Ian and Stephen, can you remind me which resin (SLA) printers you have? I'm starting to predict I'll buy one when I get established in Canada, as well as either retrieving my filament (FDM) printer or buying a new one too.
Hi Tom
I have (technically, I share) an Elegoo Mars 2. I still don't have enough experience to say if I recommend it or not, but results so far are beginning to be encouraging.
Ian
Mine is an Anycubic photo mono. I bought directly from China but there were so many problems I wouldn't do that again. By the time it arrived the price on Amazon was about the same.
However I would probably buy a Mars or Mars pro if I were to replace it, their after sales support seems to be better.
The other issue is that the transparent bottom sheet of the resin vat needs to be changed regularly. On most printers you seem to be able to buy a pack of now ones for about £20 for 10, but the Photon uses cartridges which are £15 each.
I bought a third party vat (Sovol) for £20 from amazon and a pack of 10 sheets for £20, which I hadn't expected, but so far it seems to be ok.
Thank you both; good food for thought.
Tom
I have an Anycubic Mono and previously had an Anycubic Photon S. I consider myself to be fortunate not to have had support issues with my printers. Anycubic's support reputation is poor and I do wonder about their build quality (My mono has an offset on the touch screen but I decided to live with it than push for a replacement). That said, my Photon S kept going for a couple of years with no fep replacement and no screen replacement. When the screen did finally die, I took the decision to replace with the new Mono since it technically prints several times faster and has a longer life screen.
If I ever need to replace the fep then I will probably go the sovol route and may even get a few so I can store different resins in them.
My biggest problem is layer lines and how to reduce them and I wonder if some printers are better than others at this. With our hobby there are likely to be large flat faces which do not always print well.
I visited Scaleforum this weekend and got chatting to the guy at Rumney Models. He had some superb prints but I discovered he was using the Form 3 printer which is a low end commercial printer that costs 10 times what the Elegoo and Anycubic printers cost.
Stuart
To reply to my own post - I just went to power up the printer after a month of inaction and thought the resin in the vat was looking lumpy (I leave it in the vat in an enclosed cupboard so is usually fine). A quick drain of the resin has showed that a lump of cured resin has got under the inside edge of the vat and is pushing the fep out of shape. I've ordered a sovol but might see if the existing vat can be dismantled and the offending lump removed, though what I ought to be doing is finishing November's News!
Quote from: Stuart Taylor on September 27, 2022, 11:04
I've ordered a sovol but might see if the existing vat can be dismantled and the offending lump removed, though what I ought to be doing is finishing November's News!
Hi Stuart, the vats they supply now are apparently only designed to take FEP cartridges, as opposed to individual sheets. Last time I looked these cartridges were around £7.50 but were very well made and incredibly easy to fit, with very little room for getting it wrong.
The Solvol vats are also very well made, but changing the FEP takes a bit of zen like patience, and more than a little black magic, however once you have the vat (£20) the FEP sheets are around the £2 mark each.
This video is pretty good https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLi3chV43LQ but there are several others, including one that tests the tension on your FEP by hitting it with a drum stick and checking the pitch with your phone!
I went for the Solvol vat, but have only changed the FEP once, which took 20 minutes, although it hasn't been used for 3 months so I might treat myself to a fresh sheet before starting the next batch.
One thing to note is that somewhere on their website somebody claimed that Elgoo water soluble resin only has a shelf life of a few months once the bottle is open. I can't find it now so can't quote it.