Mixing UV Resin with additives for Printing

So in the last few years 3D printing has become more an more popular and with that rise in demand, production would rise to fill that demand with different style of printers. One of these styles of printers is the resin printer, extremely detailed when it comes to printing small objects or models, some makers use these to create jewelry, dentures and other fancy things.

AnyCubic Photon Mono X

In this post I wanted to talk about how I have recently acquired one of these printers(anycubic photon mono 4k) and how I’ve been using it. I also wanted to talk briefly about some of the plans I have in the future for this printer. In anycase, when I received this printer, I was ex-static with enthusiasm. I literally could not wait, ever since resin printers hit the scene, I’ve wanted one.

Finished Print, Coral for the Shark and Base.

After ordering a few days passed and it was delivered, really big box. It was packaged well, and it came damage free. I also ordered some clear UV resin to test out. So I unpacked everything and set it up. I added some clear UV resin to the vat after the required setup(which was fairly easy).

NOTE: This printer comes from the factory with a screen protector already installed, they tell you to tear it off and replace with a new one(comes with the printer).I would just clean it thoroughly and continue with printing, and save the screen protector for when the factory one wears out.

Partially Failed Print, Shark turned out good, but I forgot to tighten the build plate sooooo yeah.
Cooking up some prints with the UV oven, ahaha.

After my print was done I removed the build plate and tried to chisel the print freefrom the build plate without much luck. Ended up destroying the base off the model. I mean it was on there very well, like the adhesion was way to strong. I noticed that this build plate had a laser etched pattern(checkerboard). So after doing some research and trying some other methods for removing prints from the plate(with no luck), I finally caved and bought a removable build plate(which I wouldn’t go without now) and that ended up working reliably.

So after that little hiccup I continued printing some really detailed models for fun and even bought a subscription to a site that provides high quality table-top game models. So I can really say that resin printing is great for that sort of thing, but can we use it to create something truly useful or even experiment with the resin we print with?

That’s what brought me to this idea, adding material to the resin(and some other YT creators). Here I’ve added carbon to the clear resin. About a gram of carbon to 100ml of resin(turns out you can use a lot less than a gram if you’re just looking to affect color and maybe half that for UV protection).

So the first model I printed with the added carbon turned out great. I only used maybe 50 of the 100ml for the print and after draining the remaining resin into a separate container there was still a significant amount of carbon left in the vat(not good). I had to add a small quantity of acetone to alcohol to remove it.

Next I tried quartz, which failed. The reason it failed was mainly because the quartz I decided to use wasn’t fine enough and each grain size was probably a little too big. Even though this one failed I would like to come back to it because I think you could make prints that retain a certain resonance or oscillate when you pass current through it.

The next one that I recently ordered is the tungsten. It has a very fine grain size(2um-10um) which I think would be perfect for this application. Turns out, it wasn’t perfect for this application.

What ended up happening with the tungsten prints was a little exciting once they were actually successfully printing, but there were some problems. The main one with tungsten, once it settles in the resin, it is very hard to mix it up again. So basically it was printing a solid layer of tungsten for the first layer and then nothing else.

The other print that I did that contained a very small amount of tungsten and carbon, here I didn’t have the same issues with the tungsten settling. Further testing is needed, I was thinking about employing some type of whipper system to redistribute the tungsten after every layer change. Another option is to use some type of vibration device strapped to the vat, this might work but I have the feeling it won’t do the job.

So with all that said I think the possibilities for mixing resin could be endless, and lead to many other applications. Like I said before further testing is needed.

3D Printed PCB Inspection Microscope and Others…

Finished building this a while ago, just wanted to post it. The results were great, considering the webcam module I used was only 5 dollars. Printed a mount for the camera with a small dial I could glue onto the lens, for manual focus of course. Then I looked up a rack and pinion print on thingiverse for a quick mount with some movement and then glued my camera mount to that one. The result like said before was simply awesome, now with a bit of software everything will be complete.

The other little do-dad, you see holding the pcb is a small clamp for holding these boards while doing light soldering work. The screw action works well and holds the boards firmly, there’s also a magnet in the base for rigid work holding.

I’m going to be releasing both of these on thingiverse together in a pack or both in one at the end of the week. Not sure yet…


UV Resin Oven…

I don’t have to many shots of this but I’ll be sure to fix that shortly. This is an old microwave oven I converted to a curing oven for my resin prints. Very simple conversion, I wouldn’t recommend people do it though, there are a million other enclosures that could be repurposed for this. But for me that’s what I had laying around that I could “up-cycle”. Fits underneath my electronics bench perfectly too.


