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3D printer for O gauge stock


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I'm looking for some pointers on where I should be spending my cash.

I have used 3D printing in various forms in industry for years and in carried on with subcontracting the work to the likes of shapeways. This is becoming increasingly experience as they keep going up in price.

So I think that it's time I got myself a toy to play with. I have looked at a fair number of reviews and most give good reviews the small problem with these printers is the production size. They are great for 4mm and smaller but I'm working in 7mm so they can just about do a small wagon.

I would be looking at trying to print things about 8inches by 6inches by 6inched.

Marc

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It’s alleged the Elegoo Saturn will go on sale in the next couple of months, and that’s getting on for that size, it’s a big step up from the ubiquitous Photon/Mars. Otherwise the Phrozen Shuffle XL is pretty big (but gets mediocre reviews), or the Peopoly Phenom is massive but expensive. 

Edited by njee20
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Had a quick look. I like the mars and it looks like a scaled up version. 

I think that it would be about what I'm looking for. Not sure what its going to cost and when it's going to be available.

Marc

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They’re being exceedingly cagey. A beta tester has claimed end of June and targeting €500. If they achieve that I think it’ll be a massive success. 
 

I’d have one for sure. 

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Theres also  the Epax X-10 which is about 1200USD or available in Aus for around $2100AUD

 

https://epax3d.com/products/epax-x10

 

The 500 pounds you quoted for the Saturn would be an amazing price if they could come in at  that - the LCD screen is round 4 times the area of the ones used on the Photon/Mars so you'd expect a similar increase in cost price.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well I put my hand in my pocket and bought the Elegoo Saturn this afternoon. very reasonably priced but not sure if I'm going to be nailed for import tax.

 

Marc 

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1 hour ago, Furness Wagon said:

Well I put my hand in my pocket and bought the Elegoo Saturn this afternoon. very reasonably priced but not sure if I'm going to be nailed for import tax.

 

Marc 

I asked them this via email a few days ago, they said they would take care of tax etc as itd be shipped from within the EU.

In fairness, at $150 postage I would expect them to take care of everything, and deliver it in a carved, gilded, mink lined wooden box.

 

In the end I pre ordered a mars pro (for 26 june) as I dont absolutely need the larger build area and would rather get on with things sort of now than wait 3 months (plus my original budget was only for an original mars). Well done for getting hold of a Saturn - a friend on another forum managed to get one in his basket but by the time the payment page loaded they were all gone.

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I've been told the had sold out in 3 minuets so very lucky. I didn't expect to get one. I took a risk on the pre-order one that was $100 more but i thought that people would try for the cheaper ones first. Also I used PayPal as I thought it might speed the transaction up. I was only charged $100 postage as well. so the total came to $500US which is £376 ish. I'm already working on the first new project for it.

 

I will post photos when it arrives. Very excited can't wait for mid August. I should arrive just after we finish our 2 week stay-cation if we get one.

 

Marc

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  • 1 month later...

With the printer being delivered in about a month's time, does anyone have a recommendation on which resin to get? It needs to be reasonable flexible but resistant to warping.

Marc

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Standard resins are not at all flexible, you'd need to add something like Monocure Flex if its available there at the right proportion to get to the flexibility you want.

 

I've used it 100% flex when needed to print out rubber-like non-model railway items  that can be twisted and squeezed without breaking, and added about 10% flex to standard resin to reduce its natural brittleness for model items.

 

Congrats on the Saturn, I bu99ered up my first attempt to get one by somehow managing to put 2 into my  cart but  squeaked in on the second weeks batch - I got order number 3978, which  I assume is an indication of where I sit in  the 4000 that they put up for pre-release..

Edited by monkeysarefun
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15 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

I've used it 100% flex when needed to print out rubber-like non-model railway items  that can be twisted and squeezed without breaking, and added about 10% flex to standard resin to reduce its natural brittleness for model items.

I have tried 10% and 20% and did not notice any difference when used with Anycubic resin.

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1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

Standard resins are not at all flexible, you'd need to add something like Monocure Flex if its available there at the right proportion to get to the flexibility you want.

 

I've used it 100% flex when needed to print out rubber-like non-model railway items  that can be twisted and squeezed without breaking, and added about 10% flex to standard resin to reduce its natural brittleness for model items.

 

Congrats on the Saturn, I bu99ered up my first attempt to get one by somehow managing to put 2 into my  cart but  squeaked in on the second weeks batch - I got order number 3978, which  I assume is an indication of where I sit in  the 4000 that they put up for pre-release..

I'm 1524 so still in the same ball game. I will contact the people who supply my normal casting resin and see if they can supply it now I know that I'm after. I'm going to have to experiment some comments are going to have different ratios of flex in them.

Many thanks

Marc

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I tried it in Monocure rapid grey, maybe that made a difference?  (I'm fortunate in having the Monocure factory a twenty minute drive down the road from here at work!) 

