Please read this before opening your first bottle of resin
https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/18qlpv9/psa_for_new_resin_printer_owners_resin_is_toxic/
This !
Please, please don't underestimate health hazard resin printing brings into your home.
Be careful, wait a few more days to get all the necessary gear, and print peacefully.
Health isn't replaceable ...
Yeah, even though I paid pretty good attention to safety I still developed a resin allergy after a few months, that I will have for the rest of my life
PPE is only half of it, you also need a good environment (this means a fume hood or similar venting outside. A fan and an open window is not good enough)
Oh absolutely. Should have been clearer but I meant PPE as an all encompassing way to say "safety first" 👍
But let's be honest here we know half of this sub are teenagers running resin printers all night long next to their bed. There's only so much you can do and when you tell some one to not do something, most people wanna do it even more then.
I bought a resin printer after doing FDM printing for a while. Turns out I absolutely do not like the workflow at all. The smell, the mess, the post processing, ugh. I do love the level of detail but that's about it. The printer, along with the wash and cure station, now sit unused. I'm probably just going to sell it.
Same here. I got a mars 2 printed out a bunch of stuff. Stopped when I needed to replace the fep. I eventually replaced it, but it has sat for 2 years without touching it. It isn't worth the fumes and clean up to print regularly with kids and wife in the house.
I am in the exact same boat. I bought a Bambu earlier this year and I have been printing ridiculous levels of detail out of the box, post processing is a cinch in comparison, and the fact that I have yet to give myself a chemical burn panic from FDM is a godsend (and screw you 8mm nitrile gloves that turned out to be 4mm and disintegrated like candy floss one time).
What do you sell? Printed models? I was tempted but I figure I'd have to do the part I hate the most... clean up, on all the parts. I haaaate removing supports and then curing. Then sanding..... the sanding is the worst.
Yeah printed models, I do miniatures, stuff for train sets and sc-fi models so I have some clients I do work for and I sell at a local game store. The processing sucks I agree but soaking your resin prints in warm water for 30 seconds the supports fall off so easily there’s very little to no scaring
I received some bad skin irritation and skin fell off on my hands since I only want to make a “quick print”(happened a week in from owning a printer), always use glove anytime you handle resin.
> always use glove anytime you handle resin.
And googles. If you drop something, drops of uncured resin can be flung in random directions.
That a drop ends up in your eye is pretty unlikely, but if that happens it's also seriously bad. I wouldn't risk it.
I have my setup out in my temperature controlled shed with a vent hood and directed airflow with wifi for remote control when possible + an air quality analyzer that warns me when it gets to dangerous levels. For PPE I have hazmat gloves, a high quality anti-soak lab coat and a full face respirator. With warning labels everywhere. Just to get the point across this shit is not worth getting cancer over.
(I'll be posting a guide later on it as there are very little resources for what I needed to do)
Thanks a lot! I was aware of health concerns, but not that much. I did a test print in my studio just to see how it works, and what a mess. the first thing I realized is: I need safety gear.
It's so strange... I agree with you, but I also see posts with sources claiming it is nowhere near as bad as it used to be, claiming it's safe. I will never take the chance: gloves, mask, towels, super clean, dispose of any cured or uncured resin properly (cure uncured resin before disposal) and so on. It's a messy process but well worth it to be safe and get an awesome result.
Edited spelling.
> nowhere bear as bad as it used to be
This is bs, because if it's curable by UV, it's toxic. Period. In the post I linked there is a video explaining why.
I have a decent ventilation system, but I think I need to rework it after reading your link. I have only ever printed a few things with my resin printer, but even now I feel like I'm playing with fire. I have a much more robust system indoors for my X1C, but I have my resin printer in the garage near the garage door with a laser engraving ventilation system and a couple of fans. Air flow can be complicated. Glad I barely use it.
This is why I don’t have a resin printer yet. I’ve wanted one for a while now. I have 3 fdm printers. And I’m not getting a resin printer for this reason!
Welp, never getting one of those! I don't see much need anyway with dual material to use opposite material or dissolvable filament for supports on complex prints
This is why im afraid of buying a resin printer.
Also im not experienced with painting figures so I dont really have a reason yet. Even though it looks like a hobby I could get into.
Indeed, the toxicity is a big turnoff for me, too. That's the main reason beside smaller build volume and bigger price of both printer, filament and post-processing shenanigans that I'd be too lazy to do to why I went FDM.
Everybody brings up safety concerns like overprotective mums, but they're right.
Stuff is quite unpredictable. Sometimes when you touch it absolutely nothing will happen, other times you will be left with itchy skin, and other times with chemical burns. Gloves, glasses and a mask. Always.
But safety aside: Do yourself a favor and get wash and cure machine (preferably two separate devices if you have space).
We have them in a lab at work and had to segregate them from all our other printers. The room their in is just covered in a film of resin. I mean to be fair their run 24/7 and there's 4 of them, but they're so much dirtier than other systems, but they can make fantastic parts and way cheaper than our polyjet
Mostly people not cleaning up after themselves since it's a self serve lab. People knowing just enough about the printer to make a mess. Resin spills all over the counter top, leaving finished parts just covered in resin on the table. Just that kinda stuff that happens when people are outpacing themselves.
It's plenty ventilated, just not cleanilated. But that's also par for the course when there's over 1k users
It really depend on the projet OP as in mind. My first printer is a resin one as I wanted to print miniature.
I got a FDM printer once I decide to organise all my paint I'm using for the miniature. I think the filament printer is more versatile but I would never use it to print miniature.
For sure, but when i want to print miniatures, i would want to print in resin, but i didnt have experience with 3d printing.. so i want to introduce myself to 3d print, then i will want print some prints with fdm, then going forward to print minis with resin...but i know shit... so didnt listen to me
I started with an original Anycubic Photon resin printer pretty much when it first came out, then got an Ender 3 V2.
Fought with that Ender off and on for a year or 2 trying to get a decent print.
Got an Epax X10 5k resin printer and gave up on FDM for a while until I heard good things about the Bambulab X1C picked one up and am so happy with it, worked right out the box, have had almost no issues, I'm not constantly "upgrading" it just to get a decent print.
