I have been FDM 3D printing for years now, but I have always been frustrated when printing smaller items for the layout. And I've always been jealous of you folks with resin printers. Last night, I was doing a little research and All3DP.com had a list of what they felt were the best resin printers for 2024. The Anycubic Photon Mono M5s was listed as their choice for best resin printer under $500. It also had some features that appealed to me such as auto leveling. So I emptied out my new locomotive fund, I have too many anyway, and ordered one. As a bonus, Anycubic had a sale on as well. So now I'll do more research and order some resin and a wash/cure station. Then I will venture into uncharted territory. For way. So wish me luck. I'm sure I'll be on here with many questions and maybe even a little frustration. If you have any advice for a newbie, feel free to post it here. Any and all will be much appreciated. Sent from my SM-F721W using Tapatalk
Accessories I've found useful: Lunch trays. Useful for moving wet stuff around, and doing work in. Silicone spatula. Stirring resin in the vat without scratching the FEP. Pushing resin off the build plate back into the vat. Small squirt bottle. Fill with alcohol, useful for cleaning build plates and trays Bottle cap. Used in FEP replacement, puts the right slack in the FEP for later tightening the FEP on the vat when you re-mount all the screws Stainless steel funnel with filters. When you have your first print failure that leaves pieces in the vat, use this to pour the resin through back into the bottle to catch the little buggers... Vat covers. I keep the resin in the vat, actually have three vats for different resins, needs to be covered between uses to contain the fumes and ward off dust. Protective screen for the LCD. If you spill resin, this'll help keep it off the LCD. Expendables: Resin. Okay, just for completeness... Paper towels. For cleaning build plates and trays Isopropryl Alcohol (IPA). I use 91% to clean my models, 71% in the squirt bottle for cleaning other stuff. I also do a Part A/B model cleaning, I think that extends IPA life as you can let Par A get really dirty, and Part B hardly looks cloudy at all... FEPs. You'll scratch 'em, you'll puncture 'em, just get a box or two... I even had to replace one when I nicked the replacement I was cutting to remove the excess with the XActo knife... Nitrile gloves. Wear these anytime you handle resin; gotta respect a liquid that can permeate your skin and then cure to a solid... That should get you going...
Congrats and welcome to the messy club! Glenn's list is pretty thorough to get you going. I'd add: Plastic razor blades with either short or long (preferred) handle to remove prints from the build plate, OR, Sumner found a number 6 RGM Italian Plus Painting Knife to be the ultimate tool for releasing prints from the plate. Paper plates - if you don't have a lunch tray handy, I've been re/using paper plates to transport my messy prints to different processing stations. Silicone mat - I have large ones under my printers for protection from accidental drip and emergency containment in case your FEP completely wrecks and dumps resin all over. Search for Swiss Cake Roll Silicone Mat for examples of what I'm talking about Off the top those are the only things I can add for startup. The M5s is a great printer to get started with! Cheers -Mike
Congrats, I'm sure you are going to love the printer. I wish I would of started using the one I bought sooner. Still use the Ender also. Nice having both options. Yep ..... .... I have the plastic razor blades but the knife above works so much better. Used it today to remove 3 smaller prints an one large one from the build plate in less than 30 seconds total. It will slide under the lip of a support easily being flat and very thin and then saw along under the print and it will pop right off. Also went to the dollar store and bought a cheap strainer for the mesh and tore it off the strainer and lined the cleaning strainer with it. Leave it in all the time and can put very small parts in without them falling through. Other big plus was picking up a second container for the cleaning station. I use denatured alcohol and it clouds up pretty quickly cleaning prints. I have used one, the first one I got, since the beginning until now. It is quite cloudy but 3-4 minutes in it and then move the print to the second one and it is still very clean after many prints and so are the prints when they come out. It has easily saved me the cost of it in the denatured alcohol I haven't had to buy yet. Bought a third one buy haven't used it yet and two probably would of been enough. I had filters left over from my car painting days and they work great for filtering the resin after a failed print as Glenn mentioned. They are very cheap and doubt I'll ever use the couple hundred I have/had and just dispose of them without having to clean them. Sumner
Thanks everybody, keep the info coming. Great set up @Sumner. I am going to build a setup like this in my garage.
