Yasmeen – Page 7 – YarkspiriFantasyArt

Replacing the FEP sheet – Photon Mono X + Other’s

One of the common tasks when owning a resin printer is the replacement of the FEP sheet. While this something which all users will have to do at some point or another, many new to 3d printing find this task daunting at first. Today we’ll be covering the process for the Mono X, but this process is similar with all resin printers. As always, I’m in no way responsible if any damages may occur.

In resin printers, the FEP sheet is a consumable that requires periodic replacement over time. Generally speaking, as long as you take proper care of your FEP sheet, you shouldn’t have to do this maintenance as often, but due to either print failures or the FEP becoming cloudy over time, it does require replacement at some point. Most machines, use a very similar structure as this one does, so the information that you’ll see here should still apply to your machine. On this particular machine, the LCD screen isn’t covered by glass or a protector out of the box, and therefore you should consider adding a Screen Protector as well. If you don’t plan on doing so, then regular FEP sheet inspections should be a requirement for your machine.

To begin, we’ll first need to get a replacement FEP sheet and I personally prefer to order the ones which are recommended by the manufacturer of the machine, however it is also important to note that new developments in the technology are ongoing and new releases may become available in the future. In this case, I’m using the official replacement that’s provided by Anycubic.

Remove your vat and drain out any excess resin, making sure to properly clean the vat prior to continuing to the following step. Place a paper towel from which you can place your vat onto. You’re going to need a bottle cap to use as a spacer, so make sure to have this handy for the future steps. I find that the bottle caps of a standard soda bottle are the perfect size.

There are two types of hex screwdrivers for this replacement. A size 2 and 2.5 will be needed for this particular machine, with the 2.5 being used to remove the first set of screws. With these removed, you can then use the screwdriver to lift the FEP sheet frame out of the vat’s base. From here, you’re going turn this over and remove the second set of screws. At this point, we can give both the vat and the frame another cleanup to remove any remaining resin residue. In the footage that you see here, I’ve already done this process several times to remove all resin from the surface of the vat and frame, but if you’ve just done a quick cleanup you’re going to want to keep wearing gloves while doing the remaining steps.

Place the bottle cap in the centre of the FEP frame after having lined up the FEP sheet and frames. While holding the frame down, you are going to use a pair of tweezers to create a small puncture in the FEP sheet where you are going to place your first screw. I always recommend doing the four corner’s first before doing the remaining. You can use your finger’s as a support to help better control the amount of pressure while puncturing the FEP sheet. The aim is to simply start the hole and not to go all the way down. After doing the four corners, you can then work your way around the frame and attach the remaining screws. Once completed, you want to turn the FEP frame over and place it into the vat base. Once again, you’re going to create a small puncture for the screws, making sure to start at each corner. Only screw the screws in enough to hold them in place, and work diagonally from each other until all of them are in position. Slowly moving diagonally, you incrementally tighten these slowly down to ensure that you have even pressured. Doing this will prevent buckling from occurring in one section of the FEP sheet. Do this until you reach the bottom, but once again don’t over tighten.

The FEP sheet is attached, but we now have some extra material sticking out around the edges. To remove this, we’re going to follow the out edges of the Vat frame with a cutting blade. To keep from leaving smudges on the surface, we’re going to place a piece of paper towel under our hand while carefully following this edge. You shouldn’t have to pull it off if you’ve cut all the way through the material, so take your time when doing this step. Remove any leftover material that has the potential to damage the screen and carefully inspect it prior to re-installing the vat.

If you’re looking to add a Screen Protector, you’re going to want to see the following video since it’s a great upgrade that will help protect your screen, especially since this machine doesn’t have a protective layer above the LCD.

WORTH Buying? – Anycubic Photon Mono X Review

When choosing a new resin printer, it’s always a good idea to know where any issues or benefits may lie. In this article, we’ll go over some of the great features and what should know before making your purchase.

This machine is similar to the Elegoo Saturn in that it’s an SLA printer with a medium-sized build area of 192x120x245mm. Like most resin printers at the time of writing this article, it comes with a 4K monochrome screen, which allows for faster printing and more detailed prints. This machine came out after the Elegoo Saturn and although it is similar, there are some key differences that make it stand out.