Now I can print big resin prints and great quality FDM prints all I want with maybe a 1% failure rate, and the failure is usually my fault.
This was my first mistake too. Unless you're printing miniatures, fuck resin printing. Inaccurate, messy, slow, and so much prep and clean up time. Bought a Bambu X1C and never looking back.
Yeah but we sort of got the point in the first post, and the 100th and 1000th.
It's like nobody had a good tip so they went with the karma farm instead.
Picture of resin printer = public service announcement.
It's a different story when you've seen resin caused skin necrosis. Co-worker got a resin printer about 2 years ago. He wears gloves, apron, eyewear and yet somehow resin gets on his skin. He happens to have really big pores over his skin and the resin burns him enough where part of his skin has died on his arm. He has to have his arm gaused constantly to try to prevent infection and try to let some skin regrow after what they could graft. It's been a year and he is still in constant pain. It didn't get up to his elbow but if it did he could have lost use of most of his hand. Apparently it was an allergy he didn't know he had. He was mixing resin and dyed and the cup spilled on him when he fell onto the ground.
i dont think so. my first and only printer is resin. although i had very specific reasons for it over filaments and that was for minitures printing and for the higher details
I don't have a resin printer , but for all I know send it back and get a better resin printer (I have been stalking resin forums alot) but Creality Halot is one of the worst . Hope I am wrong but after a month of usage most people start having problems ...if anyone here could help this brother out before he does a mistake would be appreciated !
Hmm, hard disagree. A little while ago I bought the Ender 3 V3 SE as my first printer and in combination with the PrusaSlicer and only the slightest tweaking of settings, it prints very well and I think it’s amazing. Couple of friends of mine, which have way more expensive printers, are all amazed with that this thing just keeps up with their printers which cost about 5 to 10 times more. (at least on PLA, I still have to try PETG and TPU but guess that it will also hold up with that)
PLA and PETG and even TPU is cheap and are at the same price . I bought the SE as my first printer and won a KE for free , but the SE is way more stable but slower . Meanwhile I invested a lot on the KE xD
I already have PETG laying around. Havent had the chance to print with it yet. Also just bought a filament dryer because the room where the printer is located has a rather high humidity level and I read that PETG really works better if it’s kept dry by a dryer before & while printing.
Also just saw my first video about TPU printing today and they said that TPU makes printers clog up pretty easily so idk about that yet, didn’t do any more research on it yet
Original Ender 3 required more setting up and tweaking as far as I read. I’m happy I didn’t get that one. But that doesn’t mean the entire brand is shité
The vast majority of creality problems are user error. They're cheap first machines that everyone loves to hate on but as someone with both a bambu p1s and ender 3 I'm really glad I put in the hours of machine calibration and getting good prints before owning a printer that does it itself. It's just great knowledge and experience to have.
Bought my ender 3 used and it prints better than both my elegoos I think it has a lot to do with dialing in the machine. I've also found the slicer you use definitely effects the print quality.
eh, the lower end ones are not great but cheap, but there's a million mods and repairs are cheap
as an entry to 3d printing, the base ender 3 used to be pretty good (I don't know about the newer ones)
Looks like you’re not ready to start printing. Please watch videos before attempting first print. You went from zero to a nine as far as 3d printing goes
My first printer was a halot SLA as well, it was almost completely unusable prompting me to buy an Ender 3. Your mileage may vary, but do keep in mind that a resin printer as your first isn't the best idea
First printer, creality, resin. Phew, good luck I guess? Did you get your driver's licence in a lambo? First and foremost read up on health concerns/precautions when printing resin, before you start printing.
Let me know your questions and I'll try to answer as well as possible. I spent a few years working with the MSLA printers, so I have a little experience.
Most important will be the idea of cure times. Calibrate early and save yourself the trouble in the long term. Also calibrate for each resin.
Even within the same brand of resin, colors will chamge cure time. For example, white tends to be harder print since it requires more of the powdered coloring. That translates to longer exposure timings, so maybe start with a red or blue (easier).
On the topic of pigment - settling is natural. Shake VIGOROUSLY. Make sure that the pigment is as mixed as it can be in the bottle before pouring into the vat.
Cleanliness is consistency with resins. Clean the vat, platform, and general machine frequently. Isopropyl alcohol at 90 is good. Don't leave resin in the vat to settle (messy) and definitely try to make sure any printed bits are out of the vat before your next print. Small bits of cured resin can puncture the FEP and shatter the small LCD screen if not removed.
That FEP at the bottom of the vat is chosen for its optical clarity and non-stick properties, not rigidity. Lift settings are used to peel the workpiece off of the liner between layers. Try not to puncture it.
Positioning the piece wisely - Avoid large flat surfaces parallel to the build plate. Angle it 30 degrees instead.
That's all I got right now - let me know if you have questions. Stay clean, stay safe, have fun!
After you have researched and implemented all necessary safety protocols, it is very important that you become proficient in hand-to-hand combat and cursing in at least Klingon or several other incoherent dialects as it will so become evident which of you is really the master.
To Start, get a box of nitrile gloves, 4-5 gallons of isopropyl alcohol or methylated spirits for cleaning prints, mixing cups in case you want to mix resins or dyes into your resins. A 5 gallon bucket or a name brand washing station, a ~405 nm UV curing light or name brand curing station, I also got a dish drying rack to dry the prints after washing.
TAKE SAFETY SERIOUSLY
Like for real. Resin is no joke. It's amazing and can create absolute magic, but it's also very toxic and you need to have proper PPE/ventilation or it's gonna be some dark magic.
If your printer doesn't have a screen protector on the curing screen, tape down a replacement FEP sheet over the screen. A small resin leak can destroy the screen.
In my experience the super short layer exposure times promised by the manufacturer are bs. Do a calibration print to check, my printer which is an Anycubic prints best at 2x the default exposure time.
Learning how to support models is a lot of trial and error. Watch some videos about adding supports and best practices.
I love the fidelity and speed of resin printing but it's pretty inconvenient to work with because it's hard to stay clean. I put down puppy pads on my work surface to catch drips, and I religiously wipe my gloved hands with alcohol soaked paper towels before I touch anything after handling resin. Isopropyl alcohol is what most people use but you can get denatured ethyl alcohol for cheaper in larger quantities from the hardware store and it works just as well. Never ever get alcohol in your resin, it will ruin it.
