I was looking around a bit and found a number of suppliers for photo-curing resin. I know Monger has done a great job documenting his experience with a mix of B9 / Formlabs resin. Has anyone else experimented with resins such as 3DInk ($75/liter), Madesolid ($100/liter), Bucktown Polymers (smelly?) or others?
I’d love to hear about your results!
Andrew,
I’ve tried the 3dInk, and as is, it doesn’t work with the Form1 (overcures).
Tried the Madesolid blue and it overcured, but the black was great. Very high resolution, however I wasn’t a fan of the matte feel of the finished piece.
Bucktown polymers will give you the same result as the 3dink. All these resins are very highly active, and they are designed for DLP printers, therefore by themselves they will not work in the form1. Unless you add more photo-blockers to them or less photo-initiator.
Unless, formlabs gives us control over the laser curing times, and I don’t see that happening in the near… ever.
I’ve been working with the Madesolid white and black recently, both of which give excellent results. They’re very hard, totally opaque, and show detail great. They perhaps overcure slightly, but not by much.
Now I’m working with Josh from Makerjuice to fine tune his resins for the Form1, since we live in the same area. As of today we think we’ve about narrowed it down and the results are looking very good.
Here’s a shot of a 42mm wide object from our most recent test.
Just finished a few prints with the MadeSolid Black resin, and while I was really impressed with the resolution, I noticed it leaves marks on the PDMS after even 1 print for me. It was a brand new tank, and after a few prints that I moved around, now it has marks all over.
I contacted MadeSolid to see what’s up with that and they haven’t responded with a clear answer yet. They just said they will look into it.
I also had some of their blue resin in that tank before and unloaded that into plastic bag and that resin did not leave any marks by the way but it was overcuring. I put the plastic bag next to the window in the sun to cure, before I throw it away, and after a few minutes the hardened resin was really hot to the touch and had melted the plastic bag and even then FedEx padded envelope bag it was resting on 
Weird.
For now, I’m staying away from that resin. Makes me worry if their new castable resin will do the same to the PDMS.
Will post some pictures soon.
Thanks everyone for the feedback. I’m going to try the MadeSolid resin once I have the laser issues sorted out on my printer. I’m willing to experiment a bit with resins, as I seem to have a resurfacing process pretty much dialed in. I use Sylguard 184. I’ve done 3 vats so far, and I think they work a little better than the Formlabs vat. The Sylguard is a little softer than the PDMS layer that Formlabs uses, which makes the peel a little easier on the part. One $60 kit will coat about 5 vats. I got some from these guys. http://www.everbrightsolar.net/sylgard-184-silicone-elastomer-kit-encapsulation-184.html I think Elsworth Adhesives has it too.
hey MD and Jonathan,
I understand what “overcuring” is, but what are the actual effects? what are the advantages or disadvantages of over- or undercuring ?
Hey Etienne,
You loose detail if it is overcuring. For example if you have 0.5mm holes to print on your model, they will be closed or almost closed. If the resin is properly calibrated, the 0.5mm holes should print as is.
I have some experience with polyurethane resin used in laminating surfboards. Traditionally, a saturation layer of resin is pushed into the fiberglass and left to cure/harden. Then then another layer, the sanding coat, is spread over that and left to harden (it has a slightly different formula). After sanding the rough bits and uneven regions off a 3rd coat, hot coat, is lightly poured over the sanded sanding coat/later. The hot coat has additional catalyst (nasty MEKP) added to make it cure quickly on top of the sanding coat. Finally, the hot coat is wet sanded and polished to a glossy finish. Now, it is common to use a photo-reactive catalyst that is faster than the old method, the laminated board is “baked” under UV lights/lamps and is sometimes left in the sunlight for about 30-60 seconds and then left for a while under UV lights. The Hot Coat is literally a mixture that becomes very hot due to chemical reactions. It is the same principle that is happening with the form1 resin, a lot of energy is being exhausted/ let off in the process because the energy from the sun is causing a very fast and intense reaction on a much larger scale than just the UV laser that the Form1 uses. At least, that’s how I understand it.
I have some experience with polyurethane resin used in laminating surfboards. Traditionally, a saturation layer of resin is pushed into the fiberglass and left to cure/harden. Then then another layer, the sanding coat, is spread over that and left to harden (it has a slightly different formula). After sanding the rough bits and uneven regions off a 3rd coat, hot coat, is lightly poured over the sanded sanding coat/later. The hot coat has additional catalyst (nasty MEKP) added to make it cure quickly on top of the sanding coat. Finally, the hot coat is wet sanded and polished to a glossy finish. Now, it is common to use a photo-reactive catalyst that is faster than the old method, the laminated board is “baked” under UV lights/lamps and is sometimes left in the sunlight for about 30-60 seconds and then left for a while under UV lights. The Hot Coat is literally a mixture that becomes very hot due to chemical reactions. It is the same principle that is happening with the form1 resin, a lot of energy is being exhausted/ let off in the process because the energy from the sun is causing a very fast and intense reaction on a much larger scale than just the UV laser that the Form1 uses. At least, that’s how I understand it.
someone could print me one piece of evidence? I would like to buy your printer.
are also willing to pay
thanks
Antonio,
You missed a few threads. Please make sure to post your message on every single thread, so that someone will finally answer your request. Good luck.