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Transcript

Hello everybody and welcome to another video tutorial. Today we’ll be addressing the question that some of you had in the past as to how to change the nozzle on the CR10 V3 since the housing is very tight and difficult to disassemble. Well the good news is that you can do this pretty much as easily as any other machine if you know what to look out for in the process. As always, I am in no way responsible for any damages that may occur so do this at you’re own risk.

Before we even begin removing the existing nozzle we first need to clean out the hot end and there’s a very simply method that I prefer to use for this. The main method I use now days is commonly known as a “Cold pull”. Not only is this great for cleaning out your nozzle if it’s jamming, but it’s also great for clearing out the passageway when doing a nozzle change.

Although I do prefer to use some TPU while doing this, PLA will also work, but you’ll just have to be careful not to snap it in the process. To start things off, if you don’t have any filament already loading into your machine you’ll need to preheat the nozzle by going to “Prepare” + “Preheat PLA” and “Preheat PLA End”. Both PLA and TPU will both use the same temperature settings in this case. Now with TPU you have the option of tying the end into a knot which will make it easier to remove later on, so we’ll cut a piece off that’ll be long enough to feed through and feed it into the hot end. Just make sure that it’s a little longer so that it extrudes slightly. Remove the part that extruded from the hot end and begin cooling down the machine by going to “Prepare” + “Cooldown”. The hot end should be at its normal room temperature before continuing to the next step. Once it’s Cooldown completely you’ll restart the heating process while tugging on the filament at the same time. As the hot end heats up any residue will be dislodged when the filament is pulled out at a low temperature. As you can see I did this process with both TPU and PLA with the same results. Once again just make sure not to snap the filament while doing this step.

For the following steps here’s what I recommend you pick up for the nozzle change. While some of these are optional most are highly recommended. A ratchet with extender and bits, needle nose vice grips, magnetic tray, pipe joint tape and your replacement nozzle.

With the nozzle cleaned up we can now begin swapping the end so to do this will need some needle nose vice grips. Normally for most machines you don’t need this specific tool however because of how close the hot end assembly is to the components and the difficulty which can be experience in removing the outer shell I do highly recommend you pick this up. A small ratcheting socket set is also helpful however there are more specialized tools out there, so this one isn’t as necessary. You’ll want to take a close look underneath to check where the wiring is mainly located since the last thing we want to do is damage the thermistor or heater cartridge. To do this we’ll raise the hot end assembly up the Z axis by going through the menu system. Go to “Prepare” + “Move Axis” + “Move Z” and we’ll set the number high enough to easily access the hot end with our tools. As an extra precaution I would also recommend putting something on the glass bed just in case you drop a tool on the surface.

Anything after this point should be done with a minimum of one glove on your hand to keep from burning yourself. With your vice grips you’ll lock this onto the heater block while making sure to avoid any of the delicate wiring that’s on the inside. Luckily the design of the hot end assembly automatically places these components into an area where they’re less likely to get damaged. Here’s a picture of how this looks under my machine but double check just in case before clamping the vice grips in place. The nice thing about using a ratchet which has an extender on it is that the extender helps to defuse the heat far easier and prevents burning. So you’ll unscrew the nozzle carefully and remove it from the hot end assembly.

Before we begin putting on the replacement, we first want to add some pipe joint tape since this’ll help produce a greater seal within the threads and prevent material from oozing out. I personally prefer using the version which is thicker since it requires less wrapping, but that’ll depend on your preferences. This material can be found at any local hardware store or online depending on what’s more convenient. A very important note is to make sure that the hole isn’t in any way covered or that you get this material inside. This can cause some very bad nozzle jams so take care of this step. If it’s covered, simply use your tweezers to punch a small hole and roll the material around the edge of the thread. Now we simply screw back in the nozzle making sure to have it just tight enough to hold into place. Just as you’re getting close to finish tightening the hot end, you’ll hold onto the vice grips and tighten the hot end followed by slightly turning the vice grips to allow for a greater seal. DO NOT under any circumstances do not overtighten the nozzle since it can snap in the heater block. Simply remove the vice grips, and you’re ready to go.

Also, for those of you who actually want to use this video as guide keep in mind that I will be posting the transcript on my main website to make it easier to follow along. Alternatively please feel free to slow down the video by hitting the gear icon on the bottom right-hand corner of your screen and to change the speed settings.

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How to set up proper SLA resin supports for a successful resin print.

