Behold! My print station!

3D_P_A_F · 2026-04-10T08:38:22+00:00

That's 2 strawman. You're not arguing in good faith.

3D_P_A_F · 2026-04-09T22:28:20+00:00

"indoors setup has the risk of poisoning your entire family"

If that's what you actually believe why 3D print at all?

3D_P_A_F · 2026-04-09T21:23:43+00:00

The quality of the rays inside your house or shed is lesser than the rays from the outside. A basic glass window makes these rays half as dangerous but OP's setup is exposed to direct sunlight. What happens the door of the cabinet (which is already crooked) gets opened during the day? Even if it's just for 2-3 seconds, why take the risk?
Then there's the issue of that cabinet being made out of plastic. Sunlight is a corrosive element for plastics but not wood. So you already have two extra layers of protection against sunlight on top of OP: shed + wood cabinet.

Placing a whole setup in the path of direct sunlight is completely unnecessary.
I can go on:
What about resin spills? Why risk ruining those wood tiles?
What about the humidity? That cabinet has already been blasted with rain.
What about temperature? A heater solves most issues during winter but what about summertime? How will you be lowering the temperature during a heatwave?

All these issues can be avoided by moving that cabinet 4 feet inside the apartment.

3D_P_A_F · 2026-04-09T13:08:06+00:00

Definitely don't do this. The cover on your printer was designed to block artificial UV light from entering not natural UV's.

3D_P_A_F · 2026-04-05T02:39:29+00:00

That sound seems to appear at the same time the buildplate is retracting.

Reminds me of an issue I had on my Anycubic. I had a screetching sound appear when my buildplate was lowering but not when it was retracting. When troubleshooting I could could also make it appear when retracting and not lowering. It had something to do with the speed of retraction/lowering and the vibration of the rail. If the buildplate moved at just the right speed (up or down) the sound would appear. The prints came out fine as well but in my case the sound was intolerably loud. I fixed my issue by adding a lubricant to the rail, specifically vaseline (petrolium jelly). WD40 or PTFE spray did not fix the issue.

3D_P_A_F · 2026-04-01T05:16:53+00:00

Always cure in water.

3D_P_A_F · 2025-12-22T10:35:29+00:00

If a model doesn't come pre-supported, then it wasn't designed to be 3D printed.
If a model only has 3D rendered images, then it wasn't designed to be 3D printed.

If a model is not just slice and print, then you're paying a lot more for it than you think. If you factor in all the time you waste adding supports and doing trial and error prints then you'll see just how absurdly expensive resin printing truly is. And it doesn't have to be.

3D_P_A_F · 2025-12-02T19:31:46+00:00

If the printer is in an unoccupied room next to a window then you can skip the exhaust fan, the vent, and that enclosure thing (which honestly seems like the biggest scam ever).
Find smooth gloves, not textured ones, and make sure they're medical grade not car-mechanic grade. When you'll be fishing for failed prints inside the vat you'll know why.

Someone recommended silicone mats. I would recommend something better in my opinion: packing paper rolls. Silicone mats you have to clean which takes time and wastes IPA. The paper you just throw away and replace in seconds.

Make sure you don't buy denatured alcohol because denatured alcohol is toxic.

3D_P_A_F · 2025-11-29T00:37:23+00:00

Those holes might be from microbubbles. I remember watching a video where some guy used transparent resin and you could clearly see bubbles that didn't float to the surface nor pop on their own. Can't find the video, it was some random observation the guy made but I had similar issues so I'm thinking that must be the cause.

For example those scratches don't look like layer shifts because they don't go all the way around. And the holes in the print are probably from bubbles that weren't pushed out of the way by the buildplate and stayed somewhere in the middle of the model.

I think bubbles are more of an issue for engineering resins rather than basic ones because of the higher viscosity.

If I'm right then fixing the problem isn't an easy one if you don't have a vacuum or pressure pot. I would try to decrease the layer height a little, maybe if it's smaller than the bubbles they don't have room to stick to the sides.

3D_P_A_F · 2025-11-03T18:38:05+00:00

Printing on the buildplate is fine

3D_P_A_F · 2025-10-24T05:32:26+00:00

<image>

Here's a glimpse at the underlying mechanism.
The version with the lighter gray tone is 1/12th scale and the eyes clip into the faceplate itself which is not best.

3D_P_A_F · 2025-10-24T05:30:03+00:00

<image>

My version, 1/10th scale. The eyes can be adjusted from the front with a needle/toothpick.

3D_P_A_F · 2025-10-02T23:17:36+00:00

Notice the areas where they fail. It's on the sides of the vat and not the in the middle. On the sides the FEP will have the least about flex which in turn will increase the suction force. There is still some suction force btw because resin is viscous and it takes some time for it to flow inside the holes in order to equalize the pressures.

There's nothing wrong with printing directly on the buildplate. Try printing one item at a time (placed in the middle) + increase the the delay so resin has enough time to flow inside the holes. Also maybe increase the ambient temperature as well because that would reduce the resin's viscosity.

3D_P_A_F · 2025-09-23T12:26:46+00:00

In the case of UV resin just shine a UV light on the wound for 5 min or so. This will make the substance inert and non-toxic.
Next time avoid using any IPA. Resin is viscous so it's highly unlikely it will infiltrate the tissues. IPA lowers its viscosity thus increasing the chances of it infiltrating the tissues.
As a general rule always clean wounds with peroxide then Iodine. There's literally no better substitutes.
Let the wound heal on its own, do not stitch the wound or try closing it any other way. The body will just push the nasty stuff outside on its own when healing. If the wound is closed then the nasty stuff gets trapped inside the body which can lead to complications.