First, this machine uses a proprietary motherboard by Anycubic making it independent of the Chitusystems ecosystem, which can have its pros and cons. This makes it easier to use any slicer which supports the board without being locked into the Chitubox software. Getting replacement parts however could prove difficult if Anycubic discontinued any of these in the future, and seeing as how they’ve significantly reduced the price of this machine it could mean that they’re planning to do so in the next year. If I’m being honest though, I’ve rarely needed to replace my screen since 9/10 times I’ve just had to reseed the screen connector instead. So for most people, this shouldn’t be an issue. Also, in most cases, the price of the replacement screen will often make it more cost-effective to simply purchase a more up-to-date machine.

When unboxing this machine, I always recommend checking for any particles or debris which may be on the FEP sheet or the LCD screen itself. Before any printing can be done, we first need to level the print bed, and for this we’re going to use the sheet of paper that came with the machine. You’re going to loosen the bolts on top of the print bed and place the paper underneath. You’ll then go to “Tools + “Move Z” + “Home”, which will home the print bed. Furthermore, you’ll then apply even pressure on the build plate and re-tighten the screws. Your bed is properly levelled when you can gently tug the paper out with even pressure on both sides. As a side note, if your print isn’t sticking, 90% percent of the time it’s that the build plate that isn’t levelled correctly. You can find issues in the first couple of layers at two key points by listening for the suction sound that’s made when the plate makes contact or lifts away.

I did open this machine to check to make sure that it had proper wire connection instead of the tinned ones. In all the machines I’ve tested so far, only this one and the corresponding washing station had proper terminal connections. This is a great sign, I home to see this from other companies in the future.

One big issue that I have with this machine is the lack of a basic wiring diagram. Although the company does sell a replacement motherboard, I simply couldn’t locate any information on what each of the connection did for this machine. To their credit, they have labelled the wires so if you’re patient, you can follow the lines to their connections. In today’s age, this is potentially a big problem, since it makes doing repairs or troubleshooting more difficult with this machine. I did create a reference page for the different boards and that will be available on my website as a PDF guide.

Although this machine does come with Wi-Fi capabilities, I personally don’t find these to be very secure, so I generally opt out of using them. In this case, if you want to have this capability, you can install the antenna that comes with the machine and sync it up with your other devices. For a production setting, this is generally the preferred workflow, however I still do recommend having proper security protocols in place when doing so.

The UV light that’s used on this machine has some interesting properties to it. Unlike most machines, this one is designed with a built-in option so the user to change its brightness level. When playing around with this setting, I discovered that I could tweak this depending on the level of detail that I wanted. On my machine, I needed it to be set to 50% because it caused light to bleed into the surrounding pixels, which washed out some detail work. Although, this can be a problem on smaller prints, it’s great when doing larger scale production work where speed is a factor. Also, important to note, is that that increasing the UV brightness could cause the Light and LCD to fail faster if it’s set too high, so I would avoid doing this if you need accuracy or if you’re trying to extend the life of your machine.

Now I’m not quite sure how this got past quality control, however the plastic that’s being used for knobs that tighten both the vat and the build plate are sensitive to isopropyl alcohol. Essentially, they become a liquid mess of melted tar like substance when they’re in contact with that product. Considering that isopropyl alcohol is normally used in the cleaning process, this can be a serious issue. Because the material I print with is predominantly white, It often leaves a black residue on the prints unless I scrub them down. Now, There are two methods of dealing with this issue. Prior to using your machine, you can spray a sealant over the plastic after having masked out the threads. Since mine had already been compromised, I designed some replacements and hacked off the original plastic. As always, I’ll have the STL’s available on my website along with the GUIDE for this mod.

The build plate is attached using 4 screws and is what I’ve found to be more stable when dealing with these types of machines. The build plate on mine was flat, however this isn’t always the case, and it should be something that you check. If it isn’t, you can sand it down with some 250 grit sandpaper, making sure to keep the build plate flat when you do so. To make things easier, you can tape down your sandpaper sheet with a strong adhesive to keep it from moving around. To prevent the FEP sheet from getting damaged when it’s sitting on a surface, they’ve added some small alignment feet on the bottom of the vat and is a welcome addition.

I’m not fond of the lid design for this machine, since it requires a much higher storage space in order to properly lift the cover off. I would prefer a two part design where the front can come out and give you quick and easy access to the inside components. A great option would be a lid upgrade for this machine, where you can replace it with something a little more functional. A nice edition would also be to have a carbon filter integrated within the machine itself since even with the lid on, some fumes do escape.