Index

Setting Up Support Settings

In today’s article, we will focus on customizing our settings to get the best results from our resin prints.

Orientation, size and surface area all play an important role in a successful print, but each of these often depend on the type of model you have and the resin being used. It’s very important to first establish proper exposure settings for the machine, since this affect the results of the calibration. I personally prefer to use Photonsters Validation Matrix 2 for my preliminary calibration, and I will include a link in the description below. It prints quite quickly and allows me to get results fast. If at all possible, it’s generally recommended to print with a colour that’s easily readable, since this makes it easy to gage the results. I generally always start with the manufacturer’s recommended settings, then incrementally increase these or decrease them until these two points are just barely touching. I will also aim to make sure that as many of these lines are printed as possible.

Some slicer’s offer a variety of saved settings for different use cases, and these will be important to set up properly before even adding them to your model. In Chitubox for instance, you can choose between your light, medium and heavy supports and these can vary quite a bit depending on the use case. In order to determine what settings to actually use, especially for the model contact points, you could do it the long way or use a model that’s similar to Amerlabs. This model is great for figuring out the support thickness for the smallest of supports, as well as their connection lengths. Amerlabs has included a great guide on how to use their calibration test, so I’ll include this link as well. Once you’ve figured out which dimensions worked best for your specific resin. You can then begin creating your custom support settings. Seeing as the most difficult settings tend to be for small miniatures, we’re going to focus on these for now.

To start things off, we’ll adjust the bottom exposure number, since this is quite often is too high. I’ve found that in most cases I only need to have one to two bottom layers, so long as I increase the bottom layer exposure time. To find out what this should be set to, you’re going to refer to that initial test where you printed the validation matrix. I normally add between 5 and 10 seconds to this initial bottom exposure time to help ensure proper adhesion. For the medium and heavy support settings, I’ll normally go with the standard recommendations since they require more rigidity.

We’re then going to take the number for the layer height and use this to calculate the platform touch shape thickness. For small prints this normally only needs to be a 1 layer, but for larger one’s I’ll use 2 to 3 times that initial thickness (layer height x bottom layer count). Generally, the heavier the support that I need, the thicker I’ll make this, so it remains rigid enough not to bend or break. You can see in this example the differences between my different types of support.

The connection point’s Upper diameter will depend on the results of the Amerlab’s test. I normally go slightly higher than the first successful pillar dimension, which is between 0.1 to 0.5 mm. The lower diameter for the connection point will be the same as the thickness of the pillar, however some users choose to reduce this number. I normally set the connection length just under the first successful test, just to be safe.

The pillar shapes have to support the model and remain rigid enough not to flex while printing, so in this case I normally air on the side of caution. I normally go slightly above double the thickness when compared to the “Upper diameter”. This helps ensure that the pillar will have a lower likelihood of flexing during the raising and lowering of the build plate. When setting up my heavy supports, I’ll set these fairly large, since I normally use those when I’m printing props. Models such as those tend to be quite heavy, and the last thing I want is for a print to fail or fall off.

When using automated supports, I’ll normally have these set to above 90% with an angle percentage of 35%. With the basic settings for your supports, it’s now time to implement these with your first prints, and you can see that process here.

Links to Calibration Files

Resources

By Posted on Posted in 3Dprinting, Posts, Printing Basics, Uncategorized

Index

SLA Printer Full Guide

How it all Works

If you’re new or interesting in starting 3D printing, you’ve probably heard that you needed to support your resins prints. But what is this, and how is it important? Today’s we’ll explain this core principle along with how it all works.

Resin prints are created using multiple layers of exposed resin and while this process can be relatively fast when compared to other’s, it does have some important considerations. Everything needs to be connected to the build plate in order for a successfully 3D print to occur. This is mainly due to the fact that the resin is only partially cured, requiring it to be attached to the remaining structure to prevent it from becoming stuck to the FEP sheet or floating freely within the vat. These stuck portions and floating particles can cause serious damage to the LCD screen if not taken care of. In a lot of cases, this will require their removal prior to continuing onto the next print, which results in lost resin as well as time.

Any portions of the print which aren’t connected to the remaining print structure or build plate are known as Islands. Examples of this can be clearly seen in the photon validator or on the layer preview for Chitubox. In this case, I’m showing you a supported and unsupported version, so you can get a better idea of what to look for.

