I am printing small detailed parts about the size of a fingernail. I have a lot of trouble getting the clear resin to print correctly. The black resin works much better. I have not tried the grey or white resin yet. What are the differences in print quaility between the four resins, particularily, on small, thin parts with a high amount of detail? Printing .55 mm thin walls seem to give the clear the most problems, but the black does fine. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the different resins?
Black is the best, clear is the worst. I think black is best because black colors absorb light, making crisp results. Clear is probably the worst because the laser light wanders between layers more. Grey and white fall between.
@Cesar_Rullier It feels like when you manhandle the prints, you can smear some of the detail. But I still get better results when I remove the supports first (unless it’s a simple part). Most of my parts are in the “medium range” (ie: only 2-3 copies would fit on the platform) and I find that uncured resin can stay in the middle of the support structure and really ruin the surface finish in these regions. It’s almost like the Batman villain Two-Face – perfect clarity on one side, horrible mish-mash on the bottom side.
Also, I’ve NEVER had supports that remove clean and don’t leave a big nasty bump. To me, the surface finish and the ability to use very small supports are the two limitations that separate the Form1+ from a “real” professional grade 3D printer.
Also even though black still prints the best, it’s frustrating that sanding clear turns white, sanding white turns it black, sanding grey turns it white, and sanding black turns it white. I guess that’s just physics…
After the alcohol bath I put the components in a UV booth for about 2-30 minutes to toughen up the surface , then remove the supports, which as you say, often reveals pools of liquid resin so I then give the component a second bath, then back in the booth, works for me.