Re: Has anyone got a resin printer? Anyone printed gears with it yet?
Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2018 5:47 pm
Your most welcome,
I can from my standpoint give you some more information regarding the Anycubic Photon printer I bought.
I was planning to by the Moai SLI which is a DIY kit at about $1800 USD, the Form 2 I just couldn't see the value in it at 3/4k plus.
What I did ask from both companies was samples, I received a rook from Form 2 and an Alien head from Moai.
I can tell you this that the prints I have made with the Anycubic Photon as every bit as good as and in no way different from either of the samples I received.
There is an Anycubic Photon V2 which has a larger digital display and slightly larger print bed but modified so it is easier to replace parts for future servicing.
From my experience with SLI it really doesn't matter too much if DLP or Lazer.
Depending on the amount of money you will be spending a resin printer called Phrozen is also by the looks a great buy it is about $1800 AUD you can work out the USD value there. The other news regarding Phrozen is within the next few months they will be releasing an A4 build plate which will be able to make enormous models, the screen with be replaceable with dual high res screens for those that wish to manufacturer rings and other smaller builds by volume. I believe the price of the A4 Phrozen will be about 3k AUD.
One other thing worth mentioning regarding resin printers, the print speed is a known constant which varies only slightly depending on the type of resin you will use, eg clear or tinted.
eg my build volume is 115 x 65 x 155 if I were to print a block be it solid or hollow it would take say 8 hours to make. This would vary slightly depending on the type of resin used plus or minus say 35 minutes either way.
So a 1 cm part eg a square block (the shape is not important) be the plate full of blocks or just the one would take say 1 hour to print. So if you printed 10 or 1 it is the same print time.
We of course already know that a FDM printer the make time varies greatly from a few minutes to days.
The print quality that I get with my Photon is amazing the times I have given are based on a 50 micron setting. If printing at 25 microns you can pretty much add 60% to the time as you lower the curing time required per layer if printing at 100 microns you can subtract about 60% as well as you need to slightly increase the curing time due to thicker layers.
All I can say is that 50 microns for me is perfect you can not see any striations associated with an FDM smooth silk finishes.
A gear up to the size of the build plate say 3mm thickness would take 15 or so minutes to print.
The other thing that resin printers will afford you is (and I can hardly wait to print some) the shape and type of gear is not relevant in the slightest. You are not constrained by axis 3 4 6 etc. So if you don't own a cnc mill etc you will be able to print gears in the shapes and types you would not have imagined.
The other thing worth remembering if building in parts, all you need to glue the parts is the same resin you use for building the part, just smear a little on both ends and then use a small UV type light which uses a button battery, that will be enough to cure the seams and to weld them together.
If you need to for whatever reason strengthen the part as well, tissue paper or toilet paper which every is the closest just use a dropper and put the resin on the tissue a little on the part, expose it to UV or the sun and then just cut away what is not required. It works a charm, in my haste I have broken off arms and things by being careless and have fixed and filled doing that.
I hope Arty doesn't mind this topic. If your reading this Arty maybe you may have a funny gear type that you would like to see printed, you have my build volume, if you post the mesh I will print it and show the results.
Cheers and avagreatday fromt he colonies downunder.
Steve
I can from my standpoint give you some more information regarding the Anycubic Photon printer I bought.
I was planning to by the Moai SLI which is a DIY kit at about $1800 USD, the Form 2 I just couldn't see the value in it at 3/4k plus.
What I did ask from both companies was samples, I received a rook from Form 2 and an Alien head from Moai.
I can tell you this that the prints I have made with the Anycubic Photon as every bit as good as and in no way different from either of the samples I received.
There is an Anycubic Photon V2 which has a larger digital display and slightly larger print bed but modified so it is easier to replace parts for future servicing.
From my experience with SLI it really doesn't matter too much if DLP or Lazer.
Depending on the amount of money you will be spending a resin printer called Phrozen is also by the looks a great buy it is about $1800 AUD you can work out the USD value there. The other news regarding Phrozen is within the next few months they will be releasing an A4 build plate which will be able to make enormous models, the screen with be replaceable with dual high res screens for those that wish to manufacturer rings and other smaller builds by volume. I believe the price of the A4 Phrozen will be about 3k AUD.
One other thing worth mentioning regarding resin printers, the print speed is a known constant which varies only slightly depending on the type of resin you will use, eg clear or tinted.
eg my build volume is 115 x 65 x 155 if I were to print a block be it solid or hollow it would take say 8 hours to make. This would vary slightly depending on the type of resin used plus or minus say 35 minutes either way.
So a 1 cm part eg a square block (the shape is not important) be the plate full of blocks or just the one would take say 1 hour to print. So if you printed 10 or 1 it is the same print time.
We of course already know that a FDM printer the make time varies greatly from a few minutes to days.
The print quality that I get with my Photon is amazing the times I have given are based on a 50 micron setting. If printing at 25 microns you can pretty much add 60% to the time as you lower the curing time required per layer if printing at 100 microns you can subtract about 60% as well as you need to slightly increase the curing time due to thicker layers.
All I can say is that 50 microns for me is perfect you can not see any striations associated with an FDM smooth silk finishes.
A gear up to the size of the build plate say 3mm thickness would take 15 or so minutes to print.
The other thing that resin printers will afford you is (and I can hardly wait to print some) the shape and type of gear is not relevant in the slightest. You are not constrained by axis 3 4 6 etc. So if you don't own a cnc mill etc you will be able to print gears in the shapes and types you would not have imagined.
The other thing worth remembering if building in parts, all you need to glue the parts is the same resin you use for building the part, just smear a little on both ends and then use a small UV type light which uses a button battery, that will be enough to cure the seams and to weld them together.
If you need to for whatever reason strengthen the part as well, tissue paper or toilet paper which every is the closest just use a dropper and put the resin on the tissue a little on the part, expose it to UV or the sun and then just cut away what is not required. It works a charm, in my haste I have broken off arms and things by being careless and have fixed and filled doing that.
I hope Arty doesn't mind this topic. If your reading this Arty maybe you may have a funny gear type that you would like to see printed, you have my build volume, if you post the mesh I will print it and show the results.
Cheers and avagreatday fromt he colonies downunder.
Steve