It’s ALLLLIIIIVEEEE.. and I’m scared

[timwatson]

I "might" be rewriting the gcode for the SM4k project.

[Lemosteam]

I might not be printing yet, but I am darn near ready to!

Built a special cabinet just for the printer, wash station and resin. Wanted a dark space to prevent inadvertent UV hardening. 16x16.75x48h. Used one full sheet of 3/4 MDF. Had Home Depot cut the sheet into 3 16” wide x 96” strips.

What’s behind Door Number One:


EVERYTHING:


Bottom shelf is full extension for the wash station:


Next fixed shelf holds resin and some other stuff:


But it’s the printer shelf I like. Got the lift mech for $45, most woodworking shops want over $100:

Fully raised:


Mid lowered and under its own 25# weight:


Fully stowed:

[reinhardtjh]

Excellent!  Where did you get the lift shelf for the printer?  Also Home Depot?

[Lemosteam]

Excellent!  Where did you get the lift shelf for the printer?  Also Home Depot?

@reinhardtjh , There are other lifts out there that are much more expensive. If I were to do it again, I would have made the cabinet 18” wide or more. If you can see the mech takes up about 2” on each side if you mount inside the cabinet. I got lucky when I came up with the slots on the side to move them outward one inch. I would have had to scrap the box.

The bottom edge of the brackets are set 7.5” down from the top to the cabinet to keep the printer 1/2” below the top edge.

https://www.dlawlesshardware.com/mixer-lift-appliance-lift.html

[narrowminded]

Congratulations John!  You're gonna' like it!

[Lemosteam]

@SkipGear , Just started the RERF file. Fingers crossed.

How do I determine, which of the eight is best?

[SkipGear]

You have probably figured it out by now. Honestly the print will tell you just by looking. Look at the detail of the holes Vs the posts and the angled prints to determine which has the best balance of properly printed features. Use the shortest print time version that printed completely successful.

[Lemosteam]

Well. All I can say is Wow! I’m impressed, and I never thought I would be. I did not do a very good job of cleaning the parts and they were sill not fully cured. The curvature is not the part it is the arm of my chair.

The thing that blows me away are the ever thinning walls in the last pic down to maybe a pixel or two.

The cylinders on a post are pretty amazing too.

Looks like setting 8 is bast for the Sirius fast. At least on my machine:

[SkipGear]

So you take whatever the base time for the RERF was and add .7 seconds to it for your layer times. (#1 is standard layer time, #2 is std + .1 sec....etc)

[Lemosteam]

So I know you thought it was crazy, but I tried the PTFE on the FEP in the vat.  I was very glad I did.  I have several pieces stuck to the FEP and I said, "crap".

Well using a tissue dipped in the alcohol, and gently rubbing the stuck parts, I was able to remove them as tha alcohol soaked in and underneath the pieces.  eventually thy popped off.  I had one large piece, about 3x6mm rectangle stuck to the FEP and I thought is was done for. The IPA eventually got under it and it started to slide on the FEP.  Bingo.

I think the PTFE had alot to do with that, so I added another light coat after cleaning the vat.

Good call on the 16quart container! works perfectly. I also picked up a set of three plastic measuring cups for draining the vat into.

I assume the RERF can be opened in the slicer.  I really want to see where #8 was located in the VAT to make sure that it was not in one of the locations where some resin was stuck.

[Chris333]

I use the little plastic scraper to get stuff off the fep. Never even empty the vat. Some times if they are stuck good I push up from the bottom to be able to get under it.

[SkipGear]

In the future, to remove errors stuck to the FEP, remove the vat, push lightly from underneath, the parts will pop right off the FEP. I don't even drain the vat any more to remove print failures.

Don't wipe the FEP with anything. It scratches very easy. If you are cleaning the vat, pour alcohol in, slosh it around till it dilutes the resin, pour it out and rinse again, let dry. You can blot with a soft cloth or paper towel but do not wipe.

[SkipGear]

If #8 on the test was the best, you may want to rerun the test and bump up the base time .5 sec. That will give you a range on either side of #8 so you can see if it may still need more time.

[Lemosteam]

If #8 on the test was the best, you may want to rerun the test and bump up the base time .5 sec. That will give you a range on either side of #8 so you can see if it may still need more time.

Ah, 6 and 7 came very close, but 8 was definitely the best.

Can't the loose pieces in the resin mess up the print? Or does the force of the build plate coming down into the resin kinda push them out?

I notice a lot of missing layers stuck to other areas of the model in the end.

[Chris333]

If you have a bunch of little stuff you might have to drain and filter it. But mostly for me it is big stuff and I know right where it is in the resin. Just pop it loose and fish it out.