Prusa SL1 SLA resin printer

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Details

Prusa SL1 (not the faster SL1S) SLA resin printer.

Build volume: 120 × 68 × 150 mm.

This printer is based on the same technology as the Anycubic Mono X and shares much of the same printing process, risk assessment, tools and cleaning process.

As a rough guide, this printer is capable of printing around 10mm (height) in 50mins.

Condition Notes

Donated, but unused in original box.

Induction and Training

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

Maintainers

@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! The eye wash station can be found by the first aid kit in the kitchen area.

Resin 3D Printer Induction

To use the Prusa SL1 SLA 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.

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 vent openings. 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. Your model should have at least 2 holes/openings to help with the post process cleaning.
  • 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

  • The Makerspace has the Anycubic standard resins, plus an assortment of other basic resins. These are compatible with the Prusa SL1.
  • Resins can be mixed with colour pigments to achieve colours of resin that we don’t have along with marble patterns.
  • 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.

Slicing Process

  1. Slice your model in PrusaSlicer then File->Export->Export.
  2. Transfer the sliced file to a USB stick for printing.

Starting a Print

  1. Turn on the extraction hood and turn on the main fan switch for the makerspace . Ensure the valve above the Resin hood is open.
  2. Put gloves on (and wear them when touching anything associated with resin printing) ; wear glasses; have some tissue handy.
  3. Make sure the resin vat is empty (clear resin might be hard to spot). Pour all remaining resin into a mixed resin bottle using the blue silicone funnel and a strainer/filter piece (on the shelfs behind the resin printer).
  4. Make sure the resin vat is in contact with the screen and there are no bubbles or dirt stuck between. Lift the vat to wipe off the bottom and reseat it properly if there is an issue.
  5. Check the resin vat is clean and no cured bits of resin remain. Do not use ANY tools within the resin vat and especially the on the FEP sheet touching the bottom of the vat - use your finger while wearing gloves .
  6. Pour enough resin into the vat. 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.
  7. Insert the USB stick into the printer and select the file for printing (note that USB bigger than 32GB cannot be used as they will not be recognised by the printer).

Cleaning Process

  1. Wear gloves and other PPE.
  2. Lay out tissue paper on the desk.
  3. Take the lid off the IPA bucket in the wash station.
  4. Unscrew the build plate with your model and let it drip off any excess resin back into the resin vat. The build plate is too small to be held in the wash basket like the MonoX, so its best to remove your prints from the build plate and then put into the wash basket.
  5. Set the wash station to “Wash” mode and set the timer to 4-8 minutes, you can wash it more if you wish.
  6. Take the plate from the wash station and place it on the paper towels, use the metal spatula to remove your model from the plate, wipe the spatula with paper.
  7. Wipe the plate clean (if using IPA make sure you let the build plate to dry completely) with paper tissue then put it back in the printer.
  8. Remove supports from your model while the model is still partially cured and softer.
  9. Dry your models.
  10. Remove IPA bucket from wash station and place the reflective sheet and rotating plate on it instead.
  11. Place your models on the rotating plate and set mode to “Cure” and do so for 2 minutes.
  12. Remove your models.
  13. Do not use any tools inside the resin tank - use your finger while wearing gloves instead - the bottom of the tank is made of a soft plastic which will tear, and underneath it is the expensive LCD screen. Use the self-cleaning option ( Tools->Exposure->Next , exposure 15-20 sec ) on the printer which will expose the whole build area resulting in a thin sheet of cured resin and peel the layer from a corner.
  14. Pour all the remaining resin back into its bottle using the blue silicone funnel and a strainer/filter piece (one use items that can be found on the shelfs behind the resin printer.
  15. Clean up any drips using tissue paper damp with IPA.
  16. Cure the supports and any tissue paper that’s wet with resin and any other resin-covered waste. 2 minutes is enough for tissue, don’t leave it un-attended, curing resin will get hot!
  17. Dispose of all cured materials.
  18. Turn off the extraction hood, close the valve above the hood, and shut off the main fan switch for the makerspace .
  19. You can now grab your cured models without gloves.

Resin Management

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

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 saturated 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. Shine UV light into the bucked from above. The bucket walls are opaque to UV, even if visibly translucent.
  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! Soak as much of the resin with tissue paper and after wipe with tissue paper damp with IPA. 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

How to replace the FEP foil (Prusa YouTube channel)

Flatten build plate

TODO: - Process is via the setup menu on the machine

Resources:

Prusa YouTube channel:
How to slice 3D objects for the Original Prusa SL1 on Youtube
How to - SLA model Orientation

List of Tools in the Space!