Reply To: What printer to choose.

[blinky465 17028xp 1]

As for hassle – yes, if you’re not careful, things can get sticky! Clean up after yourself. Keep everything clean and you’ll be ok. Yes, there is a bit of a “tang” when you’re printing (I’m loathed to say it’s a smell, because it’s barely noticeable after a few minutes) but the process I follow is:

Prepare the models (this is where 99% of the work is for me). Get the layers exactly right – a bit like spending some time in photoshop making your picture look the bomb before sending it to your printer.

Print. Leave overnight (I run my printer on a 5-hour mechanical timer overnight, so when the average print run at 4 hours has finished, the machine is switched off automatically). You can comfortably leave your minis hanging upside on the print bed for 24 hours or more (go out to work, deal with them the following evening).

Remove from the plate, drop into a jar of isopropyl alcohol.

CLEAN YOUR TOOLS! Get the left over resin off the bed, wipe down your blade/spatula (used to remove the prints off the bed). Give everything a quick wipe over with alcohol. You’ll use lots of kitchen roll. Buy plenty.

After about 10 mins in the IPA, I remove the supports from my mini (soaking in hot water for a few minutes removes any sticky residue and makes supports easier to remove).

“Cook” the cleaned minis under a UV nail cure lamp for about 10-15 minutes.

 

You’re done. Now you should use like normal resin minis and wash in warm soapy water, but I often forget and just hit them with Halfords matt primer and they’ve all turned out just fine (so far!)

 

Hassle? Well, it’s relative. I find cleaning up FDM-printed minis to be as much hassle – sanding, priming with filler, sanding to remove the high spots, cleaning up all the plastic dust and paint…. resin printing is just a different kind of hassle.