During my testing, I had far less layer shifts in comparison to my other machines, especially when doing larger prints. Although the linear rail system is very similar to that of the Saturn, it seems that they may have done a better job in the alignment, since I can’t seem to pinpoint the reason for this difference. So far, this machine has been my go to for larger prints, while my Saturn has been delegated to the more detailed one’s.

So with all of this in mind, what is my final verdict? Well it’s a great machine but has one flaw that’s pretty big. Those handles are made from an incorrect material choice and should have been replaced with a new material, however the company to this day ships it with that defect. It’s for this reason that it’s an 7.5/10. The upgraded connections and improved print quality are what make this machine rated higher, since it introduces some well needed improvements to the design. The innovation that we see with the UV light gives the user greater control over their print quality and is something that other companies should look at for their machines as well. I’m currently working on some additional mods for this machine, and I will be posting them here if you’re interested in seeing more.

Mod or Buy – Upgrade Ender 3 V2 or Buy Ender 3 S1

Have you ever wondered whether you were better off buying the Ender S1 or the modifying the already affordable Ender 3 V2? Well, in this article we’ll explore the pros and cons of each and see which might be a better choice depending on your use case. What you see here is my own opinion. Undertake these upgrades at your own risk.

Now, for the purposes of this video, I will be comparing some specific upgrades which make the Ender 3 V2 more similar to the Ender 3 S1. One of the biggest differences is the hot end assembly, which on the S1 uses a Sprite extruder, while the V2 uses your standard Bowden tube setup. Now both methods have their own pros and cons, but for this comparison will be upgrading it to also have a Sprite extruder. I did the math on this and unless you’re buying a knockoff hot end, it’s a lot easier to simply get the Sprite extruder upgrade kit which comes with the replacement cables. Just make sure to buy the High temperature version when you do so. The S1 strangely has a heat break which isn’t all metal, so I’d recommend looking into replacing that if you want to print with higher temperatures. Just be aware, that replacing this can be a little finicky, and I did do some damage to mine when doing that upgrade. The sprite extruder comes with a CRTouch for auto levelling, and there is already a firmware upgrade for the V2 if you install this on your machine. Depending on where you purchase this kit, you’ll be looking around $100 USD at the time of writing.

Generally speaking, I do recommend that you have a dual Z axis setup, when you have a direct extruder, so for this reason we’ll be adding another Z axis to the machine for additional stability. The good news is that there are plenty of these kits available, but you’re going to want to make sure that they come with the wiring and if possible two lead screw bearing brackets since they can help stabilize the lead screws. Most of these kits have a splitter cable which helps divide the signal from the stepper motor drivers and makes it a lot easier to install. I’ve already created a playlist for Upgrading the V2 so make sure to check that out if you’re planning on doing the same changes to your machine. This will roughly add $25 USD to our total for the upgrade.

Another big difference between these two machines, is the build plate. For some reason, you currently can’t purchase the exact same build plate that comes on the S1 unless you’re a registered vendor. This is problematic for print farms, which normally want to have a couple of extras, so they can easily swap them out. The one that is currently available is the older version, which just doesn’t work as well and isn’t really worth the money. I added one of these to my machines and honestly, I’m thinking about either simply removing it or using 250 grit sandpaper to rough up the metal side since that seems to work great for PETG material. This will roughly add $26 USD to our total.

Now, the nice thing about both of these machines is that the source code is available for both. So if you decided to make additional changes, you still can. This makes the longevity of the machines more likely, since this opens up the possibility of additional suppliers for certain components. In a time when there’s supply chain issues, this level of flexibility is quite necessary for any purchasing decisions.

So which options do I recommend and for whom. If you already own a V2 and don’t plan on picking up another machine, then simply upgrading your existing one is a good idea. Doing this will reduce waste and help prolong the longevity of your machine, but I wouldn’t consider the upgrades a necessary step until you want to print with higher temperature materials. If you’re planing on getting a new machine, or need to replace the one you currently have, then the S1 is a feasible option, however keep in mind that certain replacement parts aren’t available to the public as of the writing of this article. Since quite a few components are proprietary, this could pose a serious issue if you need to replace a component. Therefore, if you’re looking for a reliable machine, then a stock V2 may actually be a better option because of it’s level of flexibility, and it’s lower price point.

If you’re always looking around for the information that you need on these printers’ and other’s I have the PDF guides which include the wiring diagrams, tips and tricks, maintenance, printer calibration, realignment, parts, firmware and much more. For the machines that require it I’ve also included the STL which helps restore functionality.

The Peel – 3D Printing Villains – Every 3d printer enthusiast’s Nightmare!

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