While on the hunt for a curing chamber solution I stumbled upon XYZPrinting.
Anybody have experience with XYZPrinting and their products? Quality? Customer support? Is this a viable solution for curing a 3d print?
I get there are DIY solutions but I would really like something like this on my workbench. Thanks.
Looks like an elegant solution. @pmcgarr here in the forums also makes a nice one. I’ll let him plug his if he wishes. They are not in the budget for my company at the moment so I’m sticking with the DIY route for now.
Thanks Kevin. I’ll take the opportunity to point out the obvious differences. You guys can review the CUREbox product at https://wickedengineering.com/curebox/ if you are interested.
The XYZ product is news to me as of a couple weeks ago. It is certainly beautiful. It has CUREbox beat in the aesthetics department, and costs much less. Having said that, it ends there for XYZ as far as I can tell on a relatively quickly.
Curebox has temperature control from 30-60C, a necessary ingredient for a quality post-cure. The XYZ product does not appear to have temperature control.
CUREbox has more than double the wattage LED lamps and it is still necessary to have cure times longer than 60 minutes for proper post-cure. The XYZ product maxes out a 60 minutes. CUREbox goes to 12 hours, though we haven’t yet identified a process that would require that duration. We give you the choice. Also CUREbox’s lamps are low cost and easily replaceable.
CUREbox has a touchscreen UI for simple operation, but also has presets for Formlabs resins with others coming soon. “Coming soon” is a key phrase here as CUREbox’s firmware can be updated to bring you new features and material settings in time.
Curebox is not plastic. It is 2-1/2 times the weight of the XYZ product, constructed of UV resistant powder coated steel with CNC machined powder coated aluminum hinges and handle. CUREbox is built to last.
CUREbox is wet cure friendly. All of CUREbox’s electronics are in the top so you can safely water cure. I would not recommend that in the XYZ product.
CUREbox has a polycarbonate worksurface to allow UV and visible light to reach the bottom of the workpiece.
CUREbox has a significantly larger curing chamber.
CUREbox is built to meet the requirements as published by Formlabs in their UV post-curing white paper, including temperature and intensity which are important for a proper post-cure.
I’ll edit this post as I learn more about the XYZ product, but these are the quickly apparent differences. CUREbox is a professional post-curing product. The XYZ product is not in the same class. I would recommend the CUREbox for professionals and the XYZ product for hobyists or anyone that reads the Formlabs UV post-curing white paper and determines it is overkill for them. Learn more about CUREbox at https://wickedengineering.com/curebox/
The XYZ curing chamber also costs about 43% less; it seems like that would be an advantage worth mentioning.
My homemade chamber achieves around 45C (without any heaters) and works perfectly fine without temperature control. I am not sure what temperature the XYZ works at, but I would suspect that the enclosure would trap adequate heat in from the lights as have all the chambers I have used do.
Does the Curebox have focused light like XYZ claims their product does? Could having focused light enable it to be possible to cure in 60 minutes or less? Seems like XYZ must have somehow determined that 60 minutes was adequate.
I am just curious; how did you determine it is not advisable to place a glass jar with water in it in the XYZ chamber? It seems like you wouldn’t recommend the XYZ product period.
I think it is worth noting that the XYZ chamber is larger than the print area of the Form 2. So anything that can be printed on the Form 2 would indeed fit in the XYZ chamber.
Unless there is UV transparent shelving I am not sure what advantage having a much larger chamber is. And in fact, since light intensity falls off inverse-squared from the distance to the light, having a larger than required chamber could be a disadvantage.
A larger chamber can be an advantage as well, as there is a potential better light distribution, making more even curing possible, preventing warpage.
True, but a cylindrical reflector should distribute the light more evenly than a square reflector.
I have to say I use my cure box daily for form2 post processing but also all sorts of things in my dental lab.
Until now I am totally satisfied.
Yesterday I received the Curebox product produced by @pmcgarr. I had not seen the product in person prior to purchase but I can say it’s a very well designed and engineered product. It came well packaged. It was very easy to get it up and running and it’s extremely easy to use, using either the standard options or customized setting options. I get the feeling this product was designed with the Formlabs community in mind. I just completed my first cure. Very happy with the product.
Down the road we might pick up a Curebox - it does look pretty nice and I think it is probably more durable.
As for XYZ printing - they put out the DaVinci and Nobel (which is their SLA printer and competitor to the Form 2). While they are pretty economical, they have not been well reviewed. I would rather spend more and support a member of the community here, but not everyone has that luxury. Right now I am using a nail dryer but I have to keep an eye on it - less than ideal. I accidentally left some parts in overnight and they ended up over-curing (way too brittle).
The CUREbox looks awesome, I’m gonna have to get me one. @pmcgarr what kind of warranty do you get with the CUREbox and how would you go about replacing the LED’s? Sorry if the info is on your site, I couldn’t find it. Thanks.
@CodeEngie The warranty is one year limited warranty or as required by law. I have to admit it has not been fully written so that is why you don’t see it. There will be no surprises, typical stuff. If you abuse it it won’t be covered. LEDs will be considered consumables as I suspect they will dim over time. We haven’t observed significant degradation to date, nor have we had a single request for replacement LEDs yet. Otherwise, we have every intention of covering the typical faulty parts, defects in workmanship, etc.
LEDs snap into a socket. Replacement is simple, turn off the unit, reach in and pull down on an LED module and it will pop out. Snap in a new one and rotate it to point to the center of the chamber. LEDs will be available on our site. Price will be under $10 each no doubt, but probably closer to $7. We do not want to make money on LED modules so the more we buy the lower the cost. We can’t build these fast enough so the cost is going down every build.
There are a good handful of CUREbox owners in this community, so shout out to the community if you have questions about performance, quality, etc. I encourage it.
David,
I am a dentist that plans on using the Curebox (arriving on Monday!!) for post-curing and dental material curing. Why did you say “until now”? Is there something that has happened that has made you dissatisfied?
Nope…working perfectly,
I use it for making trays, tons of them:wink:
Thanks for the info I really appreciate your help and everyone in this forum. I just placed my order for a CUREbox.
Every time a thread like this pops up about another product, it keeps turning into a circle jerk over the Cure Box. How about the original Topic?
I’m genuinely curious if the XYZ Chamber is viable, considering it’s much cheaper.
It sounds like one of us is going to have to be the guinea pig and pick one up to test.
Are there feedbacks about the XYZ curing chamber ?
I think that is the point of this thread. It seems that no one has tested one out.
Specifications in your website says “LED Wavelength: 365/405nm”.
Does this mean if I can select it between 365/405nm OR both 365nm and 405nm are shed at the same time?