Hi there,
Does anyone of you have issues with the curing of the grey resin (v1)? All my prints in grey do not cure (after printing) unless I use a curing cabinet with uv lights. And even using this cabinet doesn’t do the job properly.
Below is photo of 2 test prints (one just supports), which have been “curing” on my table for more than a week. As you can see the parts are still “wet” and they’re still very sticky.
Even the grey part (which I took off the supports) is still flexible after curing it in the cabinet while it should normally be sturdy.
All my other resins; black, white and clear (v1+v2) cure perfectly without a curing cabinet and are solid, dry and sturdy after about a 24-36 hours.
The printer itself is curing the resin properly, as the prrints come out fine. It’s the curing process afterwards which doesn’t seem to work. What are my options?
Thanks
Alex
2 things come to mind that might be it
Your alcohol is not a high enough percentage.
Did you stir/shake the material before printing? I stir the material while in the tank or slowly shake the bottle before adding more.
But I absolutely had some rather flexible items done in gray which is why I got the nail polish curing oven. Flexible is not necessarily a bad thing especially while removing the raft and supports.
Bill
Thanks for the reply Bill,
My IPA is normally 99%, however I’ve used it for some time now, so it might indeed need refreshing because the alcohol vaporises as well as liquified resin is mixed in from various other prints. I’ll refresh my IPA and put the grey uncured models in to see what happens after i’ve rinsed them with the new IPA…
I do wonder how you link this to the curing of the model as I cannot think of a logical reason why this would affect the curing time. If you don’t rinse the model, it should cure as fast as a rinsed model, right? As the resin will cure in the tank as well if you leave open the lid for several days…
I do shake the bottle before adding resin, as well as I mix the resin with the spatula while the print is uploading to the printer.
And you’re right. Flexible is not necessarily a bad thing, however, it does seem to be in direct relation with the part not curing properly. I’d prefer a fully cured part that has a little less flexibility rather than a sticky part which is more flexible.
I’ll let you know what happens with the new IPA!
Alex
You were right @Bill_Lane. Refreshing the IPA with a new bottle did miracles. Not only did it cure the resin of the old prints I had, I printed a new model and washed it in new IPA and after an hour it was already dry and hard. Not solid enough yet, but i’ll let it cure for another day and i’m sure it’ll be fine!
Thanks for the help! It’s much appreciated!
Alex