Any Success with Resin Printers

[JohnA136]

My son and I have a lot of different filament printers (both commercial and home builds) and I was thinking maybe it is time to dip our toes into the resin printer pool? Anyone having success with their resin printers? Anyone have advice on specific brands or models? Something that actually works? Maybe we will see something cool at Maker Faire in a couple of weeks?

[awerby]

Ive been using a couple of resin printers lately: the Form1+ and the B9 Creator. Neither is perfect, but both work, at least most of the time. The Form1+ is good for making small fine-grained parts that will be used directly, while the B9 is mostly used for making patterns that will be burned out and cast using the lost-wax method. I've been working with a guy trying to re-engineer the resin vat for the Form1+; he's on the verge of producing some aftermarket vats that should improve performance a lot. I've also been using an aftermarket vat in the B9; the resin tanks seem to be the weak points of these designs.

What did you want to use a resin printer for?

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[JohnA136]

We do not have a specific use for it yet, just like to mess with different technologies.

[richardphat]

Alright, here's my question. Does your pdms/ sillicone unstick itself if you attempt to print large surface?

A certain 75US$ vat tends to fail miserably when printing large surface, the sillicone just peeled itself with large print. On top of that, their support technic told me to wash the acrylic vat with ISP alchohol.......

I want to know if your vat has any kind of this issue.

[awerby]

We're still testing it, but the results look good so far. Adhesion to the glass is better than to the acrylic, but I haven't tried printing anything with a base that covers the whole surface yet - it sounds like we should. It was the shortcomings of the supplied vat that sent me on this quest, one of the principal ones being that you can't clean them out (using isopropynol, which is the recommended solvent for the resin) without seriously degrading the acrylic. If you want to contribute your thoughts to this effort, there's a Glass Tank thread on the Formlabs support forum with a link to a survey: http://forum.formlabs.com/t/glass-tank/4171/83

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[richardphat]

When they upgraded their new liner to this one, all I can see is a joke. That much plasticity deformation will eventually lead to printer's death.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgALH8PcjQ4

I am also currently designing my own vat for the pegasus touch, 75$ for pissed poor quality acrylic vat with plenty of stress concentration, was the reason that push me looking for a DIY version.

I do not have much experience with pyrex glass, I don't know if you can use those silicone caulk for glass to glue them.

I do have a big sheet of acrylic (3mm) that I planned to thermoform and shape box. Planning to use it for the vat, but I would prefer to go with glass, since it will be harder to scratch.

Also for your silicone are you using the one from sylgard?

[awerby]

Yes, we're using Sylgard, but I'm not thrilled with it. It tends to form cloudy spots and erode where the light hits it repeatedly. So I'd love to hear about optically clear silicone rubber alternatives that were more robust. There are also issues that arise when you coat the tank where the glue joints are - Sylgard is a platinum-cure silicone, which means that it's not only expensive but it's very touchy about what it will cure next to. Other types of rubber can inhibit the cure, leaving you with sticky areas in the PDMS. So if you're trying to work out an alternative vat, I'd strongly urge you to test the Sylgard up against whatever silicone caulk you plan to use before committing a lot of time and materials.

Andrew Werby
Juxtamorph.com

[bford903]

Been testing the Ember Printer the last few weeks and so far I really like it. Cannot speak to the longevity of the Vats but I think you can buy two for $100US whenever they get cloudy. Their printer design and resin are open source and it allows you to use any resin you want. The accompanying software is still in beta right now, so you have to upload it to Autodesk's website to convert to the file type the Ember needs. They recommend Meshmixer for adding supports. Not as fast as other resin printers I've used, but the quality is very high.

[JohnA136]

Thanks bford903

[awerby]

Did you actually buy the Ember, or did they give you one to play with? I have a hard time understanding the value proposition there; it's nearly twice the price of the Form1+, has a much smaller part volume, and the software that makes it work is still a work in progress. Is the "open source" aspect so compelling as to make it worth purchasing? How many people really want to tinker with the source code for these things? Most people seem to just want something that works....

This article discusses some of these issues: http://3dprint.com/45084/autodesk-ember-available-now/

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com