"EVERYTHING You Need?" - 3D Printing

Sometime you need to have a break 

from the things that are stealing your sunshine.

It's okay to put yourself first.

- Everything You'll Ever Need, Charlotte Freeman

Hello, hello, hello! Welcome back to The Art of Caesura!

I hope you had a nice Easter, ours was...busy. We've been looking at resin 3D printing over the past few weeks, and today I'm going to go through a list of EVERYTHING I use for 3D printing. 

I know this list will seem daunting, but I've tried to be exhaustive, and you don't need to get it all at once. If you have any questions about anything on the list (the rationale or exactly which one I use) please feel free to leave them in the comments section below. 

1. Resin 3D Printer
Choose based on resolution, build volume, and budget. I have an Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra (I'll talk more about choosing the right printer next week).

If you live in an area that gets cold, you'll also want to get a brewer's heating belt (or buy a fancy printer that comes with a heated vat). Resin likes to print north of 25 degrees C, and I got into 3D printing in one of the coldest Decembers Ireland has seen, but with the brewer's belt I had no temperature-related problems. 

2. UV Curing Station or Light Source and Wash Station
As we discussed 2 weeks ago, once you print the resin you have to wash it in alcohol and cure it with UV light. I would highly recommend just buying a dedicated Wash and Cure station (I have Elegoo's new Mercury) but a DIY alternative for curing is UV nail lamp or 405nm LED strips, and a large pickle container with strainer as the washing unit. 

Even with a dedicated wash and cure station, I would still by a UV flashlight off Temu or one of those places (mine was about 4 euro) this is to shine into difficult to reach places. I would also advise getting the pickling container anyway - many people use this as a "pre-wash" or "dirty-wash" station that they put models in prior to putting them into their dedicated wash station - which makes the alcohol in the dedicated wash station last much longer. I don't do this, however; my time is severely limited, so I just throw it all into the dedicated wash station and clean my alcohol every few months (I'll go into that in a future post). But I do use the pickle container for small or very delicate pieces which would fall through the grate of my wash station. 

Another hack for this is tea strainers (you know, those little metal mesh spheres that kind of look like depth charges that you're supposed to put loose leaf tea in?) well, I use those for heads and hands and other small pieces and then I can just put them in to my wash station (they even have a chain and hook for easy removal). 

3. UV Photopolymer Resin
Choose type based on use: Standard, ABS-like, Tough, Water-Washable

Everyone will tell you that the resin they use is best and other resins suck. It's a really contentious topic in the hobby; but I'm not going to. I use Elegoo ABS-like v.3 light grey. It is cheap for me and I find it to have a good balance of detail and toughness. Other people use Sunlu ABS-like resin and say it's great, it's a little more expensive for me and I haven't felt the need to change what I'm using. 

The internet usually says to avoid water-washable resins, they seem a lot more temperamental. 

At some stage you'll probably want to get a transparent resin to make cool effects. I haven't quite got there yet. 

4. Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA) (91–99%)
For cleaning prints. IPA is the best, but also more expensive than methylated spirits which many people use. 

5. Fine Mist Spray Bottle

Mine was 4 euro off Amazon and I use it SO much. It is invaluable for cleaning my silicone spatulae, silicone mat, build plate, vat, basically anywhere that uncured resin can get!

6. Paper Towels
For cleaning prints and tools. You will need a ridiculous amount of paper towels - and don't forget to cure any resin on the paper towels before disposing of it. 

7. Nitrile Gloves (Disposable)
Protects your hands from resin (always use nitrile - not latex). Uncured resin is not your friend, you need to wear appropriate PPE (I'll get on to that). I buy these in bulk off Amazon, I get 200 gloves for maybe 7 euro. 

8. Paint Strainers and Funnel  
Used to filter resin when pouring it back into the bottle. I only filter it if I've had a failed print. I only empty my resin vat if I've had a failed print, or if I know that I'm not going to be printing for a few days. The rest of the time I leave the resin in the vat out of direct sunlight (the Saturn 4 Ultra's cover is not UV-proof) but then I try to keep my printer going pretty much constantly for a couple weeks at a time, so the resin isn't sitting there for long. 

9. Plastic Scraper and Metal Scraper
For removing prints from the build plate never use anything to remove failed prints from the PFA (vat film) you will surely puncture it - just gently press up on the underside of the film (once you have emptied your vat) and the failed piece will easily lift off. 

I used to only use plastic razor blades (they're amazing, and very cheap) but I had to increase my burn-in time which made some prints too hard even for these to handle so now I mostly use a metal scraper, but it really does a number on the build plate. 

10. Storage Bottles and Jars
For handling and reusing resin (just use the bottles that the resin came in - they are UV-opaque). I also have some large (5L) glass jars with lids in which I put my very dirty IPA after a few months and leave outside for the sun to cure off the resin so that I can then decant the now clean IPA back into the wash station. 

11. Silicone Mat
Protect your work surface. Get the ones marketed for use with pets - they're nice, big, non-slip and really easy to clean.

12. Digital Calipers
For precision measuring. I got these off Temu or one of those places for 1.46 euro. They are necessary if you really want to calibrate your resin properly. Once you've dialed in your calibration, you'll never have to use them again as long as you don't change resin or printing environment.

13. Silicone Spatula
For cleaning the build plate / vat. These are especially necessary for the newer Elegoo Saturns and Mars's which have really janky build-plate mounts which are a little fiddly to clean. The third one in from the left in the picture below (long straight one) is the one I use most often. 

14. Spare FEP/ PFA Films
The clear film on the resin vat wears out (it's considered a consumable) - keep extras on hand so you're not waiting a few weeks to receive more. Elegoo recommends changing after 60 000 layers but I have made it past 100 000 before having to change mine. 

15. Respirator Mask
Especially in poorly ventilated areas. Look for organic vapor cartridges (OV/AG).

16. Eye Protection
Splash-proof safety glasses.

17. Ventilation Setup
Open window + exhaust fan (that's my set-up) or air purifier with carbon filter or 
enclosure (grow tent) with ventilation hose helps minimize fumes and helps with heating - this is what I'd love to have, but the enclosures are really quite expensive, and I have yet to jerry rig something together myself. 

The set-up I'd love to have

Phew! I think that's about it! Let me know what tips / tricks you have and what gear I've neglected to mention. 

See you next Friday, right here on The Art of Caesura!

Watching: Severance (season 1)

Reading: Enter Ghost - Isabella Hammad

Next Week:

Computers...