Reply To: 3D Printing… Where do I start?

[blinky465 17028xp 0]

I found scrubbing tends to break fragile/thin parts of a model if you’re not too careful. And, tbh, with acetone, you don’ t need to. When I used IPA I used to leave my minis soaking for about 10-15 minutes and even after that, I’d take them out and have to give them a quick rub down with a soft brush to make sure all the uncured resin was out of the deepest recesses (otherwise after curing, the minis look a bit “soapy” as the finer details are obsured).

@warzan refuses to “post-cure” his prints, and there is a benefit to this, as it keeps the resin slightly “springy”. I find with genuine Anycubic resin, post-curing tends to harden it to a glass-like brittle finish. Personally, I stick to ABS-like resin or eco-resin and I like the finish after curing.

My process is print, leave to drip (most of my prints run for 5 hours or more so I leave them running overnight) then remove and rinse, one mini at a time in acetone for about 15-20 seconds at a time. If there’s lots of “scaffold” or I can see that there are lots of places where uncured resin might get trapped, I might stretch it to 30 seconds.

I leave each mini on a paper towel to dry (the acetone evaporates pretty quickly but you can pat them dry if you’re impatient) then dunk them, one at a time, into scalding hot water – this makes the supports much easier to remove; the minis are quite “rubbery” at this point – the acetone and the hot water makes they quite soft and pliable (this is actually a good thing, as it stops “scarring” from where you remove the supports and also makes them less prone to snapping as you get in there with your scalpel/clippers).

Only after removing all the supports to I lie them under a UV nail lamp and let it run for the full 120 seconds. Flip the minis over, cure the opposite side (I find just doing the front and back sufficient) and you’re done! I’ve also left minis on a window ledge to cure over a couple of hours too (although glass is supposed to block UV enough seems to get through to do the necessary curing on the resin). If you’re happy to do your curing during daylight hours, sunlight should suffice. If you’re impatient or want to prep your minis in the evenings (now that the nights are drawing in) a simple UV nail lamp from ebay for about £15 is more than enough.