Modifying my Enclosure for the Ender…

Doing a couple operations in one here, taking the ender out of the enclosure and re-installing the hot-end carrier for the MK2 conversion by Boothyboothy over on thingiverse. I’m remaking the aluminum plate named the “Tool Plate’ in Boothys assembly. Which looks like this…

And the one I made before…

So the idea is to give this another go with the Phaetus Dragonfly BMO(groove mount I believe) and see if I can print some PC. Anyway folks, thats all for today. More coming soon.

New CoreXY Design for the Ender 5

Hello everyone, and what a glorious day it was. Loving the weather here in Ontario, beautiful blue skies. In any case I took some time today to work on my new design for the Ender 5. The idea is to create a low cost CoreXY design that can still provide great quality prints without having to break the bank. I plan on implementing a 3/4″ right angle aluminum bar for the rail mounts and the crossbar for the XY brackets and it’s all held together by printed parts. I’m going to try to print some piece for it tonight to look a fit and finish but I’d really like to use carbon fiber filament or ABS filament.

New Corexy Design

As for the carrier I would really like to use a box section of aluminum, but if I really want to make this accessible and low cost I think that’d be out of the question. So I’m left with mounting to the top of the aluminum bar or on the bottom(Mgn12h Rail). I’m think the top would be optimal. Been working on the motor mounts and idler placement and just working out some basic concepts.

I’ll try to keep update for this flowing, and hopefully(with enough work) I’ll have a download and reference prints to show.

Ender Enclosure Article

Just finished the ender enclosure page and you can view it through the menu in the top right hand corner of the page and select the projects button.


Also got some other thing in the works that have been a long time coming, Fysetc’s Big Dipper and about to install these xy brackets I just printed the other day. I’m going to be posting an article related to printer kinematics and I’ll be going into a lot more detail about design choices and overall function.

Hope everyone’s having a great Mothers Day as well, and keep printing, layer by layer 😉

GearBox for Z Axis


Working on a few different things including this lovely gear box for my new print modification. I actually had this one done a while back but I had some finish touches to do. Also gotta post the dimensions for the shaft and a source for the gears. Sorry about this being such a short one, just really wanted to share it.

Missing Information/Ender 5 Upgrades

Missing Information

Backup, backup and finally backup. This is the word of the day, backup. Now I’ve been posting to this site for over a year and updating it and trying to build a little bit of a reputation using my website as my own platform to show some of the work I’ve been doing with my 3D Printer and additive manufacturing. Specifically the Ender 5. Now this post isn’t to complain or whine about what could have been but to basically replace what I had lost to begin with(a bunch of content).

So with all this having happened I plan on posting a downloads page here for some of the content I’ve created over the last year. Some of this content will be placed on the projects page and further more, I might have some kind content in the form of youtube videos detailing the process in which a lot of this stuff has been put together. I also was thinking about including a PDF or something with some details pertaining to issues with printing different materials and also troubleshooting.

So with all that said what I have here today is all the upgrades and mods I would recommend for a Ender 5 user.

Upgrading the Ender 5

The Ender 5 on it own is a great printer for beginners, but as you start to print more and more with it you’ll notice slight issues. Now the overall goal of this entire operation is to improve print quality. Now with the E5(Ender 5) right out of the box, will print PLA, PETG and even ABS if the settings are done right. Now I’d like to go over a few issues you’ll run into over time.

The Bed/Build Plate

Here we see on the original Ender 5, the bed comes with a removable build plate. This is good for PLA and PETG but over time adhesion tends to get worse and worse. After about 1 month of solid printing the removable build-tack goesto crap. Then you have to start using a substance for adhesion. I’d recommend anyone(doesn’t mater what you print) spend the extra 20 – 30 dollars and buy a printbite+ bed. I’ve been using mine fore over a year straight with all types of different materials and I’ve yet to replace it and it’s still going strong.

Flex3Drive PrintBite

The Hotend

The hotend, this is where all your plastic gets melted and deposited onto the build plate. There are many styles and types of hotends that are compatible with an Ender 5 out of the box. A lot of people talk all kinds of good stuff about the microswiss hotend(Wouldn’t bother, over-rated) or the “Mosquito” another one that’s really over-rated.

