I am right now working on a design for a UV protective acrylic tray holder. I have found myself in need of one due to frequent changing of materials and rather than waiting have started the design process, as well as found a manufacturing partner. Right now the idea is to do a 4 tray storage unit so that a total of 5 different materials could be used. I am planning on making one for myself at the very least, but wanted to gauge the possible interest of the community here. If you would be interested in this project please let me know and I’ll keep you updated. You can either respond to this forum post to keep up to date on progress (I’ll be updating with my design/mfg progress), or email me at jareed85@gmail.com. This is still early in the project but half the battle was finding an acrylic company that would be willing to work with me, hopefully from here I can make something useful for our community.
I would be interested in that. I too have been wanting something nice to store my different resin trays in. I have been thinking of trying to design some type of modular system so as material choices grow it would be easy to add more storage. Also to be able to easily configure the layout depending on where the storage is located. I have moved my setup and storage around a few times and each time found I needed to store things differently each time. Not that I wouldn’t love any nice storage system since there is no telling if I will ever get around to trying to make my own.
I’m getting a bit tired of using the boxes the trays come in. They work but are not really the ideal solution.
Thanks guys, the plan right now is to make it modular with an easy stacking solution if possible while keeping the costs reasonable. I’ll be sure to share as the progress continues, of course I am also planning on printing some to scale prototype models so I can share some pictures.
Just a quick update, I think the first models are done and the prototyping is ready to begin. I attached the concept, I really wanted to keep it simple for now, but will possibly add more features later. I’m finishing out the dimensions for the drawing files for the manufacturing company so we can start to build the first concept model. Enjoy!
Hi Justin, wouldn’t it make sense not to have the horizontal dividers? Won’t the bottom of the resin tray rub on them each time you slide it in and out?
That was the original intent to keep the tray from rubbing and scratching the bottom. Then I noticed that the bottom of the tray (laser window) is recessed in the formlabs trays to prevent them from scratching when they are laid flat on a surface. This is what was able to allow me add the extra front cross beam for support, however if I am able to get away with no supporting front beam I will try that concept once we have the prototype. Also you may be wondering why I choose to use notches and slide in shelving, this is because I was trying to keep the mfg costs down by not having to use adhesives there. The way I have designed this there will only be adhesives used on the seams of the outside cube. Thanks for the feedback!
I’d definitely be very interested in this. Keeping my trays happy (especially between materials) is one of my biggest headaches, this would help a lot.
Thanks for the input! I will also be creating the full shelf as well for the prototype to see which design works best, I do see your point about splashing resin onto other trays, I thought the risk would be low due to the high viscosity of the resin, but with other resins like madesolid that are less viscous this becomes more of a concern. I also like the idea of black plastic as it would be cheaper, but I also like the idea of being able to see the trays inside. Anyways I will explore all options and share pics of prototypes as I get them. I have also printed out quarter scale models that I will upload and share today or tomorrow.
When I was thinking about designing a tray holder system I was trying to figure out a way to avoid any possible spills. But having thought about it more I think without doing a lot more design work and probably increasing the cost a fair amount there is really no easy way to stop spills. To really stop spills and contamination of other trays you would need each tray compartment to have some type of water tight seal once a door is closed. Maybe a trough or well of some kind in each compartment would help but even then if the whole unit was tipped resin could run into another tray area.
The simplest spill proofing I’ve come up with is to slide the tray into a zip lock bag before storing it. This seems like it would work with Justin’s design if there is a little bit of extra room where the tray slides in. Still it seems that while a zip lock bag can prevent major accidents from causing spills that might contaminate other trays or get all over a desk or floor it will still probably wreck the tray pretty good. It seems like getting resin on the critical optically clear bottom might be a deal breaker or can it be easily cleaned off without fogging or scratching once resin has hit it? At the very least you would have to clean the resin tray very well after a big spill.
