Jump to content
 

3D resin printer - recomendations


Recommended Posts

  • RMweb Premium

The advantage of IPA is that it’s cheap, £4 a litre or so, even post COVID. I find it lasts a few months before it becomes so saturated it’s not useful. Leaving it a few days the resin will settle too, and you can pour off the cleaner IPA. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Paul tpxguard said:

i wouldnt bother with iipa it cannot be cleaned that well

i use a product called tek1969 it is non smelly and can be filtered with cheese cloth so a litre will last for ages if you keep on top of filtering 

 just google tek1969 its from the eu by keytech

 

 

Taking a quick squizz at the SDS this looks a lot like the Monocure resinaway that I've been using.  Agree that its works better than IPA, it goes further, and  it is glycol based so can be used in my dodgy Ebay  ultrasonic cleaner without the risk of my shed blowing up.

Edited by monkeysarefun
Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm sending the printer back.

Not even opened it as yet but I think for my needs, a FDM printer would be better as I'll be printing some slightly larger things so the resin printer was just too small.

 

Although someone said resin printers are getting cheaper / bigger but I'm not sure it's worth waiting.  But if it does happen, I will probably be better and more practiced in 3D printing.

Edited by Sir TophamHatt
  • Friendly/supportive 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Fair enough! As you say - the Photon Mono X and Elegoo Saturn are about three times the size, and are due in the next month or so - the Saturn is well overdue whilst they satisfy pre-orders. 

 

It is definitely the big advantage of FDM over resin.

  • Like 1
  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold
10 hours ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

I'm sending the printer back.

Not even opened it as yet but I think for my needs, a FLA printer would be better as I'll be printing some slightly larger things so the resin printer was just too small.

Although someone said resin printers are getting cheaper / bigger but I'm not sure it's worth waiting.  But if it does happen, I will probably be better and more practiced in 3D printing.

If you do get a FDM printer the settings are just as critical for getting a good print as the resin ones. I have found a few points -all available if you enable the settings in your slicer software. I use Cura to slice my files and print with PLA. I have turned OFF the heated bed and slowed down the print speed to 10mm second to get a much better quality. I also always print small items with 100% infill (lines) and use Skirt instead of raft and enable filament retraction (stops stringing).

  • Informative/Useful 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, simonmcp said:

If you do get a FDM printer the settings are just as critical for getting a good print as the resin ones. I have found a few points -all available if you enable the settings in your slicer software. I use Cura to slice my files and print with PLA. I have turned OFF the heated bed and slowed down the print speed to 10mm second to get a much better quality. I also always print small items with 100% infill (lines) and use Skirt instead of raft and enable filament retraction (stops stringing).

I agree with simonmcp, I have been FDM printing for 4yrs now, and I can honestly say its probably more of a pain in the back side to get a solid print than it is in resin, layer shifting, warping, and clogging, all of this is a regular occurrence for FDM, also you can't get the detail that you can on resin printers, plus there is more to go wrong, and i often had to take my FDM printer apart, and change out nozzles, extruder blocks, and regular maintenance like keeping your axis greased all needs to be taken into account! Because there are more mechanical parts on an FDM printer there is more to go wrong! Don't get me wrong, you can get some cracking prints out on FDM, some buildings i printed a while back for some bolt action war gaming boards i am making! They still need a bit of cleaning up!  I couldn't print this large on my resin printer, but I am hoping the next round of printers after the saturn and Mono X I will be able to!

 

IMG_2022.JPG.423cffe64bf57a7b64240d3325122528.JPGIMG_2024.JPG.8caa9091da8169afd291c3a4ac0fe054.JPGIMG_2023.JPG.700e1771da82b4ed28127bf706b3c0e8.JPG

  • Like 3
  • Craftsmanship/clever 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, TomE said:

Photon vs Photon Mono X print plate size comparison, for anyone wondering about the difference:

 

 

 

Tom. 

