I print a lot at night, thus no sunlight for curing. Has anyone used any kind of light bulb to aid curing? Can I use a regular bulb, a daylight bulb (such as a 5500K photography light) or do I need a special UV build?
TIA
dell
You can always put parts in the window the next day, once they’ve printed! I assume there’s some daylight where you are, no? At any rate, you should see some curing with a regular light, though a UV bulb is ideal.
There have been a few posts about UV curing post part rinse. They are cheaper than a resin tray. Search for UV Cure Lamp.
Sam, as I pointed out I print at night and although the sunlight around here is often questionable I do get some. However, it would be nice to not have to wait 24 hours after printing to be able to assemble parts, thus the UV Light question. From what I’ve read on other blogs you can use a UV light, although depending on the resin the wavelength (UV-A, UB-B, etc) can vary and of course there is the question of intensity. One blog post I saw said they were able to cure part in under 10 minutes. Thus my question. I don’t know what the best wavelength for Formlabs resin is, they make a big deal about it being specially formulated so I’m guessing it may have different curing properties than the resins you can buy off other vendors. Guess a little experimentation is in order.
I would also be very interested to hear which UV light is recommended for the Formlabs resin.
The dominant light spectrum that our CLEAR resin is responsive to is UV-A. A standard fluorescent black light, CFL, or normal tube should be fine – make sure to read whatever safety info comes with, as prolonged exposure to those bulbs has the same danger as sun-exposure without sunblock. We’ve had some good experiences with nail curing lights as well, which are similar and inexpensive.
I read a comment in a post from not too long ago: “… 1 or 2 of these 405nm 2W SMD LED’s and hang them in my drawer: http://www.digikey.com/scripts/dksearch/dksus.dll?vendor=0&keywords=SML-LXL8047UVC …”