The only two other things I came up with was a simple individual top loading storage box (like Tupperware) where spills would be contained in the tub and there was some kind of seal at the top to keep it from getting out. The other idea was to have something like the Tupperware top that went right onto the resin tray. Either a top with a gasket that can be clampped onto the tray or maybe there is a way to make a form fitting Tupperware type lid that you just press onto the tray to seal it. Then you could just slide it into Justin’s storage box without worries about spills. I think a form fitting lid for the tray would be easy to make if it wasn’t for the little tabs on the front side of the tray that you grab to pull it out. Even if those tabs were lowered then a simple vacuum seal lid system would be much easier to make.
But the conclusion I’ve come to is that a spill proof storage system of any kind is way more trouble than it’s worth for me to design. Maybe formlabs or someone else wants to work on a good lid system for the trays? Then the rest of the storage system just needs to keep UV out and not worry about spills.
Just for fun I did some 1/4 scale prototypes on the printer. The walls were extremely thin so you will notice a little bit of warping and I was lazy so I didn’t clean up the support marks all that well, but you can get the picture of what it will be like.
Looks like we have come to an agreement with the manufacturing company to move the project forward. We will be building some functional prototypes in order to re-tweak the initial design. I’ll post when we have the prototype in our hands. In order to save lead time and prototyping costs all the functional prototypes will be made of clear, but the final version will be made of the UV protective orange material. Looking at the pricing from the manufacturing company we should be able to offer the complete protective shelving system for under the price of a single resin bottle, considering this is not a consumable part and the ease of changing materials (plus any material changed during change over, or risks to damaging the tank) I think this turns out to be a pretty good deal. As always let me know your thoughts, more to come…
The orange material is not 100% effective, otherwise you would not be able to see the laser in your printer. But you don’t need clear material that has a UV rating, anything in the world works. ABS is a great plastic material and come in many colors. Any of which would be far more effective than the “UV protective orange material”.
Thank you for your input. We did explore using an ABS like material but like the aesthetics of being able to see through the structure. The UV protective orange is actually very effective at blocking out 405nm UV waves, the reason that you can still see the light through the printer is that the protective orange does not block out the green wavelength of light and it essentially acts as a filter for every wavelength but green. The laser is actually blue without any of the filtering of the orange polycarb. Anyway lucky for us the polymer will not cure with the green wavelength because it is designed to specifically cure with the 405nm UV ray which the orange protective uv material is rated to filter or block out. As far as effectiveness they should at least be comparable to each other from all of the research and actually working with these UV blockers in the medical device industry first hand.
Anyway, quick update the clear prototype was completed and we are picking it up from our supplier next week for some dry test fits. Assuming they go well we will kick off production with the real thing, if they don’t then we will make the necessary design changes and remake the prototype. More pictures to come, stay tuned.
Just out of curiosity, where did that information come from? From the MSDS of the resin I found this: “Storage Precautions: Suitable – Store in a cool, dry place out of direct sun light, in opaque or amber containers. Store the containers at 10-35°C (50-95°F). Do not exceed 60°C (140°F) when in storage. Keep containers closed. Avoid ignition sources. Special Requirements: Do not heat containers with steam or electrical equipment. Heating this product above 150°C (300°F) in the presence of air may cause slow oxidative decomposition; above 260°C (500°F) polymerization may occur.” From reading this it appears that my storage conditions would be more than adequate. Plus sealing a container would not prevent evaporation, but temperature control may.
So the time has come, the functional prototype in clear ( to save prototyping costs) was picked up and the dry fit of everything went really well. We are at the point where we are ready to place our initial order for the final product which of course will be in the UV Protective Orange. I’m thinking the easiest way to handle sales is going to be through etsy so we plan on making a page there shortly before the first units come in. Of course I will post when they are available. The factory said it would be about 4 weeks for the first batch so it looks like we should have this ready to ship out mid April. Anyways without further wait here are some pictures of the prototype. Thanks for all your support, can’t wait to deliver this to you guys!
