After I remove the item from the printer i put in alcohol baths roughly 15 mins each, give or take. Then let them dry. I read a few days ago from one of the FL employees to let them dry at least a couple of hours. You do not want to cure the parts with alcohol or water on them at all. Then in the UV chamber, then done. As far as how long can you wait afterwards…idk if there is any specific time. Just cure as soon as you can.
Putting them on a window sill can work but the sunlight is only hitting one side of your print. A properly set up curing chamber will put UV light on the whole print at the same time.
I generally put prints in my curing chamber right after I remove them from there dip and a quick air dry.
Some you should also be aware of is cleaning them in isopropyl. Doesn’t leave them in there too long. They will get spongy and won’t cure right (at least with the tough resin).
It looks the same as the one I use. FYI that one has 365nm wave length bulbs in it. It is also the one FL employees use in their offices. Even tho their documentation recommends 405nm. It has always confuzzeled me, however from what I gather 405nm would just cure slightly faster than 365.
That reminds me this one time I left an O-ring type print in the alcohol over a 3day weekend on accident. when I came back it was more flexible than the flexible resin!
I guess it is worth mentioning there are professional setups sold by some of our fellow forum members upwards of $500. some have rotating platforms and light bulbs all around. There are many many ways to do it. like ive said before, just experiment and see what works best for you.
I’m looking for the easiest way as I’m just starting and doing this for fun. I’m gonna buy a UV machine and 2 ft box and cure for the amount of time you told me after it dried the IPA overnight.
Can’t seem to find any 405nm machines on Amazon.ca… kinda wouldve want to get the one FL tells me to take
I went to amazon, found a finger nail UV light thingy for about $30. And as far as I can tell it works fine for me. I use it mostly for the durable resin. I do have to leave my prints in there for quite a while (2 plus hours).
365nm works fine. According to Formlabs white paper on the subject if you need maximum engineering strength you will get slightly stronger parts using 405nm.
405mn tubes are available on EBay.
The first step after the initial alcohol bath is to use a paint brush to wipe off the surface uncured resin.
Then bath 2. I then compress air spray to get off the alcohol. Finally cure under 405mn until no longer tacky.
Make sure your window is covered and the lights are turned down as you take the print out of the printer, because indoor lighting can still start curing to some degree (not as effective as UV lights or sunlight)
Putting stuff in the window in sunlight can damage most anything but it shouldn’t harm the object more than anything else.
The dryer will say it’s a 405mn or it’s not.
The tubes are several style T- bulbs find the type, length, and size of bulb you have and match it with a 405nm one.
I use a small sterilizer cabinet that I replaced the bulb.
i am the one @kevinduhe mention .
we bought 2 nail dryers with 365nm lamps. we purchased Nail Dryers Tools 9W LED Light Bulb For UV Lamp and replaced the 365nm.
Now the nail dryers are working perfectly and cure just fine!
i am not electrician but what i checked to be sure is not the 365nm or405nm, but if each led lamp is 9W.
4 9W lamps equals 36W nail dryer.
