3D printing


Honestly, the more I read/watch on resin-based printing, the less sure I am I want to deal with all that goes along with it (fumes, mess, curing, maintenance, etc). Right now the best I can do in terms of a printing space is my office when I'm not using it - not ideal. Model railroading already has me spread thin given all the things there are to know about (model building, painting, weathering, decaling, trackwork, scenery, electrical, soldering, etc etc...etc). Of course, I already have the printer, so... :eek: But may need to ruminate on it a bit.
 
I have been using the Phrozen Rapid Black water washable for a few years not with good results. The printer is within arms reach of my design computer in a small office inn the downstairs. This particular resin does not seem to be odiferous. My gal hasn't noticed any dots, so a good test! As with most things, no need to overcomplicate.
 
Last edited:
3D has a learning curve. I tried a sample file for my first print and ended up with a blob. A young man with a violin case in NYC stops a stranger to ask directions to Carnegie hall. The elder replies, "Practice young man, practice".
 
Did my first print today of this model: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5258308

It came out reasonably well, definitely a little bit of warping but not far off plumb. Unfortunately it really confirmed for me that I just do not want to deal with the pain in the ass factor of resin printing. Even with water cleanup resin the smell is more than I want to deal with in my office, and I have at least some concerns about the possible health impacts of resin exposure. A proper fume management solution would involved a tent/enclosure and exhausting outside, I think. The whole dance of dealing with gloves, treating things that touch uncured resin as contaminated until exposed to UV, etc is very annoying. I will do some more ruminating on it, but most likely am going to pack this thing up for now and focus on the wood/styrene based modeling that I definitely enjoy.

Oh, another "fun" surprise - first print and there is already a leak in the resin vat :mad:
 
I bought an AnyCubic Mono 2 three weeks ago. Unfortunately, it was DOA. So, looking for a new unit. I want to make a bunch of items for my layout, speaker cases, speeder, etc.
 
Vince-RA said:
Did my first print today of this model: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5258308

It came out reasonably well, definitely a little bit of warping but not far off plumb. Unfortunately it really confirmed for me that I just do not want to deal with the pain in the ass factor of resin printing. Even with water cleanup resin the smell is more than I want to deal with in my office, and I have at least some concerns about the possible health impacts of resin exposure. A proper fume management solution would involved a tent/enclosure and exhausting outside, I think. The whole dance of dealing with gloves, treating things that touch uncured resin as contaminated until exposed to UV, etc is very annoying. I will do some more ruminating on it, but most likely am going to pack this thing up for now and focus on the wood/styrene based modeling that I definitely enjoy.

Oh, another "fun" surprise - first print and there is already a leak in the resin vat :mad:
Click to expand...
To AnyCubic's credit, they have agreed to replace the vat film, even though it is technically considered a consumable item and not warrantied. Still don't see much 3D printing in my immediate future, but at least I'll have a functioning unit if I decide to revisit or offload it.
 
I am giving Anycubic another try. Bought a Mono 2, cleaner and some resin. Will report on progress in a week or two.
 
Good luck! My experience is it may take longer than that to iron out the kinks. I would suggest doing smaller detail parts to dial in your settings. There are so many resins out there that it's about like having cable TV (never had it) with 999 channels. Having the ability to do and revise your own designs is important to success. Small items like hand grabs etc may need to be adjusted depending on the scale and resin.

Support and orientation is always a challenge. Often vertical orientation despite long print times is the only way. I printed a number of ships masts (hollow for a wire insert for stiffness). with super long printing time.

Persistance!
 
Hi Yes, well aware. When I was a professor of materials, before retiring, we had a large 3D lab built in a Class 100 cleanroom space (really nice!) I bought the students an old Hitachi 3500 SEM with X-ray analysis (helps to have friends to give you a really good deal...), several optical microscopes, and other stuff. The school bought MakerBots "for the freshmen", larger single filament FDMs, two dual filament Stratsys 400 and 450 FDMs, an 8 filament unit from Objet that could handle mixed materials (like make a tire and a wheel as a single unit- too cool), a Hoffmann research size metal fusion, and a Hoffmann commercial-sized unit, and a commercial-size powder fusion system (forgot the name). As the students progressed, they were allowed to use the more complex systems.
They also had access to an EOS, and ARCAM, and Concept Laser metal units. It was a phenomenal experience for the students.
They also had two early resin systems- small, but they did work. The resins 10 years ago were not very stable, so this was somewhat frustrating for the students when their creations kind of turned to mush...
 
An evolving technology! As an early adopter you are aware of the downsides of being at the edge of the development curve. I've always been a safe distance behind the guy leading the way through the technical minefield. The biggest asset of the resin systems is the CAN provide a good modelers product at a price point that many hobbyists can afford. Many of the more exotic technologies aren't currently available or affordable . I am somewhat interested in laser cutting but have my hands full currently.

I first got into resin printing when I was scratch building a large WWII ship model, for doing deck hardware, boats, AA etc. From that I followed up with a couple of fairly good sized ships with printed (in pieces) hulls etc. At that point it occurred to me that I could get back into narrow gauge modeling by printing rolling stock. Maybe 5-6 years of down this stuff now and on my second printer.

Beat regards: Tom
 
I'm looking hard into lasers as well, as I am with Ink Pad printing. What I'm trying to discern is to what degree laser "engravers" can cut channels into stainless steel blanks with an eye to making cliches (clee-shays) or cliches (rhymes with glitches) not necessarily quickly but by eliminating the chemical etching and engraving steps completely. Design it, engrave it and print with it. This CAN be done commercially in only a matter of minutes, but pinning down the details for a possible DIY path has, so far, proven more difficult. Much of that is: "How deep can a given non-fiber cutting laser machine engrave," and/or "how many passes would it take to get the required depth?"

Whether or not a Fiber laser is actually needed to get even such engraving done, for example, or whether a CO2 or diode laser might suffice.

I'm not looking to cut thick stainless plates themselves, and stainless cliches might not even be necessary for short ink-pad runs--just use them up and engrave some more. Aluminum might even work well for say...engraving and printing a certain car number for a short run of hoppers. How many do you actually have to print anyway, on a short, custom run?

But also: It would be really nice to be able to cut thin brass sheet (to bypass the need for chemically etching thin parts), or to engrave circuit boards (far, far down my own list of fun things to do with a laser etcher/cutter...but I could loan out the machine time to someone else).

And last...and this one could be very important...DRILLING micro size holes into any number of materials. Doing this relates to the exact size of the laser dot, or pretty closely to it, but even a relatively crude laser engraver can still outperform a #80 drill bit by a wide, wide margin. Provided it doesn't just nuke the material being drilled into anyway.

One of the two machines I'm currently eyeing myself is the xTool F1, not because of it's portability or it's speed really, but because of a laser spot size of about 0.003mm, and a multi-repeat pass accuracy of about 0.002mm. That's just tighter than anything I would need anyway, but it would be nice to be able to count on it if you could get it without breaking the bank.

Give me that and a decent pad-printing machine--wouldn't have to be automatic, either, if I was printing just for myself (many of those can be had for under $500 US)--and I'd be as happy as a clam, I think. For a long, long time.
 
Last edited:
GGNInNScale said:
Hi Yes, well aware. When I was a professor of materials, before retiring, we had a large 3D lab built in a Class 100 cleanroom space (really nice!) I bought the students an old Hitachi 3500 SEM with X-ray analysis (helps to have friends to give you a really good deal...), several optical microscopes, and other stuff. The school bought MakerBots "for the freshmen", larger single filament FDMs, two dual filament Stratsys 400 and 450 FDMs, an 8 filament unit from Objet that could handle mixed materials (like make a tire and a wheel as a single unit- too cool), a Hoffmann research size metal fusion, and a Hoffmann commercial-sized unit, and a commercial-size powder fusion system (forgot the name). As the students progressed, they were allowed to use the more complex systems.
They also had access to an EOS, and ARCAM, and Concept Laser metal units. It was a phenomenal experience for the students.
They also had two early resin systems- small, but they did work. The resins 10 years ago were not very stable, so this was somewhat frustrating for the students when their creations kind of turned to mush...
Click to expand...
I'm curious what your preference in resin is?

I ask because I do a lot of Miniature Wargaming models in roughly 1:56 scale. We're in a different situation than MRR, in that we handle the models a lot more than I expect MRRers do. Transport to and from gaming events, push them around the table, put them back in the case to transport home again.

Even with new resins geared toward the tabletop minis market, the standard resin I'm using is Elegoo ABS-like with a 10% mix of Siryatech Tenacious to add even more flexibility (it's still breakable, but less so). That gives us good "fine details" without being as brittle as the technical resins.

Thoughts or suggestions? I'm not sure what a MRR would settle on for resin that could handle both rolling stock bodies as well as static scenery.
 