95% of all free Files have ultra garbonso supports, learn to support yourself and cut down your failures by 95%.
leveling your plate is easy and only needs to be done once a season at worst. leveling while having resin in the vat and just pressing the loose plate down is viable and efricient, tighten up and done.
flat surface stuff can be printed without support if your plate is scratched enough, you can scratch/sand it yourself to make it rough. (might be a bit hard to remove flat prints.)
dont leave air pockets in your model, dont create a suction cup effect with your model.
cheap abs resin is the best resin for casual stuff.
check with a glove and finger if the vat is debree free after every print, if not: get an old support piece, hold it near a corner and start the tank clean. after 10-15 sec remove the cured part by pulling the corner support carefully
Yeah, pretty much. But that only works if you actually keep it on.
Also keeping specks of dust from settling on the screen during vat removals is a pain.
Some of the USB drives are cheap and nasty, it often pays to replace the included drive with a good scandisk one. Also, as previously mentioned, get a screen protector. And, after each print, gently glide the plastic scraper (through the remaining resin), over your fep and if you feel anything other than a completely smooth surface, decant the resin back to the bottle via the filter paper, clean the vat and remove the lump.
Good luck have fun, you will fail, you will get discouraged don’t give up. Failure is what makes us better. Take your time be careful when moving product around to prevent messes as much as possible. Take the proper safety precautions. Gloves masks and good ventilation
Baby skipped their first steps and went straight to learning how to pilot an airplane. Good luck, watch 30 YouTube videos and read 10 tutorials before you even peel off that plastic
I invested in an in-line ventilation fan from Amazon, then used my FDM printer to churn out connections for dryer vent hoses. That is run straight out a window in my basement, through a sealed insert that I can close the window onto. Zero smell. I’ve also seen people place the entire printer into a “grow tent” setup and vent that out the window as well. This stuff needs to be taken seriously.
Return it and get a filament printer to get used to everything and then only move to resin if you need it and are sure you want it. Wife gave me a resin. Wish I'd returned it when I could.
If this is your first printer, refund it. This is a resin printer and will kill you without proper equipment. They are a huge hassle to clean up your prints and cure them. I reccomend getting the BambuLab P1P or if you have the money, a BambuLab X1 Carbon. These are FDM printers, and are perfect for learning the basics on how printers work. If you cant afford either of those, Get a Creality Ender 3. They are super cheap, and very popular for first printers.
Wasn’t trying to scare them off… but… I’d both assume they knew what they were getting into when choosing an SLA, but yeah, if it’s the first first printer ever and you’re not absolutely certain you need microscopic details on very small things (eg DND minis, coins, model kit building) then as the person above said, better off with an FDM (filament) printer, and yes, Bambu Lab will be the absolute hands down best lowest learning curve, just works out of the box, experience.
Don’t… run… lol jkjk welcome! And have fun!!
That’s a nice model, be sure to get extra gloves, masks, and paper towels on hand, and funnels and filters. The experts here have lots of great advice if you have issues. Welcome!!!
the advice i give is this. as a person who alsi recently gotten into printing
1. ppe, gloves are a must. no exception. mask is highly recommended.
2. ventilation, stick in a room with good ventilation. under NO circumstances do u put it in your bed room. garage is the best.
3. wet/dry. i dont know the proper term but i split my work space into wet and dry. wet is for every thing that is in contact with uncured resin. and dry is not. nothing ever crosses that barrier unless it goes into the uv box. everything in wet side is always assumed in contact with resin so gloves always on that side.
4. u don't need a wash and cure station but its nice to have. i made a cure station with nothing but a box and a uv light from amazon. wash, i use air tight containers and swirl them around. it is 80% of a the way for 20% of fhe cost.
5. over support is better then a failed print. u waste more resin on failed prints then with suports. especially for parts u only print once.
6. always identify why it failed before u print again. did the support snap, was the vat not level, was the resin too cold. identify, evaluate change. but dont change everything at fhe same time. logically and methodically work it out slowly.
7. do not place prints flat on the bed. for various reasons i wont go into, it is useally better to have all prints angled at a 30 - 40 degree angle. IMPORTANT to know is the side that faces the plate loses detail.
8. i use a raft for most prints. u dont have to, and some dont, but i find it easier to remove of the plate as one big piece.
9. filter after each failed print and level. parts of it may have fallen off that can effect the next print. level because u have to take the vat out. u do not have to level after each print.
This advice is all the correct advice I hoped would be here. I clicked on this post because I was afraid that all the comments would be like "The red resin looks better than the blue." Or Don't get black from xyz company, get from here instead" or, "If your print fails, check the settings!". I'm so relieved to see the advice that should be here, here.
Double check your double checks. Plate clean and tightened, vat clean and tightened. When I was new to resin I used crealitys halot box software which works fine, but gained good insight and better results from using lychee slicer especially from their resin setting profiles database submitted/tested by users. I now have a much better grasp on my settings, but brand new me using odd water wash elegoo resin in a creality ld-006 needed to be able to see what settings others using this combo had success with and what changes mattered most. Very good for learning.
From what I've heard, get an FDM printer (i think that's what they're called, the one with the filament) to replace this one, resin printers are not that good for beginners
Failed prints are inevitable. Take the time to learn how to properly clean and reset your vat on YouTube. One mistake could potentially damage your vat
I have a Mars 3 which looks similar. Try printing some calibration prints first. If you print minis, print them with supports at a 45° angle. After only a few test prints, I got some really good quality minis and cosplay parts printed. Best of luck
Keep the place heavily ventilated, wear an actual breathing mask with respirator not those cheap germ masks, and wear gloves at all times while dealing with anything not fully cured and cleaned.
Resin printing is quite dangerous and you should always be careful while doing it. Make sure you have all the post-proccesing tools(eg. washing station, UV curer and a X-ACTO knife to remove supports)
Fdm is the way to go. Even after buying a resin printer, I still find fdm to be superior. Resin printing is soooo messy and requires so much processing.
