Top down setup, first decent prints :)

Let's see some prints you've made with some of your hardware.
hefeglass
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Top down setup, first decent prints :)

Postby hefeglass » Sun Aug 23, 2015 1:15 pm

Id like to thank Pacmanfan for providing us with creation workshop software and this amazing forum full of information!

Managed to build a usable DLP printer in under 2 hours with the help from this forum. I recently got into FDM printing and after learning my way around an arduino and ramps / marlin...i knew it was time to try building a DLP printer. I printed a z axis out of PLA, uses two 8mm smooth rods and one 8mm threaded. Powered by Nema 17 stepper and ramps/arduino running marlin firmware. I used an Optoma projector (DH1011) for these prints, removed the color wheel and I have the projector focused to 50 micron xy. These prints are my first successful prints..used madesolid v2 red resin floating on top of salt water...added some rit dye (didn't really work..after sitting for a couple days the dye finally started to soak into the resin.) Still have a ton of bleed..need to dial in more. I also have a full liter of FTD snow white with some blue pigment added..probably will wait for a new projector before I spend time dialing it in on this one.
about 7sec exposure for 50 micron layers. These prints are 50 micron xyz

I have a ACER H6510BD arriving sometime later today but at this point i am not sure if i will need it..hopefully it will speed up print times a lot

one pic is after ipa wash and other pic is with a coating of primer to bring out the details
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thanks for looking!

nalmeida
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Re: Top down setup, first decent prints :)

Postby nalmeida » Sun Aug 23, 2015 1:44 pm

For something put together in two hours it looks awesome! Great start!

hefeglass
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Re: Top down setup, first decent prints :)

Postby hefeglass » Mon Aug 24, 2015 2:23 pm

Thanks!
SO i changed out the projector for a H6510bd and i can't say I'm impressed. this projector has horrible focus compared to the optoma I was using before.. I will have to compare the cure times side by side to see if the acer is really an improvement. I can't use the whole build plate because the focus is bad around the edges and I'm sure the intensity of the light varies a lot. I managed to get some nice prints out of the FTD snow white with LOTS of blue pigment added to (almost) eliminate light bleed.

printed all of these together on the build plate along with a celtic hollow skull that fell apart on the edge that was near the outer frame

66 micron xy .06 z resolution. supports for the knight were made with meshmixer

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redonix76
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Re: Top down setup, first decent prints :)

Postby redonix76 » Mon Aug 24, 2015 2:31 pm

Great work!!! Whats your exposure time for the FTD SW with blue pigment? I just got mine with black pigment whit weekend but haven't used it yet. waiting to use up my FTD DB in the vat first. Also how much of the pigment did you put in? I haven't mixed mine yet because not sure how much to use.

PS: FTD resins cures really fast and Craig mention he normally uses between 1000 - 3000 max.

sodium
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Re: Top down setup, first decent prints :)

Postby sodium » Mon Aug 24, 2015 4:28 pm

why replace the optoma?

when you remove the color wheel in the optoma, do you simpy broke the glass or remove the whole pack, disconnecting from the motherboard?

i have an acer and yes ... sharpness around the edges is horrible, and light distribution the worst ... :(

hefeglass
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Re: Top down setup, first decent prints :)

Postby hefeglass » Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:03 pm

^^right now I am using 5000ms for a .06 layer...i thought i was undercuring in some spots but it may be due to uneven light distribution(with the acer)..so maybe I can go lower on the exposure time. When i got the FTD i just added a little of the blue because it already seemed pretty opaque white compared to the made solid v2 red i had. Still got a good bit of bleed so added a lot. Still had a little bit of bleed so i added a lot more. I am going to lower my exposure times and see if i can almost eliminate bleed (still get it on some denser parts). I guess i could always add a little more pigment but i really like this bright blue ..

