Spoke too soon - frustrating!
After recently lauding the virtues of Prusa gear having bought my SL1 kit and CW1, I am now back to using my trusty Elegoo Mars. 1/5 of the price, but the difference is, it works!
I managed to print out the Prusa test calibration print in the supplied Orange Tough Resin, and have since been trying to print a model firstly using Elegoo Resin, and when that failed, back to the Prusa Orange Tough Resin. The first few layers stick firmly to the build plate, and then, a few layers in, they give up, and the resin cures on the FEP film instead. Meanwhile, my Elegoo is laughing at it from across the bench and encouraging me to sell it and buy 4 or 5 more Elegoos instead.
The FEP film is fine, the curing time is as stock for the Prusa Orange, and when using the Elegoo resin I mimic the times from ChituBox, which work happily on the Mars.
It starts of with that satisfying peel sound, and then after a while, I can just tell it has given up and when I stop the print, my suspicions are confirmed.
So, I either have a very expensive doorstop, a missed opportunity to buy 5 Elegoo Mars, or hopefully, there's a simple fix that I'm missing here. I have tried recalibrating every step of the way, and nothing.
I've attached pics of the usual results I am seeing.
Thanks in advance if anyone has any ideas....
RE: Spoke too soon - frustrating!
Hello,
Strange problem you have. i already printed more than 3.5l of resin and never had the case you face.
Do you have a screenshot of the sliced object before print? It would help to point issue.
Also check if the resin profile is correct, or use the new resin test print to verify the correct values.
RE: Spoke too soon - frustrating!
@nicolas-rosa
Hi Nicolas,
It's an odd one. I managed to slice it and print it easily on my Mars, but I just couldn't get it right on the SL1 - I tried a geometric test file soon after and that printed brilliantly, so it's either my resin settings out of whack, model orientation or something like that. The below is a general approximation of how I oriented and sliced it - Chitubox adds lots more support, but it gives a general idea.
Cheers,
Andy
RE: Spoke too soon - frustrating!
I suspect effectively a mix of bad resin settings and maybe low support density.
To avoid issues once it is sliced play with the bar at the right to quickly see each slice of the model.
If you see big island attached to one or 2 supports then you can be sure it may detach.
For figures with big bases like this one I usually change the support amount to 110% or add manually some supports.
I never had the case of print glued to the FEP but I had 2-3 builds with some parts deformed or absent. Most of the time not enough supports and solved by adding one or two manually
RE: Spoke too soon - frustrating!
@nicolas-rosa
Thanks Nicolas, I'll give your recommendations a try. Much appreciated,
Andy
RE: Spoke too soon - frustrating!
Well, I've printed the Petrin Tower demo model overnight, and it printed like a charm. Therefore, the previous problem was either with my slicing settings, or the resin cure times. The SL1 was a pleasure to use for this one.
RE: Spoke too soon - frustrating!
@nicolas-rosa
I gave the calibration print a go, and it printed well on all exposures using the Elegoo Resin. I gave it an initial exposure of 60s, and have made some prints since with no failures, so it must have been the way I was slicing that particular model. Thanks for your advice 🙂