Quote Originally Posted by curious aardvark View Post
Is that rook print in real time ?
Bloody impressive if it is :-)
So why does it bob up and down ?

So the resin. Is that daylight resin and if so, do you have problems with it setting in the vat ?

Other than worries about that, given the cost of resin, you'd not want any to go to waste - have to say it's a very interesting looking machine.

What's the build volume ?
The video is not real time, it is sped up quite a bit. The actual print time would be 1 hour and 15 minutes for that print, I will make it clearer in the video description.

Print time actually depends on the resin and settings that you use. White and lighter resins would have a shorter light curing time so the print would be much faster than darker resins. Or maybe the resin manufacturer creates a fast cure resin. In the slicer settings, you need to choose the correct cure time per layer. A white resin could be a second or less per layer, and darker resin like red could be 3 seconds per layer resulting in a longer print time. I prefer darker resins with a longer print time because the longer cure time gives you a wider range acceptable settings to get better 3D prints.

The reason is bobs up and down in the video is because the printer is releasing the 3D print from the vat surface each time a new layer is cured. So, if our print layer height was .05mm the build plate moves up 2 or 3 mm (settings you choose, also affecting print time) to release the print from the build surface and moves back down to the proper height to let a .05mm layer cure and attach to the rest of the 3D print. The vat surface is a flexible teflon FEP surface that allows it to release easily. A big problem with DLP printers was getting each new layer to release smoothly, it would often stick and destroy the print. There have been some fixes like a tilting vat, non-stick silicone covered vats, and flex-vats (this type). I did not invent the flex-vat by any means, but I made it easy to assemble and replace the teflon sheets. The teflon sheets are consumables and need to be replaced occasionally.

About the resin, it is not stored in the vat in the 3D printer. The vat is removed from the printer and usually I use a funnel to pour the resin back in the bottle that it came in before storing it. Then I put the flex vat in a ziploc bag and store the flex vat and the resin in a dark place so it doesn't cure.

The build print size is 80mm x 90mm x 140mm. The actual build plate is 51mm in diameter, but you can print larger than that using supports.