How you finding the Mono X Tom? And what you printing on it?

 

can’t wait to get mine, hopefully this week :) 

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
5 hours ago, woko said:

How you finding the Mono X Tom? And what you printing on it?

 

can’t wait to get mine, hopefully this week :) 

Got mine last week and getting to grips with it - I think! Bought it the Wash and Cure and must say both are excellent machines.

 

First surprise was the speed of printing compared to FDM as each layer is a fairly instant process compared to the FDM nozzle travelling the shape. Grant you there are more layers but it means the speed of print is directly related to number of layers rather than complexity.

 

Second surprise was the ability to handle fine detail and the resolution it achieves. My main involvement is with Swiss HOm and I had a cad from a previous project of a Schoma shunter which it handles perfectly. Ran it through again at 58% size for the Nm scale and was amazed that the 0,29mm handrails printed perfectly, just not careful enough trimming away the support material.

 

Lots more learning to do but happy user.

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

On 21/11/2020 at 22:18, JimFin said:

Got mine last week and getting to grips with it - I think! Bought it the Wash and Cure and must say both are excellent machines.

 

How are you finding the smell when printing?

Does the wash and cure station work well?  I was put off having to buy the printer, then an additional "finishing" machine but then found out it's best to use gloves and mess about with "washing" a resin print, then curing it.

I'm not that fussed about curing - I'm happy to leave the print to air dry / dry in the sun for a few days.  But it's all the other process that puts me off.

 

Problem is, despite me buying a resin printer (and promptly sending it back), I'm now not sure whether the small board game tokens I plan on printing would be better in resin anyway and I should have kept it.  Budget is small though, only £200/£250 at most.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

The Mars is on sale for £150 today on Amazon.
 

The Anycubic Wash and Cure can be had for £70 at the moment too. if you want to put the build plate directly into the wash and cure you’ll need to print a Mars bracket. I think the Mars is big enough to do it (I did mine on my Mars 2 Pro).

 

I did without one for a year or so, and whilst it’s not life changing it does make life easier and cleaner.

 

some resins are worse than others for smell, I don’t find it too bad, you can get little USB chargeable air filters you put in the printer too, I’ve not noticed a big difference, but my printers are in the garage, so I’m not too worried. 

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium
4 hours ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

 

How are you finding the smell when printing?

 

I am using Anycubic's own resin to start with and using this in a spare bedroom. It's not terribly strong, keep the door closed and window just open when printing and it seems fine. Once I have cracked the set up will try the plant based resins which I understand are near odourless.

 

4 hours ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

Does the wash and cure station work well? 

That has been an eye opener as I was not keen on some of the processes involved handling resin. So once off the build plate and excess resin has dripped off, drop it in the basket and 2, 4 or 6 minutes in the IPA bath and it comes out perfect. I have found that that is a good moment to remove the support material while it is still soft, air dry which is very quick with the IPA and then onto the curing turntable for 2, 4 or 6 minutes. At that point, its ready for any post production tidying and off to the paint shop. TBH - the IPA has a stronger smell than the resin.

 

4 hours ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

I'm now not sure whether the small board game tokens I plan on printing would be better in resin anyway and I should have kept it. 

The level of detail and resolution this machine is achieving compared to my FDM printer is amazing. Anything involving small components or detail that would be lost on the FDM is perfect with this.

  • Like 1
  • Agree 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

My Mono X turned up, and I’ve just finished some initial printing of a very early diesel - it’s drip drying over the vat as I write this. I’m in the Mono X Facebook group, and the level of detail I’m seeing on there is amazing!

 

I'm v pleased with it so far, but it’s had to go to the shed. Although the resins aren’t too bad, they do give my wife a headache. I’ve thought about the soy based resins, which are supposed to be all but odourless, but they are also biodegradable. I’ve asked about this, but no one In the groups can tell me the shelf life or if the degradation can be halted.

  • Like 4
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...