Has anybody seen unintended tiny holes that go through the part?
These holes, many of them randomly positioned, tend to be normal to the X-Y / aligned to the Z axis.
It is as if a little gremlin had fun poking pin holes through the part as it was made.
I was able to seal the holes with Loctite “Gel Control” Super Glue (cyanoacrylate?).
I don’t mind putting in a little manual work, but sanding superglue is problematic because it is harder to sand down than the gray resin that the part was made from. This could lead to sand throughs, which would be very unfortunate and tedious to get right.
This is a relatively large part to print, and there were a few other issues: layers seem to pull apart on the peel side just a little.
The problem I have with the tiny holes is that it is for a speaker enclosure, that needs to be sealed, so air leaks are an issue. Right now, the exterior surface quality is not important because this is only a test part for the audio application/proof of concept/study.
I can’t provide images as this is under NDA (as usual).
Thank you in advance for your excellent advice and kind words of encouragement.
Vertically oriented holes are normally caused by occlusions in the optical path. Basically, they are points where the laser light is blocked from curing the liquid resin, projected through every layer. If the holes are tiny, I’d first check the underside of your resin tank. Small dust particles there could be the cause of the holes in your part. Try blowing them off with compressed air.
If that doesn’t work, take a look at your mirror (explained in this support article) to see if there’s dust on your mirror. Do not attempt to clean your mirrors without contacting customer support as they are first-surface mirrors and require a very specific cleaning procedure to ensure that your mirror is not damaged in the process. Feel free to submit a ticket if you think your mirror needs cleaning or have more questions.
In terms of patching the holes, I will occasionally use a handheld UV laser pointer and a syringe filled with resin. Just fill the hole with the resin and hit it with the laser to cure it in place (make sure you wear proper eye protection while doing this). You can also join multi-part prints this way. Hope this helps!
Instead of using cyanoacrylate, try dabbing tiny drops of resin directly on the spot where the hole is and then using a 405nm UV laser or UV flashlight to cure it in place. I use a very tiny/fine tipped paint brush to do this. I have encountered this same problem and what I just described is a surprisingly effective solution, and because it is essentially the same plastic/material, you don’t have to worry about it becoming unbonded later on since the original piece and the resin patch are essentially indistinguishable from each other at a molecular level now once they are cured.