^i got the acer because I assumed it would be great for this purpose since so many kits recommend this projector. I guess its nice that its capable out of the box..but so was my optoma. I use the optoma as my tv screen so thats how i justified getting the second projector. I may return the acer and try something else (another optoma most likely). On the optoma i moved the color wheel inside the house but you have to keep it oriented correctly so it doesnt trip up the system, i had to try a bunch of different locations. If you just plan on using yours for printing i would just break the glass it would be easier. I also took the lens ring off and cut the little tab so it can focus down to 50 micron or smaller

redonix76
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Re: Top down setup, first decent prints :)

Postby redonix76 » Tue Aug 25, 2015 3:15 pm

hefeglass, thanks for the reply! Yeah I also really like how blue your prints are! I'm hoping to get mine to look a nice solid 40% gray. I wonder is I can mix my DB with the SW...DB doesn't have as much pigment as I thought and still have bleeding. Maybe it's best to just mix the SW with the pigment provided.

Looking forward to see more prints from you soon!!

hefeglass
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Re: Top down setup, first decent prints :)

Postby hefeglass » Sun Aug 30, 2015 1:07 pm

i mixed quite a bit of the blue pigment into the FTD to get this deep blue color, but i am still having a little bleed. I have been placing all of my prints so that the most important details are facing up so that the bleed doesnt look as bad. I am hoping once my new bottle of maker juice red comes in that I will be able to print without any bleed at all. We will see..

Last night I decided to try a print at 25 micron Z layer height to see if a simple top-down setup would be able to maintain such a small layer height with any uniformity. To my surprise, the final print looks amazing, no visible layer lines what so ever. Even in the wide feet to the supports you can't see the layers. I am amazed that I was able to get down to 25 micron layers without a wiper or anything! Wasn't even giving it much time to settle between exposures, complete layer cycle times are around 7 seconds at 25 micron and the blue FTD. I need more pigment and possibly could go even lower on my exposures. I hollowed the object with mesh mixer and added a couple holes on the bottom.. and i angled it so the front was mainly facing up. I had a couple small holes in the object, not sure if this is due to wall thickness or not enough settling time between layers.
IMG_8515.JPG

redonix76
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Re: Top down setup, first decent prints :)

Postby redonix76 » Mon Aug 31, 2015 2:17 pm

Hey hefeglass,

That's an amazing print!! I've also found that for some reason FTD's SW resin settles faster than the DB...not sure why lol. what's the dip distance you're using? Maybe that's the reason why you have some holes? I usually dip down 4 - 5mm no less.

Whats your exposure time right now with 25 micron? I haven't tried anything under 50 microns as of yet, but at 100 micron I'm exposing at 3 sec. and it seems to work pretty good.

Also hollowing models automatically doesn't give you much control so it's possible you could get holes from that. I use Zbrush to manually hollow out my models and so I can give certain area a thicker wall if need be.

PS: How high up is the model raised from the plate? Sometimes when my supports are too long, it doesn't fully connect to the print and will sag. Have you had issues with supports not connecting? Maybe my supports are too thin because I want my cleanup to be minimal lol.

hefeglass
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Re: Top down setup, first decent prints :)

Postby hefeglass » Mon Aug 31, 2015 5:16 pm

right now i have it set for 3mm dip..and somewhat fast (120mm/sec) seems to work out ok for most prints but thin walls i had had some issues.

that was the only print i have tried at 25 micron Z (was around 50-60 micron xy) and i think i was at 2000ms.

What is your xy resolution? I have been printing everything with the projector set at about 50-60 micron xy resolution (not sure the distance) and just varied the layer height, keeping everything else the same.
I recently switched back to my optoma projector just bought a crappy aftermarket bulb that had a very poor uv filter (put the color wheel back in)..so far i havent burnt it up :shock: . The projector is so strong now..i went to 100 micron layers (at the same distance) and they are taking under a second. Was having serious curling issues so i moved the projector further from the vat..around 100 micron xy now. I am printing some stuff right now to see how it works out. this projector does allow me to use the entire build plate with no issues...i returned the acer.
This was printed before I increased projector distance (60 xy 100z), wasn't able to complete the print because of some clearance issue. Tried to provide a little clearance on the fly and accidentally moved the build plate resulting in his horns and tentacles relocating. Fixed and made larger build plate with enough room for 250mm z build volume. Trying some maker juice g+ red resin soon to see how it works in my setup.
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