Snowman said:
I'm looking hard into lasers as well, as I am with Ink Pad printing. What I'm trying to discern is to what degree laser "engravers" can cut channels into stainless steel blanks with an eye to making cliches (clee-shays) or cliches (rhymes with glitches) not necessarily quickly but by eliminating the chemical etching and engraving steps completely. Design it, engrave it and print with it. This CAN be done commercially in only a matter of minutes, but pinning down the details for a possible DIY path has, so far, proven more difficult. Much of that is: "How deep can a given non-fiber cutting laser machine engrave," and/or "how many passes would it take to get the required depth?"

Whether or not a Fiber laser is actually needed to get even such engraving done, for example, or whether a CO2 or diode laser might suffice.

I'm not looking to cut thick stainless plates themselves, and stainless cliches might not even be necessary for short ink-pad runs--just use them up and engrave some more. Aluminum might even work well for say...engraving and printing a certain car number for a short run of hoppers. How many do you actually have to print anyway, on a short, custom run?

But also: It would be really nice to be able to cut thin brass sheet (to bypass the need for chemically etching thin parts), or to engrave circuit boards (far, far down my own list of fun things to do with a laser etcher/cutter...but I could loan out the machine time to someone else).

And last...and this one could be very important...DRILLING micro size holes into any number of materials. Doing this relates to the exact size of the laser dot, or pretty closely to it, but even a relatively crude laser engraver can still outperform a #80 drill bit by a wide, wide margin. Provided it doesn't just nuke the material being drilled into anyway.

One of the two machines I'm currently eyeing myself is the xTool F1, not because of it's portability or it's speed really, but because of a laser spot size of about 0.003mm, and a multi-repeat pass accuracy of about 0.002mm. That's just tighter than anything I would need anyway, but it would be nice to be able to count on it if you could get it without breaking the bank.

Give me that and a decent pad-printing machine--wouldn't have to be automatic, either, if I was printing just for myself (many of those can be had for under $500 US)--and I'd be as happy as a clam, I think. For a long, long time.
Click to expand...
Snowman: I got a laser cutter a few months back. 9W pin diode with about a 16" x 16" cutting area. This will cut 3/16 basswood ( or other soft wood ) with one pass. You can adjust the power/speed to keep from getting those brown burn marks that you see with some of the current 'laser cut' offerings. Metal is a whole new can-o-worms. Problem with it is that it reflects the beam which reduces the cutting power a bunch. I also have a 50W CO2 which will punch through 0.020" brass - close the cover and wear your eye protection! I guess that you could throw BIG BUCKS at the laser machine which would do just about everything except open your beer. Do not look at laser with remaining eye!

Non-fiber? Don't know what you mean with that. All lasers are either pin diodes or an actual laser tube ( needs to be water cooled ). The CO2 has a 2 foot tube that uses mirrors to route the beam to the XY head where as the pin diode is directly mounted on the XY head. Want more power from the pin diode? They stack them one above the other focused together. Your beam spot/size is a tad bigger; usually not a problem with the stuff we need to do. With the 9W cutter, there is no Z axis - ya have to set the head at an optimal position for cutting. Mine uses a shim to place between the head and the target work to get that adjustment. I need to check the CO2 to see if it does Z. Note that the 9W is also a 'blue' laser of which folks say you do not need eye protection. Do I believe that ... nope. Also, the software you use for cutting *should* allow for different colors in you drawing of which you can use different power/speed settings for depth of engraving.

I got a 1/32 sheet of phosphor/bronze which is supposed to be easier to cut than brass because it reflects less. Hope to have time soon to play with that using the 9W cutter as signal building is coming soon. PB can be soldered almost as easy as Copper.

Will know more and share when the time comes.

Later
 
troyphoto said:
I'm curious what your preference in resin is?

I ask because I do a lot of Miniature Wargaming models in roughly 1:56 scale. We're in a different situation than MRR, in that we handle the models a lot more than I expect MRRers do. Transport to and from gaming events, push them around the table, put them back in the case to transport home again.

Even with new resins geared toward the tabletop minis market, the standard resin I'm using is Elegoo ABS-like with a 10% mix of Siryatech Tenacious to add even more flexibility (it's still breakable, but less so). That gives us good "fine details" without being as brittle as the technical resins.

Thoughts or suggestions? I'm not sure what a MRR would settle on for resin that could handle both rolling stock bodies as well as static scenery.
Click to expand...
Hi Right now I am starting up a new Anycubic Mono printer. I am starting with their resins. I will let you know. The types and stability of resins has improved greatly since we started back in 2014/15. I have been out of the loop for a while. The Elegoo stuff is supposed to be good. I suggest doing a bit of searching in the Thingiverse for a wide range of experiences.
 
A friend who is a great creator uses the Elgoo Standard Grey. I have the Any C Mono 6x and use Phrozen Rapid Black water washable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.



Back
Top