0.002" - 0.003" TIR which is comparable to similar products from good suppliers.

 

I can pack 32 prints on a plate and the prints take about twenty minutes (58 x 50micron layers) so pretty close to mass production for resin printing. :-)

 

S scale. :-)

 

Jim.

Edited by flubrush
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Thanks Jim. I have been following your Wheel Shop topic on Western Thunder with interest. http://www.westernthunder.co.uk/index.php?threads/wheel-shop.8019/  for anyone interested in further details.

 

Just to clarify it appears the Phrozen Grey is an "ABS Like" resin rather than ABS so presumably similar to the Anycubic Grey.

Edited by MikeTrice
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1 hour ago, flubrush said:

The remarkable factor is the accuracy of the prints.

 

The accuracy does not surprise me. I can get a perfect fit for parts, snap-together items, hex recesses for captive nuts, small pilot holes etc. using my conventional 3D printer with PLA.

 

The thing that really amazes me with optical machines and results like yours is the overall smoothness and fine surface detail - it's just in another league compared to printing with an extruder type machine!

 

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3 hours ago, MikeTrice said:

Just to clarify it appears the Phrozen Grey is an "ABS Like" resin rather than ABS so presumably similar to the Anycubic Grey.

 

Mike,

 

I suspect that it is similar to the Anycubic product.  It's the resin I got along with the printer and I've been using it quite successfuly ever since.  I only moved to the Rock Black because it is advertised as being stronger and it is black.  :-)  But both grey and black seem quite strong and withstand force fitting of the axle in the solid spoke and the disc wheels with only the tyre being supported.  Pressing into the split spoke showed a bit of deflection and had to be taken gently.  I'm looking at thickening the split spokes from 0.03mm to 0.035 or 0.04mm to provide a bit more strength.

 

I also put chamfers and rebates on the rear edges of the wheel where it meets the plate to reduce the thickening of the resin with the first few extended duration layers.  I also tried reducing the number of these layers from the recommended six and everything is still sticking on well at two layers.  I chickened out going to one or none since I don't like cleaning out the resin tank. :-)

 

The next experiment is to apply matt black paint since the "black" resin is quite translucent.   An aerosol of Halford's "Go-fast" matt black has been laid on. :-)

 

Jim.

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I spent a couple of hours browsing turbosquid.com. If you use the search term 'free' and filter by .obj and .stl files you get about 80 pages of royalty free models. Most are of no interest to use in railway modelling but I did come across enough - skip bins, barrels, oil drums, etc etc to make the half hour I've spent so far fun.

I'm about halfway through so far and these I had to have. The spokes on the front wheels failed but I can print them again, I'm just really impressed with the small gear on the traction engine, its around  2mm across and all the teeth are all  there, and I didn't need to support them they just magically printed which I wasn't expecting them to since the lower ones start off as islands.

 

They haven't been cured yet so I must remember to straighten out the midlde daleks bent thing before I stick them out in the sun.

 

P1210193.JPG.5be6f8d2d441e40bc9465beabccd161b.JPG

 

 

 

Edited by monkeysarefun
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Hi there, that traction engine looks good. It's not particularly 3D friendly as it stands, but would make a great starting point for something more detailed - maybe a couple of ploughing engines. It's Strassenlokomotive on the site.

Edited by JCL
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9 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

I spent a couple of hours browsing turbosquid.com

 

Are you aware of Thingiverse ??

 

There are quite a few locos plus various rolling stock and scenery items on there and everything is free to download.

 

As usual you need to try a few different search terms to find every item, but this is what you get just for "railway"; over 600 results, though including stuff like toddlers wooden railway parts..

 

Note the "OS Railway" stuff is 32mm gauge, nominally 1:45 scale. The designs as given are self-powered (ideal for radio control enthusiasts) but the the general designs should be adaptable & scalable for normal track powered systems.

 

https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=railway&dwh=825d5a41b691aef

 

 

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I've been printing my broad gauge rover and tender, it's taken a few orientations and tests. Currently at 45 degrees with supports on the inside.

 

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I'm still getting some trapped resin even with the holes I've added, I think the tender needs printing in 2 pieces with the top separate. I'm also getting quite regular lines, I've put more grease on the z screw but that hasn't stopped it but I noticed the bottom of the build plate slightly moves side to side despite the screw being tightened so I guess I need to take it apart and look for other screws that have come loose.

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I don't have the Photon, but the model I do have has had vat movement reported from time to time. One thing that helps people is to squeeze some card between the vat and holder to keep it steady. Would that work on yours?

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Thanks JCL. Anything's worth a try as I'm not sure if the step marks are the build plate wobble or something else causing movement. I've found a youtube vid on the build plate,  looks fairly easy to take apart, clean and put back together (famous last words) but I'll check all other visible screws while I'm at it.

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On 24/08/2019 at 16:40, 49395 said:

Does anyone have a test print file for things like wall thicknesses, rivet sizes etc. that they’d be prepared to share?

 

cheers

 

Mike

 

You should try the calibration test described here:

 

 

It’s designed to test resins with different exposure times but will do what you want in a scientific way.

 

Guy

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6 minutes ago, lyneux said:

 

 

It’s designed to test resins with different exposure times but will do what you want in a scientific way.

 

Guy

 

There's two different questions here really, isn't there? 

 

The resin calibration test helps you get the best detail/reliability from the particular resin you're using. 

 

But there is a different question of what practical design elements work or look best in reality?

 

e.g. a 0.15mm rivet might technically print, but would it look better at 0.25mm? A 0.5mm thickness wall might print, but would it be more reliable at 0.7mm? etc. The thingiverse link looks super helpful for that kind of question!

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Perhaps, but they are related: exposure time has an impact on detail and the calibration by resin is about finding the ‘detail’ sweet spot. If you look at the model used for the calibration you can see that detail and cavities are represented in incremental steps.

 

Given the light bleed issue, different resins behave differently with regard to how much they exhibit ‘bleed’. So printing for detail depends on the resin and exposure time as much as the ‘drawn’ dimensions.

 

You may find that to get the best rivet  detail you need to choose a low-bleed resin and ‘underexpose’ compared to the sweet spot for the resin.

 

Guy

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Given the last post was by @lyneux its with a modicum of trepidation I post this, it’s certainly not a patch on your OO gauge ones Guy, but here is my JHA with LTF-25 bogies. First of many... 

 

 

48880402783_f59cdbb45b.jpg

Edited by njee20
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Has anybody tried to install the latest Photon S slicing software? It has a number of upgrades the most useful being able to divide the print area into 8 different Build zones which can have different build settings. So you can try 8 different settings simultaneously to optimise your model. 
 

I have installed the software successfully on a Windows 10 lap top but the software fails to start when I try to run it. Anybody got any ideas?

 

Thanks in anticipation.

 

Mark Humphrys
 

 

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