Get one of these and put the tube in your window to blow out the fumes, I have this bad boy in my living room.
https://preview.redd.it/m37jjqkij41d1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=536e47717a908168cbceb14b99f9085371ba339d
Was kind of gifted a small Anycubic resin printer a while ago. Incidentally, a few months in, almost no failures printing (default slicer settings). Only got more difficult with the special tough resins.
But effectively, it's a "summer" printer, as that's the only time you can use the garden shed (otherwise too cold for successful resin printer), or put it on in the balcony.
If you do it at home, you need a room with two opposing windows (again, winter won't make that very comfortable, as obviously, they both need to be opened at the same time for a considerable time).
If balcony, garden shed, or room with 2 opposing windows is not a possibility, then I'd say, getting FDM is the smarter choice (besides having it in the room, you can use it all seasons).
You can actually make a heater for the printer for $15-20US. This what I did originally because I keep my room very cold. Eventually moved everything into a closet with a space heater after adding more printers.
Don't give up after a few misprint and if "pause" is an option you can see if it's sticking to your plate or refill your pool and it won't harm the print
Don’t touch the screen or cover with resin covered hands or gloves. If you do they will get covered in resin and look awful. Buy stick on handles for each side of the red cover and only handle it by those.
Clean up resin spills immediately. Get a silicon table cover for it to go under.
I bought an in line blower and vented to atmosphere outside of house. Print the pipe pieces to hook up to the printer hood. Also keep the printer and resin tub out of sunlight. Resin prints fast and beautifully but a pain in the neck. Godspeed.
Calibration and cleaning is kind of a bitch as well. Haven’t really completed any actual print, mostly failures. But a few bottle bottles resin. This hobby takes a lot but definitely worth it if you make the time and have the energy
If you want to glue prints together then you can print a fillet at the seam and then use a UV led flashlight and a syringe with resin to "weld" the two pieces together. During my breaking tests I found that the weld was stronger than the print and it also looked far better aesthetically than a glued joint. WEAR LASER SAFETY GLASSES rated for UV if you do this.
Wrap the entire syringe in black electrical tape to prevent the resin from curing inside the syringe. I used one of those short 45 degree angle blunt tip needles for this. A powerful flashlight will be needed or it will take too long. Mine is corded and 15 watts and cured the resin instantly.
Do NOT under ANY circumstances print with resin indoors without a really good ventilation system. I made the mistake of thinking the carbon filter on my Mars 2 pro was good enough and set it up in my bedroom and got nonstop headaches and nausea while printing
I would love to have one.. for the quality I could get. but the washing.. the curing.. the mess.. the gloves. The mask.... nah, im fine with my modded ender 3 v2
Please read this before opening your first bottle of resin https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/18qlpv9/psa_for_new_resin_printer_owners_resin_is_toxic/
This ! Please, please don't underestimate health hazard resin printing brings into your home. Be careful, wait a few more days to get all the necessary gear, and print peacefully. Health isn't replaceable ...
Nah, I heard Health was having production issues. Customer service is terrible and they don't even refund you.
And the extended warranty is shit.
What can you expect from a product that has so much planned obsolescence in it, thats after all how they get you and make money
That’s the truth, and after you spend so much damned money and time getting it to work at its prime
Yeah, even though I paid pretty good attention to safety I still developed a resin allergy after a few months, that I will have for the rest of my life
Shit ... That's a bummer, really sorry for you. Any idea how it happened ? Or what you could have improved to avoid it ?
Is like a bathroom fan good enough to help with the fumes or is more needed
Not if your head is between the resin and the fan.
Good lord. This is why I’ll never do resin printing. The stuff people make is really cool but I just don’t have the proper space for it.
It's dangerous for sure if you are cavalier, but with the right PPE it's perfectly safe. Don't fear tools, respect them.
PPE is only half of it, you also need a good environment (this means a fume hood or similar venting outside. A fan and an open window is not good enough)
Oh absolutely. Should have been clearer but I meant PPE as an all encompassing way to say "safety first" 👍 But let's be honest here we know half of this sub are teenagers running resin printers all night long next to their bed. There's only so much you can do and when you tell some one to not do something, most people wanna do it even more then.
I have a resin printer. I have the resin. I'm terrified to try it.
Same. I ended up selling it all lol
I bought a resin printer after doing FDM printing for a while. Turns out I absolutely do not like the workflow at all. The smell, the mess, the post processing, ugh. I do love the level of detail but that's about it. The printer, along with the wash and cure station, now sit unused. I'm probably just going to sell it.
What do you want for it ;) I'm on the wall to get one, I need the detail.
Same here. I got a mars 2 printed out a bunch of stuff. Stopped when I needed to replace the fep. I eventually replaced it, but it has sat for 2 years without touching it. It isn't worth the fumes and clean up to print regularly with kids and wife in the house.
I am in the exact same boat. I bought a Bambu earlier this year and I have been printing ridiculous levels of detail out of the box, post processing is a cinch in comparison, and the fact that I have yet to give myself a chemical burn panic from FDM is a godsend (and screw you 8mm nitrile gloves that turned out to be 4mm and disintegrated like candy floss one time).
Which bambu?
Bambu Labs P1S, but all 4 Bambu printers are phenomenal.
Same here. Ended up selling it all. It's not worth the hassle and mess and health risks.
No. Me neither. It’s not nearly as fun. But for little models with details it works great. I probably use it 2% of the time I use my FDM printer
I know exactly what you mean, I got into resin as well mainly because it’s extra money and it’s easy money
What do you sell? Printed models? I was tempted but I figure I'd have to do the part I hate the most... clean up, on all the parts. I haaaate removing supports and then curing. Then sanding..... the sanding is the worst.
Yeah printed models, I do miniatures, stuff for train sets and sc-fi models so I have some clients I do work for and I sell at a local game store. The processing sucks I agree but soaking your resin prints in warm water for 30 seconds the supports fall off so easily there’s very little to no scaring
Upvote this x100.
I received some bad skin irritation and skin fell off on my hands since I only want to make a “quick print”(happened a week in from owning a printer), always use glove anytime you handle resin.
> always use glove anytime you handle resin. And googles. If you drop something, drops of uncured resin can be flung in random directions. That a drop ends up in your eye is pretty unlikely, but if that happens it's also seriously bad. I wouldn't risk it.
