3d Printing hints and tips

[Mark Skarr]

I saw that someone had created a little tool for helping to clean their FEP and resin reservoir, and I realized something about it.

Okay, to explain: in resin printing, you are working with a liquid medium that hardens when exposed to UV light. You print by only exposing a select volume of the medium through a transparent Teflon (FEP) film.

Sometimes you screw something up, and it sticks to the FEP. The easiest way to clean that is to run an exposure, where it hardens a small layer, connecting all of it together, allowing you to pull it all up at once. However, sometimes, getting that up can also be an issue.

So, someone created a little plate with a stick coming off of it, that you put in the corner of your reservoir, so, when it hardens to the rest of the "cleaning" layer, you can just peel it off.

But, I throw those away all the time . . . they're supports.

So, I save some of my supports and, when I need to clean my tray, I put one in the corner. Run an exposure, drain my reservoir and have a handy tab to peel the cleaning layer off.

--

For FDM printing--clean the build plate after each print. I can't emphasize that enough.

Then, when ready to print, use a glue stick to add some adhesive to where you're going to print.

[kkc]

I hope you don't mind if I use this space to share the things I've learned too. I feel like these are things that experienced 3D printer users know already, but that we should make a point of documenting anyway.

* If you have the cash, one or more extra build plates are really useful even if you only have the one resin printer. The washing, cleaning and curing process is pretty time-intensive for more complex prints, and being able to to just slap a second plate into the printer to get the next model going in parallel is really convenient and efficient.

* FEP film for the bottom of the resin tank is cheaper if you get large sheets and cut them to size to fit. it's certainly more convenient to get the pre-cut sheets for your particular printer, but the more consumables you use the more conscious you'll be of how much everything costs.

* Stuff falls into the resin tank all the time, and it's annoying as anything. I've taken to sweeping the bottom of the tank with a cheap plastic spoon just before printing, to make sure that a support or other fiddly bit hasn't fallen into the goo. The typical failure scenario is that the build plate goes in for that initial layer and presses the debris straight through the FEP film. That means resin all over the printer and all over your workspace.

[Mark Skarr]

Originally Posted by kkc

I hope you don't mind if I use this space to share the things I've learned too. I feel like these are things that experienced 3D printer users know already, but that we should make a point of documenting anyway.

I hoped this would be something all of us would use to add hints and tips.

3D printing is awesome!

Originally Posted by kkc

If you have the cash, one or more extra build plates are really useful even if you only have the one resin printer. The washing, cleaning and curing process is pretty time-intensive for more complex prints, and being able to to just slap a second plate into the printer to get the next model going in parallel is really convenient and efficient.

Yes. This is a big thing. I'm pretty good about just scraping off the build plate into the alcohol bath, then slapping the plate back on. My plate never goes in the bath unless I'm having trouble with it, then the whole thing goes in.

But, I do have a spare build plate. Just in case.

My spare build plate, for my M3 was only $25 with shipping.

Originally Posted by kkc

Stuff falls into the resin tank all the time, and it's annoying as anything. I've taken to sweeping the bottom of the tank with a cheap plastic spoon just before printing, to make sure that a support or other fiddly bit hasn't fallen into the goo. The typical failure scenario is that the build plate goes in for that initial layer and presses the debris straight through the FEP film. That means resin all over the printer and all over your workspace.

YIKES! I've been very lucky, but I've never had that happen. I'm very sorry that you've had that happen.

[Mark Skarr]

Okay. If you're resin printing, get thee a UV flashlight.

I just used a UV flashlight, a q-tip and some resin to repair a handful of models I had broken. Took seconds, as opposed to the minutes to using glue. I need to get better at it, but yeah, it was super effective.

[Mark Skarr]

My sister, ChaosCoyote, asked me to print her some 12-sided d4s. She found an STL for one, and I printed a few. They were tiny and I didn't like them. So, I scaled them up, and tried letting Lychee support them.

DON'T DO THAT.

UVTools had an aneurism and warned against the supporting. So, I did some research and supported them manually.

They came out great.

It's a pain, but, the nutshell is: put a point down, not a flat side. Support the edges aggressively. If you think you should put more supports in, do it. Try to keep the supports off the face, and keep them on corners/edges.

[Mark Skarr]

Originally Posted by kkc

* Stuff falls into the resin tank all the time, and it's annoying as anything. I've taken to sweeping the bottom of the tank with a cheap plastic spoon just before printing, to make sure that a support or other fiddly bit hasn't fallen into the goo. The typical failure scenario is that the build plate goes in for that initial layer and presses the debris straight through the FEP film. That means resin all over the printer and all over your workspace.

I wanted to re-visit this.

I've had stuff fall into my vat, but, if I ever think there's an issue, I put some sprue in the corner of the tray and do an exposure. Then drain and clean the FEP.

Additionally. If you're having an issue with things not sticking to your build plate, get thee some sandpaper and "rough up" your build plate. It may feel smooth to you, but all the micro gouges give the resin some nice places to grip (over the, hopefully, smooth FEP).

I had the issue with some map-scale dropships and the 12-sided d4s sticking. So I washed my build plate, gave it a good sanding with some 320-grit sandpaper. Washed the plate again, thoroughly. Slapped it back on and it was great.