3D Printing General Discussion (merged)

[Illithar]

*Urge to buy Wash and Cure station intensifies*

 

They've come way down in price too, and it would make my printing area a lot more tidy/clean...

[Cygnwulf]

hmm, Anycubic is coming to Kickstarter with a DLP photon printer. (not LCD!)  VOG posted a review of a demo model this morning. 

I did a little digging looks like it's coming to KS in about a month, $499 each, or $399 for first 100 early backers. (likely $599 retail)

80 micron resolution vs 35 micron current 4k printers, but apparently DLP's precision makes that less of an issue than you'd think?

Edited August 13, 2021 by Cygnwulf

[Gadgetman!]

Nice quality prints, what a pity about the printer quality. 

The single rail is not good enough. And the plastic is just... no. 

Particularly the plastic resin tray.  

My Kudo3D Bean had plastic trays, and both(I bought one extra to make it quick to change resins) and both of them warped because of the heat over long time. 

 

[Glitterwolf]

I'm not familiar with DLP printing.

 

If it's not an LCD, how about screen lifetime?

Is it still a consumable?

As for the tray, one should not use plastic for a heating device..

[MojoBob]

Huh... that's new (to me). I was trying to slice a two-part rotated model* in the latest version of Cura, and it just stopped about half way through. Clearly it encountered something that made its tiny digital brain fall out, but I have no idea what. That's annoying.

 

I might try slightly simplifying it in 3d Builder, and try slicing the copy — that sometimes fixes invisible mesh issues.

 

* A 28mm skiff from Printable Scenery

 

Update: Nope, that made no difference. I guess the issue is not with the mesh, but with the geometry... maybe it's a support issue. I just noticed the slicing progress bar move to the right by about a pixel, so I guess I'll just leave it and go and do something else for a while.

 

Update Update: Well, it finally completed, so I guess I just needed to be more patient. I have my suspicions about what created the jam though — probably developing the support roof for the textured front (bottom, on the platen) of the counter.

 

Printing it in this orientation should give me better resolution on the decking texture, but on the other hand it will be about 18 hours of printing, compared with about 7 when printing it in one piece, bottom down on the platen.

 

 

Edited August 13, 2021 by MojoBob

[Cygnwulf]

3 hours ago, Glitterwolf said:

I'm not familiar with DLP printing.

 

If it's not an LCD, how about screen lifetime?

Is it still a consumable?

As for the tray, one should not use plastic for a heating device..

It should have a far longer lifetime.  According to the handful of sources I've found in some lazy googling, the projector should have at least an extra zero on the number of hours over the lifetime of a lcd.

 

I agree on the concerns about the plastic tank, though I see that as something easily upgradable.  The plastic housing less so, however.

 

Edited August 13, 2021 by Cygnwulf

[Illithar]

12 hours ago, Glitterwolf said:

I'm not familiar with DLP printing.

 

If it's not an LCD, how about screen lifetime?

Is it still a consumable?

As for the tray, one should not use plastic for a heating device..

That's a good question. It uses a digital projector, so essentially the 'screen' and UV light source are the same component.

 

This is how a (full color) DLP projector works:

 

So there's no actual 'screen' to burn out really. So as @Cygnwulf mentions, the light source/screen should last much, much longer. Very possibly longer than the life of some of the other components in the printer.

 

I'm skeptical about how well it actually prints. I saw the print in the video, but I'd need to see more to be convinced. The build quality of the printer itself isn't all that encouraging either. But new technologies being introduced that can be competitive is always nice. I would never back a Kickstarter for something like this, but I am eager to see how it performs once it is 'out in the wild'.

Edited August 14, 2021 by Illithar

[PaganMegan]

MMF has added some new companies to their End of Summer Sale.

 

[haldir]

6 hours ago, PaganMegan said:

MMF has added some new companies to their End of Summer Sale.

 

 

Must. Not. Look....

 

 

Safe, for now!

 

[Illithar]

1 hour ago, haldir said:

 

Must. Not. Look....

 

 

[TheAuldGrump]

We have spent our Atlas Coins from the Vulcan Resin Kickstarter, and one of the models we picked up, welllll -

Not sure which of us will use it first....

 

The Auld Grump - pretty.....