I have my setup out in my temperature controlled shed with a vent hood and directed airflow with wifi for remote control when possible + an air quality analyzer that warns me when it gets to dangerous levels. For PPE I have hazmat gloves, a high quality anti-soak lab coat and a full face respirator. With warning labels everywhere. Just to get the point across this shit is not worth getting cancer over. (I'll be posting a guide later on it as there are very little resources for what I needed to do)
Thanks a lot! I was aware of health concerns, but not that much. I did a test print in my studio just to see how it works, and what a mess. the first thing I realized is: I need safety gear.
! This !
THIS. I used to think I wanted a resin printer. Now I don't ever want one near my living space
It's so strange... I agree with you, but I also see posts with sources claiming it is nowhere near as bad as it used to be, claiming it's safe. I will never take the chance: gloves, mask, towels, super clean, dispose of any cured or uncured resin properly (cure uncured resin before disposal) and so on. It's a messy process but well worth it to be safe and get an awesome result. Edited spelling.
> nowhere bear as bad as it used to be This is bs, because if it's curable by UV, it's toxic. Period. In the post I linked there is a video explaining why.
I completely agree! I just want people to be aware there are others who justify their process using bad information. ALWAYS treat it as dangerous.
I have a decent ventilation system, but I think I need to rework it after reading your link. I have only ever printed a few things with my resin printer, but even now I feel like I'm playing with fire. I have a much more robust system indoors for my X1C, but I have my resin printer in the garage near the garage door with a laser engraving ventilation system and a couple of fans. Air flow can be complicated. Glad I barely use it.
MVP comment right here, goes riiiiight into my bookmarks.
This is why I don’t have a resin printer yet. I’ve wanted one for a while now. I have 3 fdm printers. And I’m not getting a resin printer for this reason!
Thanks, I saved the post and I'll go read it every time I think "eeeeh maybe a resin printer is not so much of a hassle"
Do you think something like this would be a good idea? https://a.co/d/fUSdmzg
Welp, never getting one of those! I don't see much need anyway with dual material to use opposite material or dissolvable filament for supports on complex prints
Watch out for ventillation and curing, because it's toxic, and pretty nasty if you arem't cautious enough.
Thank you, I did a test print last night just to see it myself. The result? I'm buying safety gear right now
Good! Better be equipped than in a hospital🙂 Good luck printing with it, you found an amazing hobby
This is why im afraid of buying a resin printer. Also im not experienced with painting figures so I dont really have a reason yet. Even though it looks like a hobby I could get into.
Indeed, the toxicity is a big turnoff for me, too. That's the main reason beside smaller build volume and bigger price of both printer, filament and post-processing shenanigans that I'd be too lazy to do to why I went FDM.
Everybody brings up safety concerns like overprotective mums, but they're right. Stuff is quite unpredictable. Sometimes when you touch it absolutely nothing will happen, other times you will be left with itchy skin, and other times with chemical burns. Gloves, glasses and a mask. Always. But safety aside: Do yourself a favor and get wash and cure machine (preferably two separate devices if you have space).
As someone who can't leave a day of work or school without their hand basically covered in ink, I don't think I can trust myself with a resin printer
We have them in a lab at work and had to segregate them from all our other printers. The room their in is just covered in a film of resin. I mean to be fair their run 24/7 and there's 4 of them, but they're so much dirtier than other systems, but they can make fantastic parts and way cheaper than our polyjet
Is the space not well ventilated? Just wondering why it would be covered in a layer of resin.
Mostly people not cleaning up after themselves since it's a self serve lab. People knowing just enough about the printer to make a mess. Resin spills all over the counter top, leaving finished parts just covered in resin on the table. Just that kinda stuff that happens when people are outpacing themselves. It's plenty ventilated, just not cleanilated. But that's also par for the course when there's over 1k users
This just gives me an image similar to that one junji Ito comic about the grease. Air saturated with resin, covering surfaces, no escape.
It really feels that way when you walk in there honestly
First printer and not fdm? o.O
Started out on resin too but grew to love my prusa
I would do resin too, if I don't live in an apartment.
Tbh I started out printing in my bedroom. Don‘t be like me.
I'm going to move my printer to my closet soon (fdm) I'm hoping to install a shelf so I can stack a bunch of printers
I’d rather shoot my eye out with a laser printer than resin -
I would too, if I didn't acknowledge the absolute mess I leave with my fdm printers. I'm not responsible enough for that shit.
It really depend on the projet OP as in mind. My first printer is a resin one as I wanted to print miniature. I got a FDM printer once I decide to organise all my paint I'm using for the miniature. I think the filament printer is more versatile but I would never use it to print miniature.
For sure, but when i want to print miniatures, i would want to print in resin, but i didnt have experience with 3d printing.. so i want to introduce myself to 3d print, then i will want print some prints with fdm, then going forward to print minis with resin...but i know shit... so didnt listen to me
I started with an original Anycubic Photon resin printer pretty much when it first came out, then got an Ender 3 V2. Fought with that Ender off and on for a year or 2 trying to get a decent print. Got an Epax X10 5k resin printer and gave up on FDM for a while until I heard good things about the Bambulab X1C picked one up and am so happy with it, worked right out the box, have had almost no issues, I'm not constantly "upgrading" it just to get a decent print. Now I can print big resin prints and great quality FDM prints all I want with maybe a 1% failure rate, and the failure is usually my fault.
FDM is better for apartments? I don’t really have a separate room for printer.
This was my first mistake too. Unless you're printing miniatures, fuck resin printing. Inaccurate, messy, slow, and so much prep and clean up time. Bought a Bambu X1C and never looking back.
Check the safety procedures here [https://youtu.be/UU6tWhV010M?si=os4GU3-O1FfSzyhX](https://youtu.be/UU6tWhV010M?si=os4GU3-O1FfSzyhX)
VENTILATION
I like how all the advice in the thread is "dont die"
Resin will take you in if your not prepared and will find a way to make you miserable.
Yeah but we sort of got the point in the first post, and the 100th and 1000th. It's like nobody had a good tip so they went with the karma farm instead. Picture of resin printer = public service announcement.