When a print is completed, the material is only partially cured to ensure that all the details are present and not washed out from overexposure. This will often mean that it’s more flexible, therefore these regions need more support to prevent them from flexing or distorting. Portions which hang or extend outwards are known as overhangs. Take special care when dealing with these regions, since they will often need quite a few supports to ensure that the structure prints properly.

Another big consideration is that the print needs enough supports to keep it attached to the build plate. The main reason for this is that a large amount of suction is created when the FEP sheet separates from the build plate. My video on “How an SLA printer works” goes through this in more detail, but you need to know that adding supports is intended to overcome those forces. How a user orients their print, will often affect how many supports are needed, as well as the amount of suction that created within regions of the prints. In these two examples, there’s a large amount of suction created on one version while the second one has a lot less, which is due to their orientations.

The weight of the printed object will also contribute to the number and type of supports which are needed for a given 3d print. Since prints are done upside down, they have to contend with gravity as much as they do with the suction forces. This is often the leading reason why a print will be hallowed out prior to being sent to the printer. By removing any excessive or unwanted resin in the printing process, a user can save on material while maintaining great overall results.

Now that you understand the importance of supports in resin printing, we’ll go over how to set up basic supports.

Important Notes

  • Overhangs
  • Islands
  • Orientation
  • Weight

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By Posted on Posted in 3Dprinting, Posts, Printing Basics, Uncategorized

Testing results for Conjure Rigid Resin by Chitu System
SLA Printer Full Guide

Testing Results

So is the “Conjure Rigid” by Chitu System any good or not? Well, we’re going to take a closer look at it today. I was sent this product free of charge, but no money has exchanged hands, and they have no say in what goes into this review.

So although I did receive this almost a month and a half ago, I wanted to take my time to do a proper review of this product and really test out their claims. So I tested it for miniatures and functional parts and discovered some things you’ll want to keep in mind if you pick this up. While unboxing this product, I did have some concerns about the design of the bottle. Inside the cap there is an additional seal to prevent leaks, however resin gets easily caught in the edge of the rim when pouring. If this isn’t cleaned properly before being stored, it can start leaking or dripping along the edges of the bottle. Now, so long as the bottle isn’t exposed to UV light this isn’t a huge issue, but it can become permanently sealed if it cures. It is for this reason that storage will be very important when dealing with this product.

The overall viscosity is thicker when compared to most standard resins, however I find this to be consistent with most of the industrial resins that I’ve used in the past. Similarly, the black version is much thicker than any other colour, so ensuring that you use it in an area that’s above the recommended 25°C will help you achieve better results. This product smells extremely strong in comparison to other products and although this isn’t a measure of the level of toxicity, I would recommend using proper ventilation practices as referred to in my safety video.

Chitu Systems did a great job about making the print settings available on their website, and for the most part it was pretty much plug and play with the settings that were provided. The one issue that I did have, was that, due to the flexibility of the material. I did have to modify my support settings to account for this, especially when printing small, detailed prints. So how did I end up changing these to work with this resin? We’ll First off, I added much thicker supports on the main regions of the model which would properly anchor it to the build plate. I then increased my lighter supports middle diameter and top lower diameter, so they would stay more rigid. I unfortunately found that I couldn’t rely on the automated support when it came to smaller models due to them flexing during their printing. While this was more time-consuming, it did mean that I could ensure the supports were far enough not to get stuck onto the model. I also increased the bottom exposure of the first layer, which helped keep the model attached to the build plate. Once again most of these issues were more prominent with the black resin, and although I’m unsure as to the reason it’s something to be mindful.

This resin does come with explicit instructions to use preferably 95% isopropyl alcohol when cleaning. While I can’t confirm this to be the case, since I changed cleaning solution at the same time. I can say that I had more difficulty cleaning the black resin, which is most likely due to the higher viscosity or thickness of the material. It should also be noted that I clean all of my prints with a two container approach, since I’ve found this to work much better overall.

Now, although this material does remain flexible after it has just cured, I found it still sanded and cut quite well. So cleaning up the models prior to painting was fairly easy once cured. While the parts can still break just like any resin, I did find that the shape of the part made the biggest difference in this regard. All the weapons that I printed for my models stood up well to being bent after having just cured, while the tips of the tails keep breaking off. Now, to be honest, this is more about the shape of the design than anything else. Essentially, whenever you have a shape this, you tend to create an area where tension and stress can build up at the pinching point. This in turn makes them more likely to break. So when removing support material, those will be the areas that need to pay attention.

