Anycubic Photon

[narrowminded]

The resin sort of smells like glue, but I can't think of what type of glue. If I stick my nose over the bottle I can smell it. Machine is running now and if I walk over to it and take a few deep sniffs I car barely smell it.

That's one thing I'd like to have more info about.  It could be a deal breaker in the house.  I do have a small exhaust fan and could probably get that small printer isolated in the fan's air path but...

[reinhardtjh]

That's one thing I'd like to have more info about.  It could be a deal breaker in the house.  I do have a small exhaust fan and could probably get that small printer isolated in the fan's air path but...

I've been wondering about that, too.  Maybe rig a hood like a paint spray boot and vent it outside through a window.

[narrowminded]

I've been wondering about that, too.  Maybe rig a hood like a paint spray boot and vent it outside through a window.

Maybe set it in front of the existing spray booth that's already exhausted outside.

[Chris333]

I have seen people put these in a small cabinets with a hose and fan on them. The smell is not something I can show  The machine is running about 10 feet from me now and I can't smell it. If I walk over to it I can just barely smell.

You know how scent works. You get used to it quick and sort of block it out. Like those Glade heated "Plug-ins" when you are in the room with it you don't notice, but when I come home from work and open the door I smell the scent heavy.

All the other stuff I use: Bestine, MEK, lacquer thinner, Acetone, mineral spirits, alcohol. None of them bother me and I only really smell them if I take a swiff of the bottle.

At work I remember some lady up in the office complaining about strong paint odor. They were using latex paint. I was like, that doesn't smell. But it bothered her.

We also use mineral spirits at work and buy it in 55 gallon drums. One time we ordered Stoddard solvent instead and it had a strong smell. Not bad just very strong.  I looked up what Stoddard solvent was and it said mineral spirits 

Stoddard solvent is a specific mixture of hydrocarbons, typically > 65% C10 or higher hydrocarbons,[4] developed in 1924 by Atlanta dry cleaner W. J. Stoddard and Lloyd E. Jackson of the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research as a less flammable petroleum-based dry cleaning solvent than the petroleum solvents then in use.[5][6] Dry cleaners began using the result of their work in 1928 and it soon became the predominant dry cleaning solvent in the United States, until the late 1950s.[7]

Anyways I use it to wash my hands at work so it doesn't bother me.


You could hit someone up for and old empty bottle of resin, it should still smell. 

[narrowminded]

You know how scent works. You get used to it quick and sort of block it out. Like those Glade heated "Plug-ins" when you are in the room with it you don't notice, but when I come home from work and open the door I smell the scent heavy.

You could hit someone up for and old empty bottle of resin, it should still smell. 

I could start now.  Each night, a little dab under her pillow.

[Kentuckian]

And V2 Tank Treads are officially in production and available!

So how does one go about securing said treads?

[Chris333]

Oh yeah I did tighten my film sheet to the vat, it was pretty loose out of the box.

[Mark W]

So would you say the gray is better than the clear green for model choo-choo purposes?  The grey seems like it would be more durable and possibly flex more....
...I figured the color didn't really matter since everything will be painted....

As far as I can tell, besides required print settings and color, the results are identical in detail and durability.
Yes, everything gets a coat of primer at the least, but I like the grey base color to help conceal those deep details/corners that primer has a hard time reaching.   

Mark W can you please show a clean pic of the platen side of an M1 track printing?  The fluid side does look very nice, but everyone needs to see what the support side looks like after the supports are removed.

Here's all four sides.  I removed the rivets from the platen side because they're not necessary, and because they would be 'floaters' otherwise.  But I don't think the support trees affect things one bit when done properly. 

https://i.imgur.com/CIXPyRW.jpg

Why does this stuff look so much better than (a lot of) Shapeways? It actually looks molded, not printed. What is the difference in technology?

DLP has a fixed XY plane, the LCD Screen, and only the Z axis moves.  Voxel [349,2013] will be in the exact physical spot from [0,0] whether its layer 1 or layer 609.  And as mentioned, uses support "trees" instead of "beds".  The critical angle is actually around 45-30 degrees for overhang. 

FUD prints on a relative XYZ plane.  The plate moves back in forth in X while the print head moves side to side in Y, and up in Z.  As precise as stepper motors are, backlash and slop are still a variable, so your voxel on layer 1 might be ever so slightly off on each subsequent layer.  And because of the "bed" support method, FUD has a 0 degree critical angle, so every voxel that overhangs even one pixel will require support, which has the same relative coordinates as the material.  Layer by layer, each with even just the tiniest amount of slop is what introduces the infamous layering in FUD/FXD. 

[wcfn100]

Those look great Mark.  You guys must have sold them out.  Day 5 and no shipping notice yet. 

Jason

[peteski]

FUD prints on a relative XYZ plane.  The plate moves back in forth in X while the print head moves side to side in Y, and up in Z.  As precise as stepper motors are, backlash and slop are still a variable, so your voxel on layer 1 might be ever so slightly off on each subsequent layer.  And because of the "bed" support method, FUD has a 0 degree critical angle, so every voxel that overhangs even one pixel will require support, which has the same relative coordinates as the material.  Layer by layer, each with even just the tiniest amount of slop is what introduces the infamous layering in FUD/FXD.

I also think that because this printer is printing the model in a vat of liquid resin, not by depositing bits of resin in open air (and also often against wax surface), it produces smoother surfaces with none of that "wax fuzz".

[rodsup9000]

Those look great Mark.  You guys must have sold them out.  Day 5 and no shipping notice yet. 

Jason

Wow, It took like 3 days to get my shipping info.

[narrowminded]

This is getting me all verklempt.

[Mark W]

And V2 Tank Treads are officially in production and available!

So how does one go about securing said treads?

Working on some basic packaging now; hope to get the first batch listed this weekend. 

[chessie system fan]

I'm curious how this would print on the photon, or if it fails how badly if would fail and how it could be designed differently so that it would work.  One of the main reasons I got my machine is for making shells so this would be useful information to know.  Like would there be a proverbial forest of support structures in the interior?  if it turns out that isn't too bad, the only problems I see (with no experience yet--my machine arrives friday ) are the supports along the bottom and maybe the area between the cylinders.

John, I'm guessing you'd want to keep this design proprietary, but if you'd like to whip up a generic something to test the limits of the photon I'd be willing to print it as a test.

I've got a test of my own I want to try.  I'm want to print a wall with rows of differently sized rivet lines and weld seams to see what is possible and what looks good in n scale (because I know scale rivets are so small you can't see them).

[Jesse6669]

Is anyone offering a printing service using this printer or a comparable one at Shapeways-like prices?  I don't particularly want to invest in a printer myself (nor have the space really) but given the level of smoothness and strength reported I'd love to print my designs in the Anycubic Photon.