3d Printer (SLA Resin) Anycubic Photon Mono X and Anycubic Wash and Cure Plus station

#1

Details

image
CC357A53-7E4D-4606-8388-A0967B1F7F7C.jpeg4032×3024 2 MB

Anycubic Photon Mono X SLA 3D printer:

  • HIgh resolution SLA resin printing
  • Build Volume: 192 × 120 × 245 mm

Anycubic Wash and Cure Plus station.

Condition Notes

New

Induction and Training

You must be fully inducted for both this tool and the Anycube Wash and Cure Plus station before use.

Owners

@3dtechs

Risk Assessment

Full risk assessment available here

  • Chemical Toxicity: UV resin can be toxic to the skin and eyes. Avoid direct contact and wear appropriate protective gear.
  • Fumes: Resin fumes can be hazardous. Turn on the ventilation system by following these steps: Turn on the main fan manually. Turn on the hood. Open the hood valve. If you have any respiratory condition or generally prefer, you may wish to wear an additional respirator, details can be found on the resin safety data sheets.
  • Eye Protection: Wear safety glasses or goggles to protect your eyes from accidental exposure to resin. Especially when removing supports, the resin is brittle and partially cured shards will fly!

Resin 3D Printer Induction

To use the Anycubic Mono X resin 3D printer, you must complete a short induction. The induction covers the operation of the machine and ensures that you understand the necessary safety precautions.

PhD. GPT says: The Anycubic Photon Mono X is an SLA (Stereolithography) 3D printer that operates by using a high-resolution LCD screen and a UV light source to selectively cure liquid photopolymer resin. The printer starts by slicing the 3D model into layers using specialized software, generating a series of 2D images. These images are then displayed on the LCD screen, which acts as a mask to control the exposure of UV light. The UV light is emitted through the LCD screen, selectively curing the resin in the desired pattern for each layer. The build plate, where the model is being printed, gradually moves upward as each layer is cured, and fresh liquid resin is supplied to fill the void left by the cured resin. This process continues layer by layer until the entire model is completed. The Anycubic Photon Mono X stands out with its large build volume, high precision, and fast printing speed, offering a more efficient and versatile SLA 3D printing experience.

Tips and Tricks

  • Prefer to always use supports, thin supports are very easy to remove even if numerous.
  • Don’t print large flat horizontal surfaces, prefer to angle your parts. The newest layer sticks to the bottom of the vat and must be pulled up by the previous layers, if there’s a transition from thin structure to a large flat area the flat area will rip from the structure and cause the print to fail. Print boxes angled on a corner/edge.
  • Hollow out your parts to have walls 2-3mm thick. A bulky chunk of resin will warp and deform.
  • Create venting holes. As you print a cup upside down it will become a suction cup when the printer pulls the part off the screen. Try not to make suction cups.
  • Printing holes is a bit more difficult than printing outside details because the resin wicks into the hole. You should carefully wash the holes with IPA otherwise the stuck resin will cure during in the Cure station.

Available Materials

  • Basic UV Resins: These are the standard resins suitable for most printing needs.
  • Tough Resin: Offers increased strength and durability.
  • Other Resins: Check with @3dtechs for approval of any additional resins. Water washable resins should be avoided for environmental reasons. Only IPA soluble resins are used.
  • Colored Resins: White resins mixed with alcohol inks can be used to achieve desired colors. But for vibrant colours it’s probably best to buy pre-mixed coloured resins.

Slicing Process

  1. Slice your model in PrusaSlicer because it’s so much easier to work with, then File->Export->STL with supports.
  2. Use Anycubic slicer software to prepare the model for printing.
  3. Save the model file in the “.pwmx” format.
  4. Transfer the sliced file to a USB stick for printing.

Printing Process

  1. Put gloves on; wear glasses; have some tissue handy.
  2. Turn on the extraction hood and turn on the main fan switch for the makerspace. Ensure the valve above the Resin hood is open.
  3. Use the plastic spatula to mix the resin in the vat. Ensure the bottom of the vat is clear with no resin pieces stuck to the bottom!
  4. Top up the vat with enough resin. For prints < 1 hour the amount required is just enough to cover the surface of the vat, for longer prints check the slicer resin usage. You can top up mid print by clicking pause.
  5. Insert the USB stick into the printer and select the file for printing.
  6. For small parts < 1hour, no monitoring is required. However, for large parts, occasional monitoring may be necessary.
  7. After printing, proceed with the cleaning process.