One property of UV curable resins is their tendency to become more brittle over time, and this is important to be aware of when using this material. One of my favourite resins by another company has this same issue, and after about 2 weeks I generally find that the resin has stabilized more, at which point I can better test the fragility of the material for the application. This resin is no exception in this regard, and became much more brittle after the two-week period. While I don’t have the proper methods for measuring shrinkage of a material, I am assuming that there is some additional shrinkage that may be occurring as the resin becomes more brittle. So depending on the application, this is something that should be tested prior to beginning production.

Important Notes

  • Needs to be printed in temperature above 25°C
  • Becomes more brittle over time
  • Is flexible
  • Has a strong odour (use proper ventilation as described in this Article)
  • High Viscosity (very thick)

Links

© Yarkspiri Fantasy Art

By Posted on Posted in 3d Printing Reviews, 3Dprinting, Uncategorized

How to Properly Clean A Resin Print

    Have you every tried cleaning your resin print only to find that there’s there’s still some residue?  Well, in today’s article, we will address how to clean your 3D prints to get the most out of your machine. Some of these tricks will most likely not be one’s that you’ve might have heard.

    Drainage Holes

    Drainage holes help reduce the amount of pressure buildup when printing a hollowed out model, but can be difficult to clean out.  So long as you’ve properly set up your print, these can still be cleaned easily if you know a couple of tricks.  In this example, I have 2 drainage holes.  This means that while one hole will release air or fluids, the second one will do the reverse, and this becomes more important as we begin cleaning the model.  Before taking the print out of the cleaning liquid, I’ll shake this around a little to dislodge some of the resin prior to draining the model.  I’ll orientate the model so that all the fluid can drain out, but making sure to swirl the fluid around some more.  I do all of this while wearing protective goggles.  To be sure that I’ve removed everything from the inside, I’ll use a fine tipped squeeze bottle to force liquid into one hole and allowing it to drain out of the other.  When you’re using a new batch of cleaning solution, you’ll notice that it will eventually become clear, and this means you’ve removed the excess material.

    Quick tip

    For the really tiny prints, using a tea steeper will allow you to clean these with less risk of losing the small parts.  I would suggest getting one with decently sized holes to ensure that the cleaning fluid can flow more easily within.

    Recommended Tools

    If you made a mistake during the setup and didn’t include enough drainage holes, you can add these later by using a hand drill. This will allow you to force fluid into the area to ensure that it’s completely clean before you begin the curing process.  I use a small prying tool to unclog the hole, but you can easily use a toothpick as well.  When uncured resin stays trapped, it can cause the model to split and crack, therefore it’s worth investing a small amount of time in ensuring that all trapped resin is removed.  I normally have a wide variety of these drill bits handy, since they can often be a lifesaver when working on last minute projects. This is where previewing your model will help keep these issues from arising, since it can show you where a portion of the model can fail. 

    How Many Cleaning Stations

    I highly recommend you have two cleaning containers since this helps prevent any leftover residue.  One container or cleaning station can be used to remove the majority of the resin, while the secondary one will remove the remainder.  You’ll also find that you shouldn’t need to replace the cleaning solution for the secondary material as often as a result.  

    Re-use Some Garbage

    As I scrub my model I often use a rag that I’ve salvaged from an old T-Shirt and I have found it to be the best in removing residual material.  For the tighter regions, I often use the tip of a silicone basting brush because this can easily scrub the tight areas without damaging the surface.  Just make sure to label this so that you don’t accidentally use it for anything else.  

    Softening Supports For Removal

    While some people will use warm water to soften their models, in most cases you don’t actually have to do this.  Instead, simply allowing the model to soak in isopropyl alcohol for about 1 hour will often have a similar effect.  Another method is to use a hair dryer to gently heat the supports, so they become softer as well.  Another benefit of using the hair dryer is that you can quickly tell which area still need cleaning by drying it off and looking for any shiny areas.

    Now that you have a properly cleaned print, you’re probably wondering how to actually remove the supports from your prints.  Well this video I’ll help you do just that, so make sure to watch that one next.

    Personal Notes

    Supplies

    • Protective Goggles
    • Rag
    • Basting Brush (label + only use for this purpose)
    • Fine Tipped Squeeze bottle
    • Prying tool
    • Hand drill + bits
    • 2 Cleaning containers
    • Hair Dryer

    Recommended Articles

    By Posted on Posted in 3Dprinting, tricks-and-mods