VivaTerlingua
> Thank you for your detailed response, it gives me more confidence in the resin printers. What does the ultrasonic bath do for you that a wash and cure station doesn't do? Sorry if this is a dumb question, I'm new to resin printers.
At the time of my purchase, I only found small wash and cure station, which would not fit relatively large parts printed in Saturn, and not large enough to clean its bed or vat. Perhaps since than larger wash and cure station appeared, I did not check. Besides, wash and cure station as far as I know just steer liquid inside, that's probably just fine for printed figurines but for functional parts with deep holes or threads, hard to reach cavities, will not clean well with this method.
This is how I clean parts: 5 minutes in Hardlight solution (this is liquid specifically made to clean resin parts, but even general cleaning liquid will do, such as Mean Green or something similar). Then I rinse the part in water, and I put it in plastic container with isopropanol, and let it float in the ultrasonic bath, and turn it on for another 5 mins. Afterwards I rinse the part in water again, and then cure (I have DIY curing station which I made myself, it is sufficiently large for Saturn). This lets me keep isopropanol relatively clean and I do not need to have it my bath where it would evaporate quickly. Water-based solution to clean resin mostly let the resin settle at the bottom, so I can use the same solution for weeks or even months, especially if I occasionally filter it to "regenerate" it. Isopropanol on the other hand dissolves the resin, and even though it can be filtered too and partially regenerated, it is not a good choice for first cleaning in my experience, because it will need to be replaced often. But for secondary cleaning, isopropanol is great, because initial cleaning in water-based solution gets rid of almost all uncured resin, and thanks to that, isopropanol lasts long.
Basically, ultrasonic bath and dedicated curing station are the best but require more space and may be more expensive to buy/build than just getting wash and curing station. Wash and curing may be good too, all depends on what parts you will print and how often. In any case, if you decide to go with wash and cure station, make sure it is big enough for biggest parts you going to print. The same is true when choosing ultrasonic bath, its basket must be big enough for your purposes.
> Also, some of my parts will be used outdoors. How well do these resins hold up to sunlight
Depends on the resin. Most inexpensive resins are bad, only good resins at reasonable price I have found so far are made by FUNGDO. I also tried "standard" Elegoo resin and it was horrible, simultaneously flexible and very brittle, it was useless for functional parts, especially if they were exposed to direct sunlight for a while. So choosing right resin is very important. Obviously, there are plenty of good expensive resins, but I did not try them, I need to print often and I do not feel like overpaying. So I cannot tell if FUNGDO resins are better than Weistek or not... If you have the budget, it always better to try yourself different resins and test them in real world environment including sunlight, and check what happens to them after a while. For me, the best resistance to sunlight demonstrated by gray FUNGDO High Toughness resin (it does not become brittle at all), and their Low Viscosity resin also seems to last under the sunlight (it becomes more rigid but not too much) but I'm not sure yet, because I do not have many parts outdoors yet or near windows and in my country currently it is winter and most days are without direct sunlight. So only time will tell for sure.
Transparent resins are especially bad when it comes to resistance to sunlight, most of them will quickly become cloudy and yellow. Only one which stayed non-yellow and clear was NOVA3D High Transparency Resin, here is its review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ptj9IE4H...osR4AaABAg - the reviewer was unable to find right settings, so couldn't print well with it, but if you read my comment there (should be at the top) you will see that I got excellent results and I shared my settings. Usually you just need to set right exposure and that's it, but NOVA3D High Transparency Resin but is notable exception, you need get right multiple settings or you may get a lump of resin instead of high precision part.
> Thank you for your detailed response, it gives me more confidence in the resin printers. What does the ultrasonic bath do for you that a wash and cure station doesn't do? Sorry if this is a dumb question, I'm new to resin printers.
At the time of my purchase, I only found small wash and cure station, which would not fit relatively large parts printed in Saturn, and not large enough to clean its bed or vat. Perhaps since than larger wash and cure station appeared, I did not check. Besides, wash and cure station as far as I know just steer liquid inside, that's probably just fine for printed figurines but for functional parts with deep holes or threads, hard to reach cavities, will not clean well with this method.
This is how I clean parts: 5 minutes in Hardlight solution (this is liquid specifically made to clean resin parts, but even general cleaning liquid will do, such as Mean Green or something similar). Then I rinse the part in water, and I put it in plastic container with isopropanol, and let it float in the ultrasonic bath, and turn it on for another 5 mins. Afterwards I rinse the part in water again, and then cure (I have DIY curing station which I made myself, it is sufficiently large for Saturn). This lets me keep isopropanol relatively clean and I do not need to have it my bath where it would evaporate quickly. Water-based solution to clean resin mostly let the resin settle at the bottom, so I can use the same solution for weeks or even months, especially if I occasionally filter it to "regenerate" it. Isopropanol on the other hand dissolves the resin, and even though it can be filtered too and partially regenerated, it is not a good choice for first cleaning in my experience, because it will need to be replaced often. But for secondary cleaning, isopropanol is great, because initial cleaning in water-based solution gets rid of almost all uncured resin, and thanks to that, isopropanol lasts long.
Basically, ultrasonic bath and dedicated curing station are the best but require more space and may be more expensive to buy/build than just getting wash and curing station. Wash and curing may be good too, all depends on what parts you will print and how often. In any case, if you decide to go with wash and cure station, make sure it is big enough for biggest parts you going to print. The same is true when choosing ultrasonic bath, its basket must be big enough for your purposes.
> Also, some of my parts will be used outdoors. How well do these resins hold up to sunlight
Depends on the resin. Most inexpensive resins are bad, only good resins at reasonable price I have found so far are made by FUNGDO. I also tried "standard" Elegoo resin and it was horrible, simultaneously flexible and very brittle, it was useless for functional parts, especially if they were exposed to direct sunlight for a while. So choosing right resin is very important. Obviously, there are plenty of good expensive resins, but I did not try them, I need to print often and I do not feel like overpaying. So I cannot tell if FUNGDO resins are better than Weistek or not... If you have the budget, it always better to try yourself different resins and test them in real world environment including sunlight, and check what happens to them after a while. For me, the best resistance to sunlight demonstrated by gray FUNGDO High Toughness resin (it does not become brittle at all), and their Low Viscosity resin also seems to last under the sunlight (it becomes more rigid but not too much) but I'm not sure yet, because I do not have many parts outdoors yet or near windows and in my country currently it is winter and most days are without direct sunlight. So only time will tell for sure.
Transparent resins are especially bad when it comes to resistance to sunlight, most of them will quickly become cloudy and yellow. Only one which stayed non-yellow and clear was NOVA3D High Transparency Resin, here is its review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ptj9IE4H...osR4AaABAg - the reviewer was unable to find right settings, so couldn't print well with it, but if you read my comment there (should be at the top) you will see that I got excellent results and I shared my settings. Usually you just need to set right exposure and that's it, but NOVA3D High Transparency Resin but is notable exception, you need get right multiple settings or you may get a lump of resin instead of high precision part.