Cleaning Process

  1. Lay out tissue paper on the desk.
  2. Take the lid off the IPA bucket in the wash station.
  3. Unscrew the build plate with your model and dip it into the was station bucket, it should have a metal shelf to hold the build plate suspended.
  4. Set the wash station to “Wash” mode and set the timer to 2-4 minutes, you can always wash it more if you think you need it (or follow instructions for special resins).
  5. Take the plate from the wash station and place it on the paper towels, use the metal spatula to remove your model, wipe the spatula with paper.
  6. Wipe the plate, dipping it in the IPA bath more if needed, pat it dry with paper towel then put it back in the printer.
  7. Remove supports from your model while the model is still partially cured and softer.
  8. Clean and dry your models.
  9. Remove IPA bucket from wash station and place the reflective sheet and rotating plate on it instead.
  10. Place your models on the rotating plate and set mode to “Cure” and do so for 2 minutes.
  11. Remove your model.
  12. Cure the supports and any tissue paper that’s wet with resin. 1 minute is enough for tissue, don’t leave it un-attended, curing resin will get hot!
  13. Dispose of all cured materials.
  14. Leave the extractor on for a short period to clear any remaining fumes. Turn off the extraction hood and the main extraction unit as well as closing the vent valve.
  15. You can now grab your parts without gloves.

Ending

  1. Clean everything up!
  2. Turn off the extraction hood, close the valve above the hood, and shut off the main fan switch for the makerspace.

Resin Management

The general rule is uncured liquid resin bad, cured solid resin good!

Leftover resin

(Let’s try this easy mode approach first and see if it works.)

Everyone should be free to use the basic or tough resins while occasionally buying a new bottle of resin after doing many prints. If you don’t care about the colours please use the “Mixed basic resin” but beware it might also be dodgy resin…

Leave unused basic or tough resins in the vat. If the next person to use the printer can use the resin, then they can top it up and use it directly. Otherwise if the next person needs a different resin they shall empty the old resin tray into the “Mixed basic resin” bottle, clean the tray and pour in their new resin.

Pour any unusual resin, or resin that don’t print well anymore into the “Bad resin” bottle.

Resin bottles

Don’t throw empty bottles in the trash! Cut open empty resin bottles and place the halves inside the cure station facing outwards to cure the inside of the bottles! Then they can be safely thrown as general waste.

Empty bad resin into a re-sealable bag and cure it in the sun or cure station. Then cut open the bottle that held it (unless we re-use it again for more bad resin).

IPA bath cloudy with resin

When the IPA bucket gets very cloudy we should clean it and recover as much of the IPA as we can. We should be able to clean the 6L bucket while only losing 0.5L.

  1. Blast the bucket with UV light.
  2. Leave the bucket to settle overnight/over 3 days.
  3. Transfer the clean IPA on top into a new bucket.
  4. Transfer the resin smudge at the bottom into a transparent re-sealable bag.
  5. Return back the clean IPA to the wash station bucket and top up until 6L mark.
  6. Cure the resin in the bag via the cure station or by leaving in the sun for an afternoon.

Spilled Resin

Clean ASAP! Wear gloves while cleaning it. Use an UV lamp to cure any leftover traces of resin.

If the resin was spilling from the resin tray then empty the resin tray as best as you can and contact @3dtechs.

Resin Material safety datasheets

Remember to refer to the manufacturer’s guidelines for detailed instructions and safety information related to your specific resin 3D printer model.

Maintenance

Replace FEP sheet

The transparent sheet on the bottom of the vat needs replacing when it’s too scratched up.

Search for: 260 x 200 x 0.15 MM Anycubic FEP sheet

Steps to replace:

  1. Follow youtube video and grab tools from behind printer.
  2. Unscrew all the screws, there are a lot of screws.
  3. Sandwich new sheet between the metal rings and screw together.
  4. Push ring assembly into vat, tensioning the sheet.
  5. Screw the rings in a diagonal pattern.

Flatten build plate

If the build plate is no longer even, then unscrew the 4 horizontal screws until the plate is loose, home the printer to 0 height, then screw back the plate tightly.

References

eg. instruction manuals, tutorial videos etc.

3 Likes