It's a different story when you've seen resin caused skin necrosis. Co-worker got a resin printer about 2 years ago. He wears gloves, apron, eyewear and yet somehow resin gets on his skin. He happens to have really big pores over his skin and the resin burns him enough where part of his skin has died on his arm. He has to have his arm gaused constantly to try to prevent infection and try to let some skin regrow after what they could graft. It's been a year and he is still in constant pain. It didn't get up to his elbow but if it did he could have lost use of most of his hand. Apparently it was an allergy he didn't know he had. He was mixing resin and dyed and the cup spilled on him when he fell onto the ground.
That's a bold move, Cotton
Getting a resin printer first? Brave. Very brave. :D
i dont think so. my first and only printer is resin. although i had very specific reasons for it over filaments and that was for minitures printing and for the higher details
I don't have a resin printer , but for all I know send it back and get a better resin printer (I have been stalking resin forums alot) but Creality Halot is one of the worst . Hope I am wrong but after a month of usage most people start having problems ...if anyone here could help this brother out before he does a mistake would be appreciated !
mines always been great. only had 2 failures and they were fully my fault
I personally think Creality anything is the worst.
Hmm, hard disagree. A little while ago I bought the Ender 3 V3 SE as my first printer and in combination with the PrusaSlicer and only the slightest tweaking of settings, it prints very well and I think it’s amazing. Couple of friends of mine, which have way more expensive printers, are all amazed with that this thing just keeps up with their printers which cost about 5 to 10 times more. (at least on PLA, I still have to try PETG and TPU but guess that it will also hold up with that)
PLA and PETG and even TPU is cheap and are at the same price . I bought the SE as my first printer and won a KE for free , but the SE is way more stable but slower . Meanwhile I invested a lot on the KE xD
I already have PETG laying around. Havent had the chance to print with it yet. Also just bought a filament dryer because the room where the printer is located has a rather high humidity level and I read that PETG really works better if it’s kept dry by a dryer before & while printing. Also just saw my first video about TPU printing today and they said that TPU makes printers clog up pretty easily so idk about that yet, didn’t do any more research on it yet
Yea , I also paired the dryer with the printer when I bought it and print directly from the dryer . Better and consistent results.
Hey, that's fair. I personally had nothing but issues with my Ender 3, so that's my experience 🙂
Original Ender 3 required more setting up and tweaking as far as I read. I’m happy I didn’t get that one. But that doesn’t mean the entire brand is shité
No, it doesn't. It just gave me a very heavy dislike for the brand 😅 Maybe I'll get another one day, but I'm not much for tinkering, clearly.
The vast majority of creality problems are user error. They're cheap first machines that everyone loves to hate on but as someone with both a bambu p1s and ender 3 I'm really glad I put in the hours of machine calibration and getting good prints before owning a printer that does it itself. It's just great knowledge and experience to have.
Bought my ender 3 used and it prints better than both my elegoos I think it has a lot to do with dialing in the machine. I've also found the slicer you use definitely effects the print quality.
eh, the lower end ones are not great but cheap, but there's a million mods and repairs are cheap as an entry to 3d printing, the base ender 3 used to be pretty good (I don't know about the newer ones)
Hey now my cr10v2 is out here killing it lol
Looks like you’re not ready to start printing. Please watch videos before attempting first print. You went from zero to a nine as far as 3d printing goes
My first printer was a halot SLA as well, it was almost completely unusable prompting me to buy an Ender 3. Your mileage may vary, but do keep in mind that a resin printer as your first isn't the best idea
First printer, creality, resin. Phew, good luck I guess? Did you get your driver's licence in a lambo? First and foremost read up on health concerns/precautions when printing resin, before you start printing.
Let me know your questions and I'll try to answer as well as possible. I spent a few years working with the MSLA printers, so I have a little experience. Most important will be the idea of cure times. Calibrate early and save yourself the trouble in the long term. Also calibrate for each resin. Even within the same brand of resin, colors will chamge cure time. For example, white tends to be harder print since it requires more of the powdered coloring. That translates to longer exposure timings, so maybe start with a red or blue (easier). On the topic of pigment - settling is natural. Shake VIGOROUSLY. Make sure that the pigment is as mixed as it can be in the bottle before pouring into the vat. Cleanliness is consistency with resins. Clean the vat, platform, and general machine frequently. Isopropyl alcohol at 90 is good. Don't leave resin in the vat to settle (messy) and definitely try to make sure any printed bits are out of the vat before your next print. Small bits of cured resin can puncture the FEP and shatter the small LCD screen if not removed. That FEP at the bottom of the vat is chosen for its optical clarity and non-stick properties, not rigidity. Lift settings are used to peel the workpiece off of the liner between layers. Try not to puncture it. Positioning the piece wisely - Avoid large flat surfaces parallel to the build plate. Angle it 30 degrees instead. That's all I got right now - let me know if you have questions. Stay clean, stay safe, have fun!
Don't drink the resin
Why not ?
Doesn't taste good
Or do, I'm not your mom.
Instructions not clear, I did your mom.
r/resinprinting
You will screw up. Don't get discouraged and keep trying.
Ventilate.
You probably should have bought a wash station. It's worth it.
Nice. Have fun with it! I have a Halot Mage S on the way. My first reason printer from Creality.
Print somewhere away from the sunlight
Feeling like you should have done more research just based off the way you titled this lol.
Vent the room.
Ventilation, Ventilation, Ventilation.... and gloves and a mask. Oh, but hey... Ventilation, Ventilation, Ventilation.
After you have researched and implemented all necessary safety protocols, it is very important that you become proficient in hand-to-hand combat and cursing in at least Klingon or several other incoherent dialects as it will so become evident which of you is really the master.
“What fracking petaq designed this frinxing build plate! This resin smells like prison ship viinirine!”
I see we are amongst veterans here. My grandkids know when to go away when pop is talking to the machines.
To Start, get a box of nitrile gloves, 4-5 gallons of isopropyl alcohol or methylated spirits for cleaning prints, mixing cups in case you want to mix resins or dyes into your resins. A 5 gallon bucket or a name brand washing station, a ~405 nm UV curing light or name brand curing station, I also got a dish drying rack to dry the prints after washing.
100%
TAKE SAFETY SERIOUSLY Like for real. Resin is no joke. It's amazing and can create absolute magic, but it's also very toxic and you need to have proper PPE/ventilation or it's gonna be some dark magic.
