I have searched the forums but couldn't find anyone else with this topic. I have had my printer for a few months now, and love it. I have been trying different resins, and by far the Form 1 brinad is my favorite. My question is, has anyone else had an issue with the MakerJuice SL not fully curing? I have put it through the same post processing I have with two other brands of resins but it will not fully cure (maintains a tacky feeling). Processes I have tried are listed below. I am wondering if this is common with the SL, or if maybe I received a bad mix, or there is some user error involved. I contacted MJ and they suggested the same post process I have already tried. I do return the resin back to the bottle after printing (using an automotive paint strainer), and do not store it in the resin tanks as recommended.
Typical post cure process: Remove from platform, introduce to sonic IPA bath for 3 minutes, remove and put in “clean” IPA soak from 3-9 minutes depending on size of print. Remove and hit with compressed air starting at 20psi, finishing at about 70psi. Put in UV curing oven (self made, UV CFL and reflective surfaces) for 2 hours.
I have varied each above process, including post curing over for over 72 hours. Washing prints with different solvents, including soap and water, added a 3rd, 4th and 5th post cure. Nothing I do will remove the tacky feeling. All other resins are perfect after my normal process. I would like to use the SL for test prints as it forms really nice, and is less cost, but I hate handling tacky prints.
A couple minutes should do the trick. The reason it won’t cure now is that oxygen inhibits curing, in water where there is not so much oxygen things cure very very quickly.
I tried the submersed curing, and the part did cure better, but there where still patches that would note cure. I have tried 6 different test prints, each time returning the resin to the bottle, shaking for over a minute, and then immediately starting the print. I left one print in the water in the curing oven for over 12 hours, and it was still tacky. The submersed curing has greatly improved the curing times for the FL resin, so I really appreciate you introducing that to me. I’m guessing there was something wrong with my resin, or I did something wrong in handling it at some point.
Possible. I think I am just going to stay away from the MJ SL formula just in case. I was hoping contacting them would shed some light on it, but it did not. Even though it seems to form well, and is cheaper, tacky models don’t do me any good.
I know that it’s pretty common to add wax mixtures to resins (mainly for surf/wakeboards) to get rid of the sticky feel. Has anyone tried spraying a sticky part with spray wax to see if it resolves the issue?
Because MJ resins are a little more porous which gives them that matte finish the raw resin is tougher to remove. I wouldn’t use IPA in an ultrasonic bath since it can explode.