Glenn, Your list is precise and spot on. 1" Silicone spatula - By the way, small silicone 1" blade spatulas available at HOBBY LOBBY near their resin "casting" supplies. See pic below. Great also for smoothing off the excess resin from the build plate. Resin vat covers -I have everything you have listed, except vat covers, and I am tempted to make my own out of corrugated plastic sheets -- you know that plastic sheet they print "YARD SALE" on. I found blank sheets at MENARDS. However, cutting them is less than preceise and I like my tools and items to be as precise as my work. Soooo, I may bite the bullet and buy a couple from ELEGOO or ETSY. Build plate hanger - I also have a build plate hanger that repositions the build plate at a 60* angle, allowing for quicker drain back into the vat. Takes a bit of finesse in handling though, as you don't want to swing a drippy build plate away from the vat, otherwise you'll have drips running down the side of the printer. Grow tent - Now, to add to the list, I live in South Dakota and the winter temps are brutal. I bought this "grow tent" pictured below on AMAZON --- can't remember the price. Anywho, it's got a decent vent fan and a 3" flex tube about 6ft long. I route the tube out a side window, which also allows fresh air to come in during the printing process. However, I also cycle a space heater on and off in that room during the winter months in order to keep the area warm. I also use the space heater to heat the room up to a balmy 71*, and in some cases I direct the heat into the grow tent to heat up the chamber and the build plate. I also warm up my resin and vat together. Once the grow tent is zipped shut, it pretty much traps the heat for awhile anyway. Only word of caution is if you use a grow tent, start the printing process and then gently, gently zip the grow tent shut being careful not to rock your table, printer, etc. Pretty simple really. Fumes - side question regarding resin "gassing off" or releasing fumes - I was always under the impression these fumes materialized when the printing process was taking place. Hence there is a powered charcoal filter inside my ELEGOO MARS 3 PRO. Supposed to corral and filter the fumes. The grow tent I mention above is simply an extra layer of protection. Thoughts ???
Before I got the extra vats, I made a janky vat cover from a piece of Masonite and self-adhesive window caulk strip. Still have it, covering the ABS-like resin I don't use... I don't know if resin off-gasses more during printing, but all the resins I've worked with to date off-gas all the time. I've heard that heat is generated in the printing exposure process, haven't tested it to confirm. Whenever I have the cabinet open with exposed resin, I turn the cabinet-connected 200CFM duct fan to ludicrous speed. That exhausts the surrounding area like a commercial kitchen range hood.
Glenn --- this off-gassing you mention, is this based on your ability to smell the resin? I have not sense of smell left, although the wife can smell a gnat's fart on the other side of the globe, and she has yet to complain about any resin smells. And she actually worked for a 3D printing outfit in our area for a few months, but had reactions to the constant exposure --- well considering they were running industrial printers, metal printers, etc., etc. But she never was exposed skin wise, primarily it was the fumes. But again, she has only complained once during the time I have been operating in a spare room. I am using ELEGOO's low odor standard resin, so that may help. Now, I did switch over to their "like-ABS resin" and that generated the complaint. Hence the grow tent, window open, oh and one of those portable air exchanger/filter machines I failed to mention above. Maybe all of these being implented together are keeping the "wrath-o-de-wife" at bay....
