Anycubic Photon

[narrowminded]

Hey wait a minute...  Did you buy a Photon?

Several posts ago.   It'll be a week or so until it arrives.

[tom mann]

I bought that UV light and it works fine.

I did buy mine on Amazon through the Railwire link, but notice it is almost $10 cheaper on ebay. Tell me again why Amazon is so popular 

It’s not because RW gets the $10!!

[narrowminded]

It’s not because RW gets the $10!!

I understand the idea but have no specifics.  I get things from Amazon at times, not always model related, but if it helped I could try to do whatever it is that gets RW credit.

[Chris333]

It’s not because RW gets the $10!!

First I bought mine from Amazon specifically to help the Railwire since I rarely buy from them. So the cost didn't matter.

Second I would have rather bought it on eBay and sent the Railwire treasurer    the $10.

[narrowminded]

First I bought mine from Amazon specifically to help the Railwire since I rarely buy from them. So the cost didn't matter.

Second I would have rather bought it on eBay and sent the Railwire treasurer    the $10.

Is it as simple as accessing Amazon by clicking the above link when making a purchase?   (I just saw that.)

[tom mann]

Is it as simple as accessing Amazon by clicking the above link when making a purchase?   (I just saw that.)

Yes.  Thanks for the support!

[Chris333]

Yes just click the link and search for what you want to buy.

[narrowminded]

Good deal.  Back to printer stuff.

In my blind search flailings I did find something about the print time estimates not agreeing with the reality, therefore giving wildly different cycle times for an  actual print.  One of the things that seems to make sense is when specifying "off time", the estimate will be based on that number but in reality, when actually printing, the off time is the time it takes the Z axis to cycle up and back down for the next exposure and that number isn't compensated for in the estimate unless the specified time agrees with that reality.  Apparently the cycle time in reality is 6.5 seconds and as such, it was suggested that the off time number should always be at least 6.5 seconds because that's what you will get as a minimum regardless of any number specified that's less than 6.5 seconds.  In the end that adds up to a LOT of time if the specified was 1 second or some other lesser value than 6.5 seconds and that's the source of the wildly different times. 

I also see where Rodney mentioned that but it didn't make sense to me (not actually running one yet) until I saw it spelled out in gory detail.

[Chris333]

I can agree with the 6.5s min. I just happened to notice it at the same time I was getting re-sets so thought it was all related. It is strange that the software would even let you enter a lower number than is possible. And the print time is still quicker than Shapeways shipping!

My re-setting is gone now. Must of had something to do with the loose ball screws. And that would also be why I was re-leveling my plate so much.



Any ideas for a small turn table for the UV light?

EDIT:
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_gnr_aps?rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Asolar+turntable&keywords=solar+turntable&ie=UTF8&qid=1363325124

[narrowminded]

My re-setting is gone now. Must of had something to do with the loose ball screws. And that would also be why I was re-leveling my plate so much.

That makes complete sense as I begin to understand the way these things work.  I'm also anxious to see one because in reality, they are crazy simple, at least the mechanics of it, so should be easy to diagnose troubles and should run reliably for a long time.  At least from the mechanical side.

Any ideas for a small turn table for the UV light?

I was looking at some solar powered ones but don't know if they are instant on with the light.  I suspect they would work fine, even be ideal with the UV light environment that they'd be asked to run in.  Many available for less than $10.

[narrowminded]

Any ideas for a small turn table for the UV light?

EDIT:
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_gnr_aps?rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Asolar+turntable&keywords=solar+turntable&ie=UTF8&qid=1363325124

Those are the same I saw and short of trying one, would seem to be the ticket.  Wrap the table with aluminum foil and let 'er rip!

[narrowminded]

Another thing that came up in my searches of resins was heating as well as UV light curing.  This makes some sense at some level from research and experience I have with epoxies.  In my past life and a different project, an "expert" advised me to ALWAYS use some heat in curing ANY epoxy whenever the strength was important or the opportunity to heat it was available.  The heat suggested with two part epoxies when no particular number was known was around 150F and when numbers were specified they were always in that range.  Apparently the strength improvement is another 20-30%(?) or so.  My memory is not perfect on that but it was a real number like that.

The numbers I saw for some of these resins was around 140F for some of the standard resins (whatever that means?) and about 120F(?) for another specific one.  I will experiment with that a little but being "stronger", gaining ultimate tensile strength, isn't always a good thing as it can come at the impact or flex strength going south.  I don't think "strength" is necessarily a problem for our/ my purposes but impact and flex capabilities are.  This is one where it may help, it may hurt, the desired characteristics. 

Anybody have anything to add to this?

[Mark W]

That's the exact turn table I use, fits nicely inside the MelodySusie UV Hood.  I bought a couple of them from Hobby Town for $10 a few years ago. 

The UV Light sure gets them going too, but if you wrap the clear plate in foil you'll be blocking the solar panels. 

For curing, I just do 3 minutes on one side, flip, and do 3 minutes on the other. 

[narrowminded]

That's the exact turn table I use, fits nicely inside the MelodySusie UV Hood.  I bought a couple of them from Hobby Town for $10 a few years ago. 

OK, Chris.  Is it time for us to click the Amazon button up there?    I think I will.

I've now got, or have on its way, a Manycubic Photon machine, 1 1/2 gallons of 99% alcohol in a case of 12, 16 oz bottles, a couple of salvaged pump sprayers,  500ml of gray resin, a UV light source, a box of rubber gloves, assorted pickle, olive, and peanut butter jars for cleaning as well as wide mouth screw on lid over sized medicine bottles for used resin, a lot of paper towels (the tough ones), eyeglasses, and a few micro-fiber cloths.  Exhaust duct fan I have from the spray booth but will probably have to do some rigging to adapt it to the stink pipe on the machine.  And in a couple of days, with free shipping, a solar powered rotating thing.  Anything else?

[rodsup9000]

OK, Chris.  Is it time for us to click the Amazon button up there?    I think I will.

I've now got, or have on its way, a Manycubic Photon machine, 1 1/2 gallons of 99% alcohol in a case of 12, 16 oz bottles, a couple of salvaged pump sprayers,  500ml of gray resin, a box of rubber gloves, assorted pickle, olive, and peanut butter jars for cleaning as well as wide mouth screw on lid over sized medicine bottles for used resin, a lot of paper towels (the tough ones), eyeglasses, and a few micro-fiber cloths.  Exhaust duct fan I have from the spray booth but will probably have to do some rigging to adapt it to the stink pipe on the machine.  And in a couple of days, with free shipping, a solar powered rotating thing.  Anything else?

 Mark,

 That will get you up and running. It come with a few filters to filter the resin, but you might want to get some more. Here is the ones I bought.


 https://www.ebay.com/itm/50Pcs-Mesh-Paper-Resin-Filters-Funnel-Cone-Purifying-Cup-for-ANYCUBIC-LCD-Photon/283101949506?hash=item41ea30ee42:g:ZkQAAOSwoFVab423:rk:2:pf:0