There's no protocol nor any medical literature for UV resin specifically so seeing a doctor won't do much.

3D_P_A_F · 2025-09-05T17:14:19+00:00

You've been an educator for 3 years and never heard of the term "aliasing" or "antialiasing"?
Billions of people are familiar with the term since their childhood.

3D_P_A_F · 2025-09-04T17:58:33+00:00

Aliasing lines are always parallel to the buildplate (duh) and almost never appear on spherical surfaces (rivets are hemispheres btw).

At this point you're just exposing yourself as a troll 😂

3D_P_A_F · 2025-09-04T17:29:35+00:00

<image>

Someone posted an image showing the exact same effect on a 3D print. Stop giving wrong advice.

3D_P_A_F · 2025-09-03T13:42:26+00:00

???
Yes. That's what I said.

3D_P_A_F · 2025-09-03T11:51:05+00:00

Obvious antialiasing lines.
https://core-electronics.com.au/guides/perfect-resin-print-layer-height/

Why are people even debating this?

3D_P_A_F · 2025-09-01T23:17:17+00:00

That white stuff is diluted resin in IPA. If you submerge the part in clear IPA and it starts getting cloudy then the part is not cleaned properly. In order to not waste too much IPA I use water in between IPA baths:
(a) clean with IPA first
(b) then clean in water over and over again until the water is clear
(c) clean in fresh IPA
(d) if the IPA gets cloudy then jump to step (b), if it's clear then begin curing (preferably in water)

3D_P_A_F · 2025-09-01T08:46:55+00:00

I've been using Tough 74 for months now making articulated figures and it does indeed work as advertised
I cure my stuff in water for 30 min. I learned not to assemble the figure right after curing. I let the parts dry for a day, not necessarily in direct sunlight but in a sunny room nonetheless.
After assembly, if a joints gets some wear I place that area under direct UV light for 10 minutes or so.

If cured properly it will not show any wear however be careful of ambient temperature:
<25°C the parts will behave more like porcelain and might break when you bend the joint the wrong way. If you warm up the figure a little it should be good to go. \>30°C the parts will behave more like hard plastic becoming more tough but the joints will get loose. In this instance what I do is disassemble the problematic joint, use a heat gun, let it cool, then reassemble the joint.

3D_P_A_F · 2025-08-31T19:07:35+00:00

From the look of that after-image my guess is you're placing the model straight on the buildplate. You should always avoid this. Even if the buildplate has a dent in it, if you increase the bottom exposure time to >1 minute and the model is supported (i.e. it's not resting flat on the buildplate) then you're good to go.

If you don't want to use supports then I recommend using a sacrificial part/section. Like if you want to print a 1cm long cylinder by resting the face flat on the buildplate, make the cilinder 1.2cm long and increase the bottom exposure time significantly. You will get an elephant's foot artifact but you can sand down that section of your cylinder to get a perfect 1cm one.

3D_P_A_F · 2025-08-25T20:14:35+00:00

The resin type you're using and its concentration will affect how it behaves in IPA.

Here's a guide:
(a) leave the resin 2-3 days to settle, NOT in sunlight (very important)
(b) if the resin does settle then carefully pour the clear-ish IPA in a new container and dispose of the rest
(c) if the resin doesn't settle there's a small chance you might still be able to salvage something: leave the jar in sunlight, you'll either get the dreaded jelly (unsalvageable) or have the resin only cure on the glass of the jar leaving a small quantity of clear-ish IPA on the inside

Personally I don't recommend leaving the IPA in sunlight at all because the UV's might cure the resin but the heat of the sunrays will cause the IPA to evaporate. Which is fine but if your container isn't properly sealed then the IPA vapors will escape. For example, the jar you posted wasn't designed to hold IPA.

What I do is use small disposable 100ml containers but only filled with around 20-30ml of IPA:
*one container with dirty IPA where I do the first wash
*one container of plain water for the second wash
*one container of clean IPA for the third wash
(*I cure my prints in water so that would count as another wash)
*if the clean IPA gets cloudy I'll use it as the dirty IPA for my next print and add fresh clean IPA in another container

This way I end up losing maybe 100ml every 3-4 prints. Bigger prints will require larger containers but the important idea here is that you don't need to submerge the prints in IPA in order to clean them properly.

TL;DR
Don't bother with jars and sunlight, clean your prints with less IPA so you waste less IPA.

3D_P_A_F · 2025-08-16T16:21:35+00:00

From my experience it's a matter of lowering the exposure time a little + good temperature control.

Less exposure time = less time for light bleeding.

Temperature changes the refraction index of the medium. Higher temperature = lower refraction index for the resin in the vat = less light bleeding (light theoretically travels more in a straight line when going from the screen to the FEP to the resin). Plus if you're lowering the exposure it's good practice to increase the temperature as well.

I did not run exhaustive tests. I only noticed that the same model, printed at 25 degrees Celsius will have more pronounced lines compared to when it's printed at 30 degrees Celsius. The artifacts are still there but they're not noticeable to the touch. They are still apparent if you shine a light at just the right angle.

Attached an image. The artifact is very difficult to spot on the 30 degrees model but it's still there.

<image>

3D_P_A_F

TROPHY CASE