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What’s up Makers!

Today I’m going to show you some quick DIY tools that will help you be successful with your 3D resin printing projects. I’m Chris. Thanks for being here and let’s Make 3D!

CURING INSIDE HOLLOWED PRINTS

When working with hollowed models, resin that leaks out of your drain holes can be annoying. Well, I’ve come up with a way to cure the inside of your hollowed out models. It may not do a complete cure, but the resin will harden enough to keep it from oozing out of your drain holes during post prep or painting.

I’m sure many of you know about these UV flashlights. They can come in handy for curing areas of the model that don’t get properly cured. By the way, be careful where you shine this flashlight! It allows you to see things that you normally wouldn’t see in normal lighting conditions. And, for god’s sake don’t look directly at it. It can damage your eyeballs.This flashlight emits UV light that is on the wavelength of 395nm and you can see that’s quite effective in hardening this Elegoo gray resin. Now you can use one of these flashlights to shine UV light on the inside of the model through the drain holes. You can also control the amount and direction of the light. All you have to do is attach some fiber optic filament.

These are furniture foot pads that I found on Amazon. By the way, I’ll provide links to all of the materials referenced in this video in the description.These pads are the perfect size to fit over the lense of the flashlight-- ¾ inch. I cut a small hole in the center of the pad. I also found this roll of fiber optic filament on Amazon and I cut five or six strands, each of an equal length, about 6 inches long. I then inserted them through the hole in the pad and attached the pad over the lense of the flashlight. You can also glue the strands to the pad with a dab of glue on the outside. I didn’t do that here, but if you do, I highly recommend E6000 clear glue.

As you can see, this solution works great for shining UV light through drainage holes of all sizes, and curing the inside won’t take longer than 30 seconds or so.

FUME BARRIER

A lot of people who are into resin 3D printing are irritated by the fumes from the resin. In order to keep the fumes contained, some people tape the acrylic cover down while printing. I found an easier way to create a barrier without using tape.

This is a sheet of static cling vinyl. It sticks easily to all kinds of surfaces without an adhesive. It’s easy to remove and re-apply repeatedly. You can get this on Amazon or at a craft store. It comes on a paper backing that you remove before applying. Here, I cut strips about two inches thick and taped them together to make one long strip. Then, I applied the strip around the seam where the cover meets the printer to seal in the resin fumes. As you can see, it’s easily removable and it can be rolled up and easily stored for the next use. If you’d like to add an extra barrier to resin fumes, cover the printer with a towel or thermal blackout cover.

SCREEN PROTECTOR

For those of you who are concerned about spilling resin on your touch-screen, this static cling vinyl can also be used as a screen protector. I cut another piece measuring 1 ⅞ inch x 2 ⅞ inches to fit the Elegoo Mars screen and it’s a perfect fit.

RESIN WARMER

If you have been doing 3D printing with resin for a while, you know how sensitive some of these resins can be to temperature. If you do your printing in your garage or another area where it’s hard to control the ambient temperature, this little trick may help.

Get some of these hand warmers and secure them up against your resin tray with tape. In my test, I used one warmer, but on the Elegoo Mars, I could have used two hand warmers, placing one on each side. The room stayed at a constant temperature of 72 degrees fahrenheit, or 22.2 degrees celsius. The resin started out at the same temperature. I placed the cover on the printer, without turning it on. Four hours later, the hand warmers were still producing heat and the temperature of the resin had risen to 79.1 degrees fahrenheit, or 26.2 degrees celsius. These hand warmers heat up the resin quite a bit. Again, covering the printer with a towel or thermal blackout cover should help keep the outside temperature from affecting your prints even further.

RESIN LEAK PROTECTION

While doing the resin warming test, I noticed a leak in the FEP film and resin had leaked onto the printer. There are numerous stories on Facebook of people who had resin leak into the printer between the LCD screen and the printer chassis. This often results in damage to and subsequent replacement of the printer’s motherboard.

Luckily, I had these pre-cut vinyl gaskets applied, but if you don’t want to buy anything you can protect your printer by taping up the seams between the LCD and the chassis. You can use a very thin tape called KAPTON tape. K-A-P-T-O-N. You can also apply your own, custom cut stick-on vinyl. Just make sure that you don’t cover up any part of the display portion of the LCD screen. Oh, and as a side note, if you’re interested in these flame graphics for the Elegoo Mars, it’s a removable vinyl skin that you apply to the front plate.  I’ll provide a link in the description.

FILL YOUR HOLES

Hollowed models require you to create drain and breather holes so that you can drain the resin out. Chitubox allows you to print the plugs for those holes to fill them later, but plugging holes can cause problems for the model after post-prep. Higher ambient temperatures will cause the air inside of the model to expand and, if that air has no place to go, your model will crack.

I found a really cool material that will allow you to plug the holes without worrying about this problem. This stuff is called Foam-Mo. It’s a moldable foam. It’s perfect for plugging holes because, as the air inside the model expands, this foam will expand with it. This means that the foam will give-way to the expanding air inside before your model does, preventing any potential cracks that would normally occur. It can also be painted and sanded during post-prep.

Alright, I hope you video helps you out. We’ll see you in the next video. Until then, go Make 3D!

===== Mach5ive Blackout Covers ======

Elite - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085JWZ9YZ

Mach5ive LCD Gaskets - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B081D4NLCH

Mack5ive Flame skin - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0872JVT9S

UV Flashlight - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079DLVSFD

Furniture Pads - https://www.amazon.com/Self-Stick-Furniture-Round-Felt-Surfaces/dp/B000PB11NY

Fiber optic strands - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N0QCAHF

E6000 glue - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007TSYNG8

Static cling vinyl sheets - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002J6CO9I

Squeegee - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RPKYR2C

Hot Hands Hand Warmers - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PGBN11S