Hello 3dpronting!
I am looking to get a resin printer as I have been reading they are better for smaller high detail prints. I am mainly looking to print miniatures for tabletop gaming.
I have been eyeing the Elegoo Mars 3 pro and the corresponding washing/curing station(Elegoo mercury plus 2 in 1).
Is this a good starting point? Am I biting off too much for a beginner?
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Looks like a nice one to me. Watch out for toxicity with resins and solvents, you need to set these up in well ventilated areas.
Yeah I was planning on doing it in my garage with the door open for now until winter comes. Keeps the fumes out of the house which is nice.
This is where I started with my resin 3d printing. I have an FDM as well and the the resin printer blows it out of the water in terms of detail and speed.
Small tip I’ve learned about the washing/cure station is to let your prints dry after taking them out of the wash before placing them on the curing station. This will prevent resin from curing on the platform and making a mess.
Know that you will need a lot more than just the printer and washing station though. You want gloves (by the box), 91%+ alcohol (by the gallon), some silicon mats to work on, microfiber towels (to clean your FEP), and lots and lots of paper towels. If you are concerned about fumes you’ll want to look into ventilation. I guess what I’m saying is it’s messy! It’s not hard though and the models you get are amazing, my gaming group loves me and my GM is living out his childhood gaming dreams.
This is great thanks for the info! I didn’t realize the alcohol has to be such a high %. Do you find it expensive to have to have that much high % alcohol on hand?
How often do you need to replace it? (Every print? Every other print?)
I’ve had my printer just a bit under a year and I print almost weekly (ALOT more in the beginning). I’ve had to replace the wash three times (?), and I’ve used ~ 3.5 gallons of alcohol. I use a spray bottle to clean everything up (tools, work area, build plate, + the occasional tank clean), so I tend to use a lot as I don’t like resin hanging around. The cost isn’t much worse than a bottle of resin at $30 for 1gal on amazon so while it adds cost it’s not too much. You might also look into water washable resin but I have no experience with it so I can’t recommend it one way or the other.
Oh speaking up cleanup and build support removal don’t forget eye protection and maybe an n95 mask (the smell can be strong from both the resin and alcohol). You’re playing chemist here with some smelly chemicals.
I’ve been using my resin printer for about a year and I’ve only had to swap my alcohol once, but it can also be cleaned fairly easily with pure alum powder.
I personally use ethanol rather than isopropyl because a friend of mine is allergic to isopropyl, and it works just fine. The fumes are also less harmful from ethanol.
Still wear a respirator when using it though.
I started my foray into 3d printing with resin, too. It’s a steeper learning curve; it feels like I’ve broken and repaired everything on my Anycubic Photon 4k at least once, and I’ve slowly collected every slicer program there is (settled on Lychee slicer Pro), but I don’t have any regrets.
Just make sure you have the space for it. Ideally you want a non-carpeted room with ventilation and temperature control. Doesn’t need to be big.
This is good to hear that youve had a relatively good experience. Did you have to replace things due to your own inexperience or just because you used it so much?
I was planning on just doing it in my garage with the garage door open and a fan blowing out. I think this would be enough vetilation of ventilation?
Definitely inexperience in my case. I punctured countless FEP sheets due to print failures (caused by poor supports). Replaced the LCD once. But, my workload has greatly improved!
Garage would work, only concerns are managing the temperature and keeping dust/debris away from the work area. Lots of people successfully print from their garage!
A friend of mine picked a Mars 3 Pro up recently and has really enjoyed it. He was very experienced with FDM printing but this was his first resin printer and I don’t believe he’s had any issues.
Can’t speak for the cleaning/curing station as I believe he made his own.