 

[Illithar]

1 hour ago, TheAuldGrump said:

We have spent our Atlas Coins from the Vulcan Resin Kickstarter, and one of the models we picked up, welllll -

Not sure which of us will use it first....

 

The Auld Grump - pretty.....

 

Ooooo neat, reminds of Captain Nemo's car from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

 

I ended up not having the funds at the time to hop onto that one. I am curious how that resin is going to work out though.

Edited August 14, 2021 by Illithar

[Illithar]

So, I came upon an article (I'm not sure if I can/should post a link to it here or not, but it's on 'All3dp.com') that goes a bit more in depth on DLP tech. It is generally reserved for the dental and jewelry industry as it can accomplish greater in clarity in fine details. 

 

From the article:

"Instead of a screen illuminated by a light source, the Photon Ultra uses a light projector at its core. Although the resolution of the Photon Ultra is rated at 720p (80 microns), Anycubic claims the print quality to be even better than that of 2k/4k monochrome LCD screen printers (50/35 microns).

While DLP printers are similar to LCD-based masked stereolithography (MSLA) printers in that there are perceivable pixels – and the layer cure times are not dependent on the number of models on the plate – there is one major difference: LCD printers converge all the light to a pixel, which can cause bumps and shadows on the edge of models. Projector-based printers reflect light to a pixel via micromirrors, with little to no light convergence and with the effective “pixel” size being scalable, can achieve crisper black-white contrasts. As such, intricate details, thin lines, and small-size texts come out much clearer on DLP printers (a reason that DLP technology is commonplace in the dental and jewelry industries)."

 

Anycubic is claiming 20,000 hours of use before the projector needs maintenance, 1.5 second exposure time per layer. It's also not locked in at the 405nm UV light and can be adjusted so a wider range of resins can be used.

 

It's almost falling into the 'too good to be true' category for me, but at the same time I guess it is a proven tech having been used in a different industry for at least a little while. So, still intriguing, who knows, maybe we'll all have DLP printers in a few years?

Edited August 14, 2021 by Illithar

[TheAuldGrump]

44 minutes ago, Illithar said:

Ooooo neat, reminds of Captain Nemo's car from League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

 

I ended up not having the funds at the time to hop onto that one. I am curious how that resin is going to work out though.

That particular model is available through MMF - Crucible of Games - and it definitely has a LoEG vibe going. (Loved the Nautilus, loved the sets, loved the costuming - hated the movie.)

 

Split very nicely for printing on a smaller bed.

 

The Auld Grump

[Glitterwolf]

7 hours ago, Illithar said:

So, I came upon an article (I'm not sure if I can/should post a link to it here or not, but it's on 'All3dp.com') that goes a bit more in depth on DLP tech. It is generally reserved for the dental and jewelry industry as it can accomplish greater in clarity in fine details. 

 

From the article:

"Instead of a screen illuminated by a light source, the Photon Ultra uses a light projector at its core. Although the resolution of the Photon Ultra is rated at 720p (80 microns), Anycubic claims the print quality to be even better than that of 2k/4k monochrome LCD screen printers (50/35 microns).

While DLP printers are similar to LCD-based masked stereolithography (MSLA) printers in that there are perceivable pixels – and the layer cure times are not dependent on the number of models on the plate – there is one major difference: LCD printers converge all the light to a pixel, which can cause bumps and shadows on the edge of models. Projector-based printers reflect light to a pixel via micromirrors, with little to no light convergence and with the effective “pixel” size being scalable, can achieve crisper black-white contrasts. As such, intricate details, thin lines, and small-size texts come out much clearer on DLP printers (a reason that DLP technology is commonplace in the dental and jewelry industries)."

 

Anycubic is claiming 20,000 hours of use before the projector needs maintenance, 1.5 second exposure time per layer. It's also not locked in at the 405nm UV light and can be adjusted so a wider range of resins can be used.

 

It's almost falling into the 'too good to be true' category for me, but at the same time I guess it is a proven tech having been used in a different industry for at least a little while. So, still intriguing, who knows, maybe we'll all have DLP printers in a few years?

 

I'll keep using my Mars till it dies, got two more spare lcd screens, I figure by the time it dies it will be clear how this tech has developed and prices will be a bit down for those.

Very interesting!!!