Clear resin : why I don't like it

Obviously, if you absolutely need a transparent part, there’s no way around it, but frankly, I don’t like this resin.

It is the first resin I encounter where cutting supports off can result in tiny “craters” in the finished surface.
These are a pain to fix because if you sand them out, you are actually “eating” your base geometry, and if you want to fill them, you need to get fresh resin in that tiny hole ; it’s not as easy as it seems.

Moreover, if you put fresh resin on the part and UV-harden it, you end-up with a very smooth surface which is amazingly difficult to sand : the sand paper has difficulties to “bite” the glassy surface and just slips on it.

Then, there’s all the trouble it takes to actually get a transparent aspect… that will soon end up yellowish due to poor UV stability.

I’ll try to avoid this one from now on…

Some materials are prone to leaving divots when supports are pulled away, and for these using flush cutters tends to be the best option. I like to remove supports after washing in IPA but prior to using Form Cure, as that tends to be when the touch points are at their weakest.

Are you finding a need to sand resin dipped parts often? We used resin dipping to make functional camera lenses, and the idea was that the lenses wouldn’t require any additional post-processing after being dipped. Curing parts for long after resin dipping might help with this.

Yellowing of clear parts is a bit of a challenge and present across a number of different plastics. UV protective coatings will help with this, and we’re continuously looking to improve and expand our current material library.

Hi Frew,

Thanks for the advice regarding the removal of supports.
I needed to add resin to fill-up the divots ; that’s why I needed to sand afterwards.
If I could make parts directly from drips of resin, I would not need a 4000€ printer :wink:

Any reference for UV-protective coatings ?

Cheers,

I use a UV resistant acrylic spray from Krylon. I use it to protect my models after I paint them, but I’m sure you can use it on bare resin as well. They make it in matte and gloss, and it works quite well.


http://www.krylon.com/products/uvresistant-clear-coating/

You can buy it at most art supplies stores or even at some hardware stores.

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Thanks !

Any clear acrylic-based spray will work :wink: