Form 1 / 1+ / 2 3rd Party Resin Settings Master List

I just got a batch of several photocentric3D resins. They assured me this is the latest formula, testing it now on a formlabs testpiece. :slight_smile:

Unfortunately, they stopped selling beige, red and other colors due to lack of demandā€¦

OK, first test with black resin new formula: Iā€™m far from impressed.
It is more dark-blue than black. Parts still heavily over cureā€¦ :confused:

The resin also seems to suffer from laser flares.

(to be honestā€¦ the original formula is much darker and I like it better)

Any further result with the Photocentric? Need to buy new resin and I am in the dilemma whether to go Photocentric or FunToDoā€¦ and Iā€™d much rather get it right.

Cheers

I cannot recommend on using the new formula yet. Tried different colors and firm and hard. They all suffer over curing and parts warp while printing. Black hard is blue-ish and feels rubber like. Black firm is OK for small parts but like the black hard it feels rubber like. Grey hard is OK for small parts too. Not for bigger parts.

Same issues with Fun 2 Do. Massive over cure with failures on large parts. Also shows wear on PDMS quickly.

Unless we can get Made Solid resins again itā€™s going to be Formlabs resins for me.

Iā€™m really surprised that itā€™s so hard to make a good resin for the Form 2. Formlabs seems to have very good chemistsā€¦!

@FredB
How do the funtodo supports feel when they come out of the printer? Softer than FL resin?

The supports are pretty hard and very brittle. They are also over sized due to the over cure.

For functional parts holes smaller than 2mm will be completely closed with FTD resins.

When Iā€™ve added material to make the resin less reactive it goes soft. But, still brittle.

Have you guys tried any of the Bucktown Polymer resins (Bucktown Polymers - UV and Visible RadCured)? Or any of the Autodesk prototyping resins (https://ember.autodesk.com/shop)?

Bucktown Polymers seem to have extremely economical pricing (breaks down to about $40-50 per kg). I just ran out of clear FL resin, so I am slowly mixing in the Bucktown Polymers clear (ZVE200-V420) into my resin tank, and printing in open mode (loading the Bucktown into the FL cartridge overfilled the tank) and havenā€™t had any issues yet. Only two prints, but better than nothing, which is what I got with Photocentric Beige. The only catch is that Bucktown resins come in 4KG cans, so if it doesnā€™t work, you have a ton of extra resin. Size of can is attached.

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After a lot of failures, filtering, and trying over and over again with 3rd party resins, I am tending to agree with you. Itā€™s tough to beat something perfectly printing every time.

I have a suspicion that itā€™s not the machine, but the lower cost 3rd party resins. Kind of a ā€œyou get what you pay forā€ type thing. My most expensive resin I use from NextDent, worked right off the bat. Just my opinion!

Sometimes I wonder what goes into the Form1+ clonesā€¦

So seems like at the end of the day itā€™s just original FL resin or mixes thereof. Also just found out that RS sells the FL resin a bit cheaper, though worth double checking with them which version and the expiry date.

@Polariz3D What is RS?

@yoderkl
itā€™s an online supplier ofā€¦ a bit of everything for mechanics, electronics and components in general.
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/c/computing-peripherals/3d-printing-scanning/3d-printing-materials/?searchTerm=Formlabs

Wow, thatā€™s a nice collection! :slight_smile:
Can you maybe share some pictures of prints? Till now, all my test prints suffer on detail when printing larger cross sections.

I have no problem buying big cans as long as it works. But Iā€™d like to see it working first before buying. :slight_smile:

Yeah, probably this. They all seem to have the same problem. Luckily photocentric is aware of the issues so I hope they continue to work on improving their resin.

Me too! I donā€™t see RS selling the product here(I assume you mean RS-Online).

Maybe the picture wasnā€™t for size comparison after all :slight_smile:

I have two parts curing right now in my Wicked Engineering CureBox. I will post pictures when they are done, but remember, this is still a mix of FL and Bucktown. I definitely will report back when itā€™s JUST Bucktown.

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Bucktown Polymer mixed with FL Clear V2, approximately 30/70. Sorry for the poor support removal and post processing in general, these are just test pieces.

Please do let us know the results as soon as you print 100% bucktown. Your parts look pretty straight.

Fuck it man, I will just empty the resin tank and go for it. Iā€™ll print the same parts and see what happens. I think it only took a couple hours for that last print, so I will post back later today.

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Ok boys, here are the results. I almost posted early and said ā€œI think we have a winnerā€, but Iā€™m glad I didnā€™t.

  1. The parts printed successfully!
  2. It seems like one axis of the laser was off, or this particular resin has that laser ā€œscatterā€ that I have heard about. See the supports. In one axis of the print, the supports look perfect. In a different axis, the supports are all elongated (thickness). I am pretty perplexed by this actually.
  3. Even with the weird axis thing, maybe trying a different profile would reduce the ā€œscatterā€.

What do you guys think? Whatā€™s up with the thickness in only one direction?

PS Donā€™t mind the yellow tint, I think I had some of that Autodesk Yellow in the same tank at one point.

Ok a little more follow up.

Supports were a freaking chore to remove. It reminds me of when I generated supports in MeshMixer instead of Preform and then printed. Itā€™s almost like the supports are part of the piece, if that makes sense. Also I was excited, so I wasnā€™t super careful. With patience I bet removing the supports would be ok, but I just like to rip them off :slight_smile: I will wait to hear what you guys have to say regarding the deformation of the supports, but at least it printed!

Can you post up some closer pictures of the support issues. I donā€™t think I can see them. The supports do look rather thick. I gather the resin is very reactive and is over-curing. I think you are referring to laser flare as it is usually off to one side or one axis depending on which printer of mine I am talking about.

I am sure my next question is up in the thread somewhere butā€¦ Which printer are you using and which resin profile did you use for this test? The bases of the supports look you are using a Form 2 unless you used the Tough V3 profile on a Form 1+.