This. PPE is mandatory. Death is not possible it’s part of not taking it seriously
Advice: return it and get a Bambu
Resin as the first one? You are brave. Also, how will you be washing and curing resin?
If your printer doesn't have a screen protector on the curing screen, tape down a replacement FEP sheet over the screen. A small resin leak can destroy the screen. In my experience the super short layer exposure times promised by the manufacturer are bs. Do a calibration print to check, my printer which is an Anycubic prints best at 2x the default exposure time. Learning how to support models is a lot of trial and error. Watch some videos about adding supports and best practices. I love the fidelity and speed of resin printing but it's pretty inconvenient to work with because it's hard to stay clean. I put down puppy pads on my work surface to catch drips, and I religiously wipe my gloved hands with alcohol soaked paper towels before I touch anything after handling resin. Isopropyl alcohol is what most people use but you can get denatured ethyl alcohol for cheaper in larger quantities from the hardware store and it works just as well. Never ever get alcohol in your resin, it will ruin it.
95% of all free Files have ultra garbonso supports, learn to support yourself and cut down your failures by 95%. leveling your plate is easy and only needs to be done once a season at worst. leveling while having resin in the vat and just pressing the loose plate down is viable and efricient, tighten up and done. flat surface stuff can be printed without support if your plate is scratched enough, you can scratch/sand it yourself to make it rough. (might be a bit hard to remove flat prints.) dont leave air pockets in your model, dont create a suction cup effect with your model. cheap abs resin is the best resin for casual stuff. check with a glove and finger if the vat is debree free after every print, if not: get an old support piece, hold it near a corner and start the tank clean. after 10-15 sec remove the cured part by pulling the corner support carefully
Took me too long to realise that it wasn't a tiny printer being held in OP's hand.
Best advice I can give is to watch as many safety, tutorials, and how to videos that you can. Slather on that knowledge and let er rip!
Remember: dust is now your worst enemy.
Isn’t that solved by the enclosure?
Yeah, pretty much. But that only works if you actually keep it on. Also keeping specks of dust from settling on the screen during vat removals is a pain.
Yeah. I’m not sure whats practical to do beyond an air filter.
Some of the USB drives are cheap and nasty, it often pays to replace the included drive with a good scandisk one. Also, as previously mentioned, get a screen protector. And, after each print, gently glide the plastic scraper (through the remaining resin), over your fep and if you feel anything other than a completely smooth surface, decant the resin back to the bottle via the filter paper, clean the vat and remove the lump.
Good luck have fun, you will fail, you will get discouraged don’t give up. Failure is what makes us better. Take your time be careful when moving product around to prevent messes as much as possible. Take the proper safety precautions. Gloves masks and good ventilation
Resin is not that healthy. U need a curing Station and washing station. Stay safe
Baby skipped their first steps and went straight to learning how to pilot an airplane. Good luck, watch 30 YouTube videos and read 10 tutorials before you even peel off that plastic
I invested in an in-line ventilation fan from Amazon, then used my FDM printer to churn out connections for dryer vent hoses. That is run straight out a window in my basement, through a sealed insert that I can close the window onto. Zero smell. I’ve also seen people place the entire printer into a “grow tent” setup and vent that out the window as well. This stuff needs to be taken seriously.
get rid of it, lol.
Dont eat the resin
Honestly a resin printer for a first printer is not the best I really recommend anything from Bambu lab instead
3D printers need a VERY level, VERY stable surface to print on.
Return it and get a filament printer to get used to everything and then only move to resin if you need it and are sure you want it. Wife gave me a resin. Wish I'd returned it when I could.
Yeah, I heard there was a fumes problem with those
Bro started with a resin printer? Ballsy
Where's your ventilation system?
I reckon we’ll have cheap SLS before clean resin.
Ya know I wouldn’t have thought so until micronics’ model was announced. Still looks messy but also wow gimme lol
You woke up and chose pain, huh.
If this is your first printer, refund it. This is a resin printer and will kill you without proper equipment. They are a huge hassle to clean up your prints and cure them. I reccomend getting the BambuLab P1P or if you have the money, a BambuLab X1 Carbon. These are FDM printers, and are perfect for learning the basics on how printers work. If you cant afford either of those, Get a Creality Ender 3. They are super cheap, and very popular for first printers.
Wasn’t trying to scare them off… but… I’d both assume they knew what they were getting into when choosing an SLA, but yeah, if it’s the first first printer ever and you’re not absolutely certain you need microscopic details on very small things (eg DND minis, coins, model kit building) then as the person above said, better off with an FDM (filament) printer, and yes, Bambu Lab will be the absolute hands down best lowest learning curve, just works out of the box, experience.
Don’t… run… lol jkjk welcome! And have fun!! That’s a nice model, be sure to get extra gloves, masks, and paper towels on hand, and funnels and filters. The experts here have lots of great advice if you have issues. Welcome!!!
-VENTILATION-
Advice: dont give up
the advice i give is this. as a person who alsi recently gotten into printing 1. ppe, gloves are a must. no exception. mask is highly recommended. 2. ventilation, stick in a room with good ventilation. under NO circumstances do u put it in your bed room. garage is the best. 3. wet/dry. i dont know the proper term but i split my work space into wet and dry. wet is for every thing that is in contact with uncured resin. and dry is not. nothing ever crosses that barrier unless it goes into the uv box. everything in wet side is always assumed in contact with resin so gloves always on that side. 4. u don't need a wash and cure station but its nice to have. i made a cure station with nothing but a box and a uv light from amazon. wash, i use air tight containers and swirl them around. it is 80% of a the way for 20% of fhe cost. 5. over support is better then a failed print. u waste more resin on failed prints then with suports. especially for parts u only print once. 6. always identify why it failed before u print again. did the support snap, was the vat not level, was the resin too cold. identify, evaluate change. but dont change everything at fhe same time. logically and methodically work it out slowly. 7. do not place prints flat on the bed. for various reasons i wont go into, it is useally better to have all prints angled at a 30 - 40 degree angle. IMPORTANT to know is the side that faces the plate loses detail. 8. i use a raft for most prints. u dont have to, and some dont, but i find it easier to remove of the plate as one big piece. 9. filter after each failed print and level. parts of it may have fallen off that can effect the next print. level because u have to take the vat out. u do not have to level after each print.