 

I found flex mainly helpful in stopping very small-sections such as window sashes breaking as they were lifted off the FEP sheet during the printing process.

 

This is roughly indicative of what it does..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by monkeysarefun
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49 minutes ago, Furness Wagon said:

I'm 1524 so still in the same ball game. I will contact the people who supply my normal casting resin and see if they can supply it now I know that I'm after. I'm going to have to experiment some comments are going to have different ratios of flex in them.

Many thanks

Marc

It needs to be a resin which cures at a wavelength of 405nm, not just anything. 
 

I use Elegoo or Anycubic resins, and find them fine. They’re not flexible, which has caused me problems with NEM coupler pockets, the failure rate is high, but otherwise it’s not been a problem. 
 

Anycubic have a 3-for-2 on resin at the moment too, although I think it may be expiring tonight. 

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  • 2 months later...

Well a large box arrived yesterday afternoon, a month later than I was hoping for but is here and that the main thing. I'm going to order some resin shortly. I have been looking for large bottles of the stuff and failing miserably I normally buy in 10KGs of my normal casting resin at a time and that lasts me about 6-10 months but I'm only seeing 500ml bottles at the moment. 

 

Also were is the best place to buy  Monocure Flex in the uk?

 

Marc

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Monocure is bloody expensive in the UK. Since my post above I’ve been really impressed with Siraya Tech Tenacious to offer a bit of flex. Bought through Peopoly it’s expensive, but not too bad. Have totally done away with failures on small parts, mixed 1 part Tenacious to 3 parts Anycubic. 
 

I buy ‘normal’ resin via Ali Express. Anycubic resin is ~£28 a litre at the moment in all colours. Alternatively Amazon do Elegoo resins in 1 litre bottles for £35ish. 

Edited by njee20
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2 hours ago, njee20 said:

It’s not readily available. FEP Shop sell it for €107 a litre, with shipping from the Netherlands.

 

 Thanks, thats just under twice what it is here when its not part of the fairly regular 25% off  sales that Monocure has.  Thats when I buy it.

 

We've got used to paying that kind of markup for things we get here, its called the Australia tax and suppliers 'justify' it by citing our low population/demand and transport costs to get stuff down here.

 

Trouble is, software companies stick us with it too, whether its itunes subscriptions or downloadable applications.

 

Monocure have a new resin out, Rapid Tuff, which is meant to be machinable etc. I got a half litre when they offered it at a special price as a beta test but haven't used it yet.  Guess given the flex markup it'll be out of the price range for anyone there. They also plan to have a premix version that comes ready mixed with flex. This should be a prefect answer to the problems of brittleness that standard resins have. I've broken several prints just by dropping them on the concrete floor of my shed as I get them off the build plate!

https://monocure3d.com.au/product-category/rapid-tuff-resin/?v=322b26af01d5

Edited by monkeysarefun
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Yeah it’s just that it’s not widely available here, so it’s really expensive from the limited number of dealers. Tenacious can be bought for ~£70 a litre, so that’s a more viable option. On Amazon UK it’s £175 a litre! It does seem that Amazon are trialling some other Siraya resins, they’ve got Fast for £40/litre. Monocure just don’t really come up in recommendations over here, perhaps a gap in the market given their popularity elsewhere.

 

Mixing Tenacious is working really well for me when I want some flex in parts. Personally I’m happy with standard Anycubic normally, although I’ve also broken quite a few prints by breaking bits off, often buffers! I do have a litre of Fast to try at some point, as I’ve heard it’s less brittle. 

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This is gong to sound like I'm a bit stupid. Tried to produce my first test print last night. Everything looked like it was working when I went to bed. Came to take it of the plate this morning nothing and nothing in the tank either.  These are the settings I used.

image.png.803b8a42bdecc1b477b136165a3ef424.png

 

 

There was a piece of film on the plate but it didn't say to remove it. Does anyone have an idea what I'm doing wrong?

 

Marc 

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What kind of film? The top of the screen is the polariser, which you don't want to remove, but any packing film certainly wants removing. Mine's turning up today after an inexplicable delay from Wednesday, so not sure how it's packed.

 

That's a very small layer height - do you really want that small? 0.05 is the default. Nothing sticking to the plate is usually related to either bed levelling or base exposure related (too short) - I'd maybe try 35 seconds. 

Edited by njee20
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The film on the plate does need to be taken off. Doesn't say in the instructions to remove it but when I emailed elegoo they said it was an over-site.   

Managed to print one of our Talyllyn wagons this afternoon. It stuck to the base plate that was the good news the bad news was only 2 out of 4 axle boxes printed and the bottom of the wagon was partially missing.

The detail that it did print was very sharp and I probably could increase  the slice thickness. The underside of the wagon had an orange peal effect.

So i might turn the wagon through 180deg and see if that has an effect and increase the slice to 0.05 and see if the detail is still there.

 

Marc

talyllyn 3plk 1.jpg

talyllyn 3plk 2.jpg

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