Adding to the cones recommendation that UV Tools has a function to let you run multiple exposure tests on the same plate.
Comment on Help interpreting benchmark results
remotelove@lemmy.ca 1 week ago
I see a lot of inconsistent exposure, which is super weird.
How old is the resin? New? Was it purchased at the time you got the printer? Was it well shaken?
The biggest issue I see is the gap in the outline at the very top of the print. That shouldn’t happen that late in the print at all. It’s iffy resin or there are small solid chunks floating around in your tank.
My first week with my resin printer was spent testing exposure and probably did about a hundred or so “cones of calibration” ( tableflipfoundry.com/…/the-cones-of-calibration-v… ) with a few different resins.
While a person generally needs to be a little on the crazy side to do that much testing, it was effective. After all of the that testing, what I found out is that comparing two prints with different settings is more valuable than just printing one single calibration test.
See if you can manage to print at least 8 tests at 8 different exposure levels. (I prefer 16, but you do you.) You will quickly learn how to interpret calibration tests and how exposure works.
But, back to your question and my official interpretation: You have a printer that is capable of printing! Yay! I ain’t being sarcastic, actually and this is good.
roofuskit@lemmy.world 1 week ago
LordKitsuna@lemmy.world 1 week ago
The resin was from when I bought the printer. was shaken, and poured in with the included filter funnel, it didn’t seem to be having any issues mixing, tho it is an “abs like” white resin so maybe i need higher exposure time? I’ll check the elegoo site it’s one of their resins i know some of them have setting recommendations.
Thanks for the link I’ll give cone of calibration a try and see where i can get with that
remotelove@lemmy.ca 1 week ago
Resins have a typical use-time for within a year. Some may last longer, some may not. Some may start to show exposure issues. Some just start to separate or solidify partially. Some resins don’t care at all. (It should be written somewhere on the bottle when the resin was made and when it should be used by.)
This is a helluva “unknown variable” you are working with, is my point. Resin is the absolute core of any printing functionality (obviously) and print settings are highly dependant on the resins qualities.
Just because I am so damn picky during my testing and learning process, I would abandon testing with that resin completely and be thankful it even printed a calibration test at all. (I would get a fresh bottle, is what I am saying.)
However, in the interest of using the resin, I would YOLO the exposure time (increase it) and start printing prototypes or other strange experiments. There is a bunch of things I could test even if using a sub-optimal resin.
You could spend time with the rest of that bottle and tweak the settings into partial-perfection. How reusable are those settings for future bottles though?
LordKitsuna@lemmy.world 1 week ago
That’s a fair point, the date on the bottle says it should be good for another year apparently but it wouldn’t hurt to get a fresh bottle just to be safe. It does look like I would need to fuck with the exposure time regardless since it’s a bright white resin it appears to need longer exposure. I also have a clear resin which apparently needs even more exposure.
At the very least I know I have good build plate adhesion because God damn some of these have been difficult to get off I actually slightly scratched my build plate in one spot a little bit getting some of them off I need to be more careful and use the plastic spatula not the metal one
roofuskit@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Your probably just need to shake the shit out of it. Shake it until you’re too tired, then shake it a lot more.
benignintervention@lemmy.world 1 week ago
Color and age definitely matter too. Each resin should also have a configuration table you can import into the slicer. I use Sirya and they offer data sheets and configs from their website. Not sure which other resin manufacturers do the same