So far what is your favorite resin for detail?

[Lemosteam]

I am asking this question because I cannot get the Siraya Fast to print good detail no matter my efforts (exposure time, etc.)

I even wired up a micro ceramic heater to put inside my printer cabinet to keep the resin less viscous before and during printing.

Seeing some of the recent results, I would just like to collect a list here with some example images if possible.  Here are my efforts and you can see why I am not very happy with the Siraya Fast.

Below is the shell of a PRR K7 an I cannot get the see through board clearances to appear, and rivet and hole locations for grabs are virtually nonexistent.









I have since reconfigured the shell design an still get so much globing and residual resin that will not clean off,. As you can see the inside of the roof looks like a really bad complexion day. Even tried @GaryHinshaw ’s ther step cleaning process with 2 99% IPA baths and an Acetone bath in the examples above.

Here is a pic of the shell design, sorry for the weird digital image of a hi res digital monitor. You can see through the board gaps and I just cannot get the spaces to print, even with a thin support running through all of the boards. The gaps are 0.3mm .

Just pisses me off when I see what Chris, Gary, Tim, and Bryan and so many others have done. I am getting frustrated to the point of selling the machine, as I cannot see it’s viability for Keystone Details future product. At this rate I can’t even get to a viable resin mold master with enough detail to satisfy my minimum expectations.

This is precisely why you have not seen me post much more than vanilla prints, such as my 0-4-0 engine nests.

[bbussey]

Detail-wise, I’m happy with the standard AnyCubic gray. I've been experimenting with the Elegoo ABS-type gray recently. The jury is still out but I like that smaller thinner sections are flexible and don’t break easily.

[bbussey]

Also, I’ve been printing the Chitubox AnyCubic curing rate file as I change the resins. It prints eight sample plates with various extrusions and cut-extrusions each at different UV exposure rates, from 1 second to 8 seconds. The best result is the curing rate that should be used for the specific resin. I damaged my original curing screen and upgraded it to the Chitubox part that allows more UV light to pass through. I also added a protective screen over the curing screen, which reduces the UV light pass through slightly. So I had to recalculate the curing rates for the resins by printing the REMF file. My rate for AnyCubic gray is 3 seconds and for Elegoo ABS gray is 4 seconds. I haven’t returned to the beige or transparent green since replacing the curing screen.

I highly recommend running the REMF file on the Siraya resin. One of the eight plates will give you the results you expect.

[bbussey]

I think you have an AnyCubic Photon Mono. The curing file is on the USB stick that came with the printer. If you don’t have the file, I can send it to you.

[Lemosteam]

I think you have an AnyCubic Photon Mono. The curing file is on the USB stick that came with the printer. If you don’t have the file, I can send it to you.

I have run that.  It's worthless IMHO and resulted in values that are nowhere near what other folks are doing and having success with.

I have The Mono X.  I am not trying to address print values and such, I can experiment with those all I want, I really just want to settle on a resin I don't hate.

[GaryHinshaw]

Anycubic Basic Grey for me too.  I did a fair bit of experimenting with different resins & settings in the first few months, but never found anything better.   I've also stuck with the stock Anycubic slicer with the following settings:



You should have no trouble getting see-through slats with this recipe...

[Chris333]

I have only used Anycubic regular resins in various colors and Elegoo Grey. I tried Elegoo water wash resin and hated it. I ran a test to find the exposure, but just ended up using what I liked. Those tests seem to focus on the top of a model and not the 4 sides. Those dimples under the roof are normal though. Who would ever see them in there?

I know a guy with an Epax printer who only uses Anycubic resin as well.

[John]

I printed the entire coal tower on the Mono .. used anycubic grey -- 2 seconds

[Lemosteam]

Now this version was printed horizontally, with a thin membrane, Dow to the build plate. Fairly successful and came SOOOO close to having board gaps as you can see in the door below.

@GaryHinshaw , with those values are you still forced to patient parts on an an angle or do you think the horizontal will get me there? And yes my Amazon cart will be loaded with a different resin for sure.

[Chris333]

Not that I think you need to, but you could try printing it vertical with separate ends like Bryan did with the Erie boxcar.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Maybe this is what happened to the BLI car 

Sorry to see your struggles @Lemosteam , I'm about to jump into the arena myself and so hopefully can learn through your experience here.

[Lemosteam]

This is kind of what makes me mad. In theory, the full cross section of each layer should be perfect, independently than layer from layer where suction comes into play. That last print was a 5 second exposure per layer, and I still get the bloom with this resin.

And in hidden areas I get it, I can deal with the puckers being hidden inside the model

I should mention that I use Lychee for supports, export an stl, and load that into the anycubic slicer as well.

Are there any other factors that could be contributing?

I am getting closer as the first roof print fits pretty well with the second shell print without the chassis, which I am going to try to print tonight.  I actually have ears inside the walls and pins on the roof (which blobbed out horribly) and detention spheres on the ends of the shell with deflecting catches to snap into place. This removes any warp in the sides of the car, and keeps the end of the roof from warping up. Of course they will be glued anyway…

[Lemosteam]

Maybe this is what happened to the BLI car 

Sorry to see your struggles @Lemosteam , I'm about to jump into the arena myself and so hopefully can learn through your experience here.

The biggest dissapointment is that no matter the orientation, you will lose one side of your design to the supports, and sometimes no amount of positioning can prevent that from affecting a visible surface, an assembly interface, or something.

I know this though, that besides the fuzzies of FXD, this design would assemble perfectly if printed in that.

[Chris333]

I just checked the drawing and the openings on my HOn30 stockcar are .025" wide. Door opening are .020" wide.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/eKeqs4QtF6KLuu3aA

[bbussey]

I only get "puckering" on surfaces that face toward the build plate.  Surfaces that face away from the build plate (face the FEP) are as smooth as glass and look injection-molded.

I got around the "losing one side" by running a 0.02mm 0.2mm membrane around the perimeter for a depth of 1mm, then widening it to 1mm and drafting out to the base at 8%.  That is giving me a smooth-enough edge with no curl-up that can be filed smooth.  Any complex faces (such as the ends of rolling stock) I print separately.

Here's my ATSF Budd RPO currently.  At this point, I'm working on eliminating minor imperfections that show up under metallic aluminum paint.  All curl-up is gone, the ends are smooth-as-glass perfect.  The non-brakewheel end fits into an inset in the body







As Chris mentioned, some of my models such as the Erie radial roof boxcar and the circus stock cars were printed vertically and had both ends removed for separate application.  The stock cars came out especially well and amazingly on the first print attempt because the floor and body are one piece, so basically a six-inch tube is being printed.  The weights were added at either end and epoxied to the floor over the bolsters before the ends were epoxied in place.  All of the slats are see-through as intended.  All of the rivet detail on all faces rendered perfectly.  All of the placards and cross-bracing rendered with no distortion.  I had to sand out the stepping on the radial roofs but that was a minor effort.  Two passes of priming and sanding for each car was all it took.

The other fact I've learned after turning these models into puzzles to get better printing results is that five-minute epoxy works much better at cementing the parts together than CA+.