By "offgasssing", I'm referring to the tendency of the resin to release VOC gasses, whether they can be smelled or not. Most resin gas compounds seem to be "smellable", so it's probably a pedantic distinction... However, coupla things about "smell": 1) it's not definitive regarding something you shouldn't inhale, that is, not all bad gasses give off a detectable odor, and 2) smell is not a "linear" response. By that, I mean, you can't really judge how much gas you're inhaling by the degree of "smell". Your sense of smell is sensitive to faint amounts, and the degree of "smelliness" doesn't scale along with the volume of gas. My only direct evidence that resin gasses are not something to inhale in large amounts is a printing session where I forgot to turn up the duct fan when cleaning my prints. I got lightheaded, something I hadn't experienced with just inhaling isopropyl alcohol fumes. The skin contact malady is a different mechanism. This has to do with the ability of resin to get under your skin, so to speak, and then harden when exposed to UV light such as sunlight. No direct evidence, but I think a lot of the rashes reported associated with skin contact have to do with this.
Excellent info Glenn. All the more reason to vent the fumes and mask up -- and I mean a quality mask, not those jokey Covid ones. In regards to skin contact, I am very cautious and protective of exposing myself to the resin itself, and the isopropyl alcohol that the parts have been cleaned in. I consider that just as hazardous. MENNARDS sells an excellent double layer glove (has a black widow symbol on the box) as opposed to the super heavy chemical gloves. I have had excellent luck and protection with these double layer ones, plus plenty of finger dexterity to hold tools, push printer buttons, etc. The SAFETY PRECAUTIONS we are discussing here is good info for everyone who may be monitoring this subject and has a resin 3D printer.
On that note if one uses a charcoal filtered mask and you can smell what every you are using then the filters need replacing. They don't last forever. I use to use these when using automotive primers and paints before getting a forced air system that brought air from outside the work area to the mask. When not in use I'd keep the charcoal mast in a zip-lock bag as it can absorb stuff from the air even when not in use and need replacement sooner. My shop where the printer is has a pretty large air volume at 30 X 40 and 10 & 12 ceilings. I haven't been masking up but if I was younger I probably would. The Siraya Tech 'Build' Sonic grey that I use doesn't have much of a smell, but as Glen pointed out that doesn't mean it is safe. Sumner
YEP --- agreed. Good point about bagging the charcoal filters when not in use. I forgot about that. We used to do the same in my years of restoring and painting cars as well. Interesting side note and as previously mentioned, but my ELEGOO MARS 3 PRO has a "plug-n-play" charcoal filter right next to the vat, and under the hood. The tower filter plugs into a USB style port, and there's a small fan inside. Wonder what purpose it really serves during the printing process unless there is some air draw from under hood while the printing process is taking place, through the filter and out the side of the machine. Or could it just be for show ?????
Looks like it is suppose to absorb and trap the fumes (the bad ones??) in the charcoal filter. I'd think at some point it would need replacing. Do they give any indication when? Sumner
YES SIR --- that's the little beauty. Good question on the replacement time frame. I don't recall any number of hours or anything mentioned, but I will look it up this evening after work. FUNNY -- the filter only lights up and runs when the printer is powered up and not just when printing.
Yeah those charcoal filters kill the smell but not the VOCs. There was a video I watched where the guy was using a VOC detector to see if those filters helped. Before printing, the room had normal readings, then when printing the levels spiked. The charcoal filters didn't have much effect. I was thinking of getting one of those giant sized charcoal filter setups for the room I print in until I saw they didn't kill off VOCs. I'm sure that will be one of the innovations coming down the line. -Mike
Yep, I use paint filters and coffee filters to strain the resin. I get 99% isopropyl in gallons- good for cleaning glasses, too. I do not use multiple cleaning tubs, and have not cleaned the iso tank in at least 50 runs. It is a bit cloudy but seems to still do the job. I found putting a strip of magic mending tape around the perimeter of the FEP sheet stops the infusion of the resin under the protective sheet on the printing surface. It can be replaced if the resin drips onto the tape.I am still on my original FEP sheet since last summer, but I did buy a 5-pack from AnyCubic just in case. I get my plastic razor blades at ACE Hardware (just down the street...). I also found a nicely-tapered plastic spatula that works really well for popping the prints off the build plate.
