SilverTriple's printing stuff...

[silvertriple]

There was a bit of printing activity this week... I remained silent because of no time to actually post about this...

I had actually to try to print rims. I chose the Samurai rim, as I love it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ieybnksx30


And here is the results



Only remain to find tires for those nice rims . And yes, if you think printing a Samurai chassis is not possible with a FDM printer, looking at the aspect of the surface that was on the supports : it's nice and clean! Using a support interface material that doesn't stick well to the printed material is the way to go... You may not be able to do intricated design without solvable material, but at the end it is question of geometry.

On the Printing lab area, I got some additional dfficulties and had to reprint some of the parts : the hinges were loose... and as a result the doors didn't stick, and one of them broke the hinge... Too bad, I don't have white PETG anymore, I launched a black print... In the meantime, here is how the enclosure looks without the doors.


Once this is finished, I'll be able to launch the resin tests...

[silvertriple]

Some time later...



There is plenty of room for the E5+ on first floor. I launched a print with the X1C in order to assess if ok or not on vibration side, and what I suspected is turning real : I'll have to get the X1C somewhere else. Beside, it's placed a bit too high, while the resin printer seems to be at the right height to be able to work standing. I still had to order a cabinet, I was hesitating between 40 and 60 cm deep. It will be 60cm deep, and the X1C will be inside. The Silhouette Cameo 4 will be positioned exactly where the X1C is currently... I'm waiting the FDM print to finish to launch my first resin print.

[silvertriple]

And it is now in progress... let's see in few hours...


I've tried to push all chances on my side : heating to ideal temp, following resin manufacturer recommendations, and so on... We'll see in few hours...

[silvertriple]

I crossed my fingers the whole afternoon... Unlike in FDM where you can see the progress from start to the end, in resin printing, you can't see anything until it reach a certain height... That's frustrating somehow... At least the sound of the FEP release everytime was clear, and let me thinking it was progressing...

About 6 hours print, and it seems it is sucessfull.



Still a lot of work, but at least it is out of the print stage... I let it drain before it goes to wash and cure...
I'll be able to share all the details later on. I believe that I can do most of the tires I modeled this way. I have a small doubt regarding the Big Bear tire as it is quite big, and the recommendation for the orientation can't be applied on my resin printer bed... I'll have to try for sure

[GoMachV]

That looks amazing!

[silvertriple]

I did wash and cure last night before going to bed... This night was short.

I washed the part for 3 minutes with IPA 99%. I then dry the part with what was left in the compressor. Due to the late time in the night, I did not restart the compressor, and that was a mistake, as the part was not fully dry (I take note for next time)... I had some doubt with the tire in hand (with gloves) while not cured : the tire was not that flexible.


After the clean, about 20 minutes of UV exposition to cure the resin...


Results




And after the UV cure, the tire is actually flexible and soft, like a tire... Very close to the original tire in essence...

Few elements to improve :
- make sure the part is fully dry before the curing
- the inside of the tire is not totally cured, I may need to find a way to deal with this

Elements we can't improve : traces left by the support on the rear side of the tire.

Overally, very satisfied with the result.

[Dadio]

That's really impressive Mark ,even more considering you only just got the printer ! To me the support marks on one side are acceptable , what resin are you using ?
If you get a failure you may experiment with painting a thin smoothing coat of resin on and then curing again , it may help a bit with the support marks and layer lines .

[silvertriple]

That's really impressive Mark ,even more considering you only just got the printer ! To me the support marks on one side are acceptable , what resin are you using ?
If you get a failure you may experiment with painting a thin smoothing coat of resin on and then curing again , it may help a bit with the support marks and layer lines .

I note for the the idea... I noticed that the supports were super easy to remove once cured (I did at the end). I may try to do this differently at half of the cure time...

[silvertriple]

Second successful print...
A front tire this time. I'll work differently for the post processing, following previous print learning...


Need to try to do both rear and front next

[silvertriple]

After the front tire successuful print, because, yes, it was successful as well...



I launched a print for one front and one rear...


83% and it looks like the process works as well with two tires in...

The resin I used was mentioned already earlier in this thread Resione F80 Rubber resin. I'll give all the details once I publish the stls for tires once I have more tires done, and a run test...

There is things I need to improve though:
- find a way to cure the inside of the tire (I've ordered some UV leds on a ribbon, powered by USB that I intend to put on ring that can be mounted inside the tire during curing time)
- get a way to clean better the inside : not perfect at this stage

I did not mentioned earlier there is some issues on the two tires printed on one layer... it's weird (same height, same condition, perfect before, perfect after). I took pics and sent a ticket to Anycubic to ask for their opinion. Let's see what they revert back...


Once I have a full set of tires, I'll have to do a run

[GoMachV]

Looking very very good! Approximately how long does it take to print one tire? I have no concept of resin prints

[silvertriple]

Looking very very good! Approximately how long does it take to print one tire? I have no concept of resin prints

One tire or two tires is about 7 hours print (it's the number of layer that counts, whatever you have on the plate)...

Someone asked me theis morning about the resin I use. I told him : if you intend to do this, make sure the printer you choose have properly defined settings profile in the slicer you want to use : basically, not all resin manufacturer bother to do this, and when they do, they don't bother doing it for all printers...

[silvertriple]

Beside the Samurai, my Ninjas as well need tires...






The print have the same issue than the Samurai... And from the discussion I got in a french forum related to 3D Printers earlier today, it may come from a suction cup issue. I've added a hole in the slicing next to the the plate in each tire and relaunched a print to validate if it is actually this or not...
Anycubic snet me a file to print without even taking care about the exposure time needed for the resine I use (I may be a bit off the standards, here )

[silvertriple]

With a hole on the tire thread placed near the bed, no issue anymore.

In short : only remains eventually to test alternate rubber resin to identify the best one for this application. I've printed near perfect tires last night (just remains some traces left by the supports), and I'll get them running as soon as possible... I may try to find other resins with even lower shore, but this test is already much better than a FDM TPU print.

My process may not be optimal in terms of resin consumption, I've printed about 10 tires already, a set of two Samurai tires are in progress as well. and it should make for 12, with one kilogram of resin, and this can probably be optimised further (remember I'm a full newbie in SLA resin 3D printing)...

[Dadio]

Your getting fantastic results Mark Pity really as I was really looking forward to your moulded tire project you do now have an imperfect printed tire that you could experiment on surface treatment now though . This is looking very promising , keep it up .