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Resin printers

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by tkoco, Feb 2, 2020.

  1. tkoco

    tkoco - -.- --- -.-. ---
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    Any of you have experience with resin printers? Any recommendations for brand of printer?
     
  2. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    Both @Geof and I have resin printers. They are messy and smelly, but the print quality is unparalleled. At this point, there are quite a few less expensive versions that are all using the Chitu control board. Pretty much has become the defacto standard. And all those boards will use Chitu Slicer. Amazon has some as little as $260. all the electronics are identical (pretty much), I would check YouTube for the better known talking heads reviewing these very inexpensive resin printers.

    Even though Prusa also now has a resin printer, it is way overpriced.
     
  3. tkoco

    tkoco - -.- --- -.-. ---
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    I have some models which do not print nice with a C2 or R2 printer. So, I am considering a resin printer. Thank you for the advise.
     
  4. mark tomlinson

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    Yep, I have one too. For smaller models they are the best approach, but ventilate well and avoid avoid wearing the resin
     
  5. tkoco

    tkoco - -.- --- -.-. ---
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    Angus of Makers Muse was saying the same advise.
     
  6. WheresWaldo

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    There are numerous YT videos with the Elgoo Mars and Mars Pro, under $300. They are all pretty much the same printer once you are in the sub $300 range, same screen, same control board, same build volume. So this is a time when YT is actually valuable.

    One note, all the inexpensive one (and a lot of expensive ones too) use the same or similar 2K 5.5" screen. Going bigger to an 8.9" just moves the pixels further apart since they all use 2K screens. One advantage of 8.9" is that the build volume is much larger. Disadvantages include, a heck of a lot more resin and loss of very fine details.

    One thing about Resin where it differs than FDM printing is that I believe most of use want something printed, so we turn on the machine slice a single item and then print. In resin you need to worry about screen life (the screen is a consumable item). So basically that means don't turn on you resin printer until you can fill the build plate, because you only have a finite number of hours (usually around 500) that any portion of your LCD can be on. That is regardless whether there are 10 items printed at a time or 1 item.
     
    #6 WheresWaldo, Feb 6, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 6, 2020
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  7. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    I am not sure if I believe the lifetime quotes for the LCDs, like you say they are all using the same screen and if you dig you can get wildly different numbers (as little as 400 to as much as 1000 hours). Still as you say it IS a consumable so you need to have an eye out for that.

    At least our DLP one makes replacing the light source (the projector bulb) rather easy (although not really what I would call "cheap")
     
  8. WheresWaldo

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    I have seen wild claims of just how long the screens last, but nothing about the light source. I think most people just assume 500 hours of screen on time, since these screens were not intended to allow transmission of UV light. Don't forget they are cheap screens. I would assume there is also some loss of light output from the UV LEDs but have not seen any numbers that show what their lifetime is. My assumption is that the printer will long be out of service before the UV LEDs fail.
     
  9. mark tomlinson

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    Bingo :) I am totally on that bandwagon.
     
  10. tkoco

    tkoco - -.- --- -.-. ---
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    The toxic nature of the resin is giving me second thoughts about getting the resin printer. Thank you for all of the feedback.
     
  11. WheresWaldo

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    I think you are making a bigger deal of the toxicity of the Resin than it really is. Yes it is toxic, but a lot of even the cheap printers are coming with a carbon filter on their exhaust fans. and with a well ventilated room with a fan exhausting air there is not much toxicity left to really worry about. Also resin formulas are getting better (read less toxic). Plus look at it like this, a resin printer is not like a run of the mill FDM printer. If you want quick and dirty the FDM printer is always there and always ready. If you are doing a project that really requires the increase in detail and fits the small size requirements of the printer and you are filling the build area then you basically pour out your resin print you item, maybe up to a couple of hours on a tall print. You clean off everything and put the unused resin back in the bottle or into a new bottle. It not really like the resin is out the entire time just building up fumes in the room/ Plus most people wouldn't be putting these printers in their kitchen, bathroom, living room or bedroom, so that removes all the main living spaces from the equation.
     
  12. tkoco

    tkoco - -.- --- -.-. ---
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    Thank you for the feedback.
     
  13. mark tomlinson

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    I can attest to this. The MakerJuice we used 3-4 years ago with the home-built DLP we have was really nasty egregious stuff. Smell was the least of it, if you got in on bare skin it would give you a mild chemical burn. The newer resins we have used are a lot less so. Mind you the fumes are still not pleasant so you want good ventilation, but it is a lot lest nasty. Still wouldn't put it in my coffee...or bathe in it.
     
  14. tkoco

    tkoco - -.- --- -.-. ---
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    I wonder if a paint hood with activated carbon filtering would help
     
  15. mark tomlinson

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    Yes, it absolutely would
     
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  16. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    Throwing it out there - 2 different kinds of resin machines. Dlp and SLA. I run sla (laser through a vat- no lcd)... I went that route as I feel the print quality is better but multiple prints in one vat increase print time where dlp shines as it does the entire layer in one go- sla is still expensive, dlp is very affordable but the majority are very small build volumes
     
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  17. mark tomlinson

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    Given the cost of resin ... that is a win ;)
     
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  18. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    Although you can get 8.9" DLP machines now from a variety of sources. DLP can be made much cheaper than the laser and moving mirrors. Also the DLP versions are infinitely less complex than the laser SLA printers currently available to the public.All that makes DLP very cheap compared to SLA.

    One note, with the laser, the finer you can get the pinpoint the better the quality. Plus the round nature of the laser dot usually fits the organic shapes most people are 3D printing. The prints just look better and could require less post work to make them usable. DLP is what it is, basically since you are using an LCD screen with the backlight and UV filter removed, you are kinda stuck with the dot pitch and there is no real way to round off the edges (I am ignoring anti-aliasing here because it isn't a real smoothing solution).
     
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  19. WheresWaldo

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    Something I hadn't seen until recently. Some DLP manufacturers are now using Black and White DLP screens instead of the traditional color screens. With the color screens even if you remove the filter layers the light output is not as intense or uniform as with a Monochrome screen. The result is that some printers are now boasting 0.5 sec cure times or about a 2 sec total layer time with certain resins. I have not seen any larger format, so far only 5.5 inch screens. One other claimed benefit is that the screens do not degrade as quickly, the life of a color LCD used in DLP has ranged from 500 - 800 print hours and the monochrome screens are claiming 2000 print ours (2.5x increase in lifespan). I believe Phrozen has two models that use the monochrome screens.
     
  20. mark tomlinson

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    Interesting, I get why they would be looking to change. Originally DLP projectors were only color.
    LED screens give you more options...
     

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