How much of a problem is the high viscosity of 'Tough'?

[Seagull]

Continuing the discussion from Announcing Tough Resin + Contest:

@Chris_Ross

As far as what I checked the first radius near the bottom (Farthest from build platform) print was R16 +0.02 -0 , the next radius was R 13.5+0.021 -0 Overall all length 43 ±0.3 Width 15 ± 0.2 Depth 37.47 ± 0.3 and of course mounting holes. All dimensions were good.

Thanks very much for those infos, Chris! That sounds really nice… looking forward to trying out ‘Tough’ in the near future.

I’m actually pretty surprised you didn’t get any resin starvation problems with those thick parts, particularly with what people have said about the viscosity.

I’ve noticed that, particularly on larger parts where the resin level drops and the last layers are small, because the resin tank spends a lot of the ‘duty cycle’ in non-level state (i.e. peeling), the resin tends to collect at the non-hinge end. I’ve deliberately tilted the printer slightly in the y-axis so that the hinge end is lower down than the other end:

It doesn’t look like much, but I believe it helps somewhat if you are trying to avoid adding much more resin to the tank than necessary (so that collection of sludge/jello/particles is somewhat reduced… I still haven’t gotten round to getting a strainer like a few people have suggested, but will do so sooner or later).

I imagine that the higher the viscosity, the more important such a move might be to avoid resin starvation at the hinge end. You obviously have to be careful not to overdo it, and check the back-to-front angle´ so as not to the fill the printer itself up with resin… and maybe there are other reasons for NOT doing this…?

[Chris_Ross]

I haven’t had much issue with that myself but I do always keep my tray to full line before starting print (Company buys the resin) I also purchased a really nice beverage cart to use as a printer cart, it is nice and level and the large cabinets space under the top shelf is great for storing the supplies.