What's your printer?

[Worldwalker]

Originally Posted by ColinK

How many of you with Elegoo and similar 3D printers use them in your homes and if so, how bad are the complaints about resin and wash chemical odors?

My two Elegoo Mars Pro 2 printers are on my kitchen table, as is the Mercury wash/cure machine.

I'm a good canary in this particular coal mine, because I'm annoyingly sensitive to airborne contaminants. For example, if I get a whiff of anything with a benzene ring, I get an instant pounding headache. Carburetor cleaner is a particularly bad actor there. Ether is another one, which was all sorts of fun with my old 84 Fiero when the starter motor was going and it needed a shot of starting fluid every time. (I later dropped that starter motor on my face, which is another whole story) And I can only use spray primer outdoors. So if a reaction is going to happen, it's a good chance it will happen to me. I also have an unusually acute sense of smell -- not to the level of a professional "nose" in the perfume industry, but above average, apparently the universe's way of compensating me for being tone-deaf and Coke-bottle nearsighted. (thanks for nothing, Universe)

And ... the important part ... I have two Elegoo Mars 2 Pro resin printers in my kitchen, and they're running a lot. Even allowing for some olfactory fatigue, I can barely smell the resin; I only notice it when I lift the lids on the printers. And with my sensitivities to things, if there was an issue that affected one of them, it would manifest as headaches whether I could smell it or not.

One of the differences between the Mars 2 and the Mars 2 Pro is the air filtration system. Because I know I react badly to a lot of chemical fumes, that was a major factor in my decision between the two of them.

So, while I wouldn't recommend putting the printer in your kitchen, I do, and I've had no ill effects. It doesn't even produce actionable levels of annoying smells. Ideally I'd like to move them to the end of our elongated living room, but mostly because I really want my kitchen table back.

Various alcohols are, thankfully, not among the things I react badly to. I use alcohol-washable resin, and thus have a couple of liters of alcohol in the wash vat. Once again, the only real exposure is when you take off the lid of the wash/cure machine. I should note that some people do DIY things like filling sonic cleaners with alcohol ... no. Just no. There's a reason why those things say "do not use flammable liquids". I think the thing I notice the most, actually, is when I clean the build plates with alcohol -- I use 90% IPA, from the drugstore, same as I use for cleaning the print beds on the FDM printers. And I should really wear my gloves, because that is rough on my fingernails, especially added to frequent use of hand sanitizer. I've thought of switching to water-washable resin, not so much because of the fume issue as because I go through an awful lot of Klean-Strip denatured alcohol (note: you can get it at Walmart) but I'm not going to experiment until this project is over. I've got minis you haven't seen yet to print today!

Also relevant to this discussion, my husband is a Certified Industrial Hygienist -- this is the sort of thing he's been dealing with professionally for decades. He tries to keep me from doing stupid things out of sheer stubbornness. (he has not reviewed or approved this post, though)

[Mack_JB]

So a corollary question. How does one create drawings to create the minis? Would one be able to use knowledge of AutoCAD r12 in 2D, learn to do the 3D art, and then print one's own designs?

[Steve Jackson]

You can certainly get to the point where you are printing your own designs. I don't know if Autocad is a useful starting point - any of the artistically gifted want to speak up?

Re fumes - As has been mentioned, water-soluble resins are less stinky, and have the bonus of "no alcohol around." Eric is using a WS resin for the ones he prints at the office.

[XRaysVision]

Phrozen Mighty 4K SLA printer for figures and an Ender 5 Pro FDM printer for terrain. (Just mentioning the game uses.)

My SLA printer lives in the garage for safety. (I'm only using PLA in the FDM printer so it's safe to use in the house.) The resin smell should not be associated with chemical toxicity (low odor does not equate to less toxic). Resin fumes are toxic and are potentially cumulative. Sensitivity to the odor cannot be used to gauge the toxic effects. When the resin manufactures say use in a well ventilated area and avoid breathing fumes -- I believe them. The resin is also caustic. I always wear gloves, breathing, and eye protection.

I have a ton of fun printing miniatures but I take precautions to be safe.

[Mack_JB]

I'll post this as a cautionary tale to any who might think "the fumes can't be that bad" -- in June 1992 I ended up in the hospital ER after a session of casting urethane resins, and that was with proper protections. To this day I still have a sensitivity to that particular brand of resin, and lung damage to add to the fun.

[Skipper2921]

How sensitive are the resin printers to the temperature of the environment. I have an insulated garage, but it is not conditioned. In the winter, the lowest it gets is around 40 F. In the summer it can get rather warm as the morning sun shines directly on the door and the daytime temperature is normally around 90 F. Would these extremes affect the quality of the prints?

[Worldwalker]

You'd probably be okay in the summer as long as the temperature changed gradually during the day, rather than suddenly spiking, but that winter temperature is definitely too cold; your prints would likely fail because the resin was too cold.

A good rule of thumb is that a resin printer is comfortable at the same temperatures you are.

[LegoThug]

Some thoughts on Resin.

I recently switched from the standard Elgoo Grey to a mix of 90% Siraya Tech ABS-Like and 10% Siraya Tech Tenacious. The results have been amazing. The resulting prints have been much stronger and slightly flexible. The detail seems to be better as well. As a result of the stronger prints, I have been able to use thinner supports. I have not had a single failed print since I switched. In addition, the prints seem to come off the build plate easier.

The downside is that the Tenacious resin is pricy, but one bottle will mix with 9 bottles of the ABS-Like. Right now, Amazon has the Elgoo Grey for $32.99/Kg. Sira Tech ABS-Like is $36.99/Kg and Siraya Tech Tenacious is $65.00/Kg., which works out to $39.79/Kg.

This mixture is often recommended for minis in 3D printing groups.

[afschell]

I received my first (relatively inexpensive) printer and wash/cure station last week. I've only tried the prints available from the current KS but so far I am pleasantly surprised how well it is working. Now to see how long that lasts, right?

I am using a plant-based resin and cleaning with water (some dish washing detergent is added). Had a few false starts caused by trying to adjust print settings for the resin (the first print was extremely brittle) but otherwise I am getting decent prints. I believe that the brittleness was caused by curing the print too long. Now I am washing for 6 minutes, curing for 3. So far the flexibility has improved.

The detail might be better with a much more expensive printer or the "industrial" based resins but fine for what I plan to do with them. The octopi legs and eyes are detailed and the supports are coming off okay after curing. Going to try removing them after washing but before curing to see if that works any better.

[Edit: 3 minutes may still be too long of a cure. Removing the supports still causes breakage.]

[Worldwalker]

LegoThug, I have to try that. It will be interesting to compare with my Anycubic standard. I'm planning on experimenting with their water-washable resin after this insanity, I mean Kickstarter, is over -- my printers have been busy most of the time doing test prints of all the Foes -- so I'll be able to do some good comparisons.

Now we just need something that keeps me from clipping skeleton arms off when I think they're supports. :-/

afschell, I have no experience with the plant-based resins. With standard resin, I usually cure for about as long as I wash. The only time I've run into any problems with brittleness has been arrows. I've given some thought to putting bits of foil over arrowheads, etc., for all but about a minute of the cure.