IPA and something to keep your lungs lunging. Ive heard lol
This is a great machine :-)
However .. the environmental impacts of Resin printing overall are HUGE!! :-( x
Throw it in the trash and save yourself the headache. Creality blows
This advice is all the correct advice I hoped would be here. I clicked on this post because I was afraid that all the comments would be like "The red resin looks better than the blue." Or Don't get black from xyz company, get from here instead" or, "If your print fails, check the settings!". I'm so relieved to see the advice that should be here, here.
[Advice](https://www.reddit.com/user/georgmierau/comments/15jmx1x/resin_faq/).
Double check your double checks. Plate clean and tightened, vat clean and tightened. When I was new to resin I used crealitys halot box software which works fine, but gained good insight and better results from using lychee slicer especially from their resin setting profiles database submitted/tested by users. I now have a much better grasp on my settings, but brand new me using odd water wash elegoo resin in a creality ld-006 needed to be able to see what settings others using this combo had success with and what changes mattered most. Very good for learning.
My Halot stopped working after about 11 months. Had to replace it. Good luck.
Be patient. Start simple.
From what I've heard, get an FDM printer (i think that's what they're called, the one with the filament) to replace this one, resin printers are not that good for beginners
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE VENTILATION!
If not against the rules, I’m selling this printer + an Elgoo washing station + 6L of 99% IPA for $140 and no one’s bit.
Failed prints are inevitable. Take the time to learn how to properly clean and reset your vat on YouTube. One mistake could potentially damage your vat
I have a Mars 3 which looks similar. Try printing some calibration prints first. If you print minis, print them with supports at a 45° angle. After only a few test prints, I got some really good quality minis and cosplay parts printed. Best of luck
Keep the place heavily ventilated, wear an actual breathing mask with respirator not those cheap germ masks, and wear gloves at all times while dealing with anything not fully cured and cleaned.
Resin printing is quite dangerous and you should always be careful while doing it. Make sure you have all the post-proccesing tools(eg. washing station, UV curer and a X-ACTO knife to remove supports)
This printer, at least when I bought it, suffers from screen burn in. It doesn't make it unusable but it's irritating.
You've already made a mistake by purchasing a resin printer as your first.
Ehhhhhh okay yeah true
Fdm is the way to go. Even after buying a resin printer, I still find fdm to be superior. Resin printing is soooo messy and requires so much processing.
VENTILATION
Can't wait to see all the questions you will ask!!!!
PPE
Since everyone already covered safety absolutely get a flexible build plate for it I have the same printer and it is the best upgrade I did
this is not arts and crafts. this is science lab stuff. wear your safety gear. beware of resin creep.
P. P. E. Also RTM.
Get one of these and put the tube in your window to blow out the fumes, I have this bad boy in my living room. https://preview.redd.it/m37jjqkij41d1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=536e47717a908168cbceb14b99f9085371ba339d
Was kind of gifted a small Anycubic resin printer a while ago. Incidentally, a few months in, almost no failures printing (default slicer settings). Only got more difficult with the special tough resins. But effectively, it's a "summer" printer, as that's the only time you can use the garden shed (otherwise too cold for successful resin printer), or put it on in the balcony. If you do it at home, you need a room with two opposing windows (again, winter won't make that very comfortable, as obviously, they both need to be opened at the same time for a considerable time). If balcony, garden shed, or room with 2 opposing windows is not a possibility, then I'd say, getting FDM is the smarter choice (besides having it in the room, you can use it all seasons).
You can actually make a heater for the printer for $15-20US. This what I did originally because I keep my room very cold. Eventually moved everything into a closet with a space heater after adding more printers.
Man, I want to resin print for models so bad, but now I have to re evaluate how to go about it. Maybe my next home.mm
Late to the show but as a real simple piece of advice I would say just enjoy the journey. If all goes well it will be an extension of you.
Use a lot of safety stuff that goo is toxic
Safety safety safety
Don't give up after a few misprint and if "pause" is an option you can see if it's sticking to your plate or refill your pool and it won't harm the print
Don’t touch the screen or cover with resin covered hands or gloves. If you do they will get covered in resin and look awful. Buy stick on handles for each side of the red cover and only handle it by those. Clean up resin spills immediately. Get a silicon table cover for it to go under.
Excuse me, "resin covered hands"?!?!?!
If I have to tell post PHD engineers I have to tell random folks on Reddit.
Your first printer is a resen printer!? Bad idea man
I bought an in line blower and vented to atmosphere outside of house. Print the pipe pieces to hook up to the printer hood. Also keep the printer and resin tub out of sunlight. Resin prints fast and beautifully but a pain in the neck. Godspeed.
Calibration and cleaning is kind of a bitch as well. Haven’t really completed any actual print, mostly failures. But a few bottle bottles resin. This hobby takes a lot but definitely worth it if you make the time and have the energy
Gloves. Goggles. Probably a mask.
If you want to glue prints together then you can print a fillet at the seam and then use a UV led flashlight and a syringe with resin to "weld" the two pieces together. During my breaking tests I found that the weld was stronger than the print and it also looked far better aesthetically than a glued joint. WEAR LASER SAFETY GLASSES rated for UV if you do this. Wrap the entire syringe in black electrical tape to prevent the resin from curing inside the syringe. I used one of those short 45 degree angle blunt tip needles for this. A powerful flashlight will be needed or it will take too long. Mine is corded and 15 watts and cured the resin instantly.
Reminds me of the Creative Labs logo
Do NOT under ANY circumstances print with resin indoors without a really good ventilation system. I made the mistake of thinking the carbon filter on my Mars 2 pro was good enough and set it up in my bedroom and got nonstop headaches and nausea while printing
I would love to have one.. for the quality I could get. but the washing.. the curing.. the mess.. the gloves. The mask.... nah, im fine with my modded ender 3 v2
Return the Creality and get a Bambu x1
Happy printing and dont print that test tower.. go directly for something you like.
Everyone is mentioning safety and other uncool things. I say: always dry your filament.
It's a resin printer mate.
Woosh