Classic E3D V6 would handle most anything(all metal for high temp). If you want to go all in with it, I’d recommend the BMG Dragonfly(basically a supped-up V6 with a bi-metallic heat-break and comes with either groove mount or rigid mount.) Great hotend nozzle swap is a breeze(pre-heat to 150 and swap out).


Extruder

The E5 comes with a bowden type extruder that is mounted to the side of the frame. A lot of users love this extruder and have nothing bad to say about it, but I think it’s lame and leaves a lot to be desired. I’d recommend changing that out to a direct drive(orbiter), the innovation with DD extruders has come a long way since even a year ago and there’s really no excuse not to have anything else on a single hotend printer. I’m currently using the Sherpa Mini made by Fysetc(decided to go with them because they produce a sls printed frame and shit out everything you need).

Some of you will totally dissagree and if you’re so inclinded to use a bowden system I’d at least recommend changing out the extruder to a titian and pancake stepper. And if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Sherpa Mini

Electronics

STM32F103RET6 or STM32F103FET6 I can’t remember the versions of creality boards were which off the top of my head, but I believe the RET6 was 4.2.2 and FET6 was 4.2.7. Not entirely sure but the board that comes with the printer isn’t terrible but as time goes on you’ll probably want something a little more capable.

As for myself I was forced to buy a another board due to the burnt out mosfets(I believe, could be something else under the heatsink but doubt it.) that control the fans on my creality 4.2.2 board. I went with a Big Tree Tech SKR e3 verision 2, another great board. Drop in replacement, with trinamic stepper drivers. Really enjoyed using it but over all it left me wanting more. Which brings me to the Fysetc Big Dipper Board. This is probably not the best for beginners but if you’re looking for something to grow into this is the best option. I’ve chosen this board because I have future plans of adding a tool changer to my Ender. But overall the best way to describe it is a cloned duet board.

Fysetc Big Dipper Board

Motion Mechanics

Last but not least is the core xy modification. This is one of the best ways to improve to ender 5, in my opinion. The corexy mod lets you achieve higher print speeds with less resonance. One of the biggest problems with the ender 5 is the motor mount on the x axis. This will cause unwanted artifacts if you’re printing fast or not. So one of the first solutions one could think of is the repositioning of the x axis motor, like we see in this design.

I want to be super clear here, I’m not the first one to come up with this idea. Especially for this particular printer, but after trying several designs from others I’ve tried to take some of the best qualities of each and rebuild them into one badass printer. One which I think could even give the Voron a run for its money.

Rear Left Stepper

One CoreXY Project I really want to shout out is the conversion made by Stephen Booth, he really did an amazing job on his core xy mod and it really inspired me to finish my own.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4777606

Final Words/Thoughts

So overall owning this printer has been a ton of fun, and really without it I wouldn’t have gotten into 3D printing. So anyone that doesn’t own a 3D printer and wants one, go get one, try it out. You might be surprised as to where it leads you.

Building a Space Mouse

Recently I really wanted to acquire a space mouse. Although the price, the price point of some of these space mouses is just a little high, and I can’t seem to justify buying a glorified mouse. So I decided to create my own.

Although there have already been a few to do this, I really wanted to give it a shot and try to learn a few things along the way.


Here is the initial design I’ve come up with. There are a lot of things I would like to change but so far this is meeting all the functions I ‘m looking to get out of the space mouse.

I also plan to use the raspberry pico as the cost is cheap and includes an ADC built in. Some type of rotary encoder and a joystick will also be part of the project. Time will tell.

Welcome to the new 3DPP

New and Improved…

Now we’re back in action! This is the new version of 3D Print Perfection, with a little bit of a different layout…


Now you’re probably wondering why even change anything? It seemed fine before and the layout was good so what gives? Money, plain and simple. This website is my passion project and basically a month to month payment wasn’t working out. So when I changed my plan to accommodate that(Changed to a yearly subscription as well), all of my old content and data was deleted.

So even though the site has had some growing pains I feel like we can move on now and can really start back where I left off(kind-of).

Working with some new equipment including a used Canon EOS Rebel SL1. Not the greatest camera in the world but its worlds better than what I had. Also picked up some used lenses from the pawn-shop(they had a whole bin!), so now I can take some nice close-ups and even macro shots.


Finally we’ve also acquired a resin printer! This is going to be a game changer in terms of material and design. I have a bunch of cool projects and experiments in the works(printing with quartz, tungsten powder, rockwell and maybe some carbon fiber) for this baby. So that about wraps up this short update, more content soon, much more.


ARRGGGGH! See’yah next time matey!