DIY wash & cure station for resin printers

I recently acquired a resin printer (Anycubic Photon Mono X 6K). As it turns out, this type of device requires a slew of additional equipment - all these washing of models in alcohol, curing parts for full polymerization - are quite significant cons of the technology for home use. However, the quality of the models and the printing capabilities are worth it.

Here's what we need to do:

• Washing the model in alcohol immediately after printing;
• Ideally, it should accommodate the entire build plate without detaching the model and fit the full height;
• Preferably, ensure some agitation of the liquid in the container for a better effect, ideally - intense agitation;
• A device for curing the model.

There are various ready-made options available - perhaps the most popular being the wash & cure station - but it costs about half as much as the printer (around $100), which I found unacceptable for my hobbyist use.

The most budget-friendly option for curing is a UV flashlight, which I have been using for some time. However, it consumes batteries very quickly, although it is effective.

The windowsill and sunlight method is somewhat lacking in terms of timing (I usually end up doing all this during the dark hours) and control - some types of plastics can be overexposed (for example, transparent ones tend to yellow quite a bit, although this fades after a few days).

Let's proceed step by step and explore the use of available devices and materials.

Washing Station

We'll need:

• A box 27.3x19x17 cm 5.5 liters plastic with a lid - $2 (fit my build plate perfectly);
• A magnetic stirrer (typically used by chemists) - $15.5 (here, the intensity is low, but there are no alternatives);
• And we 3D print a couple of holders to fix the build plate at different depths (so that the parts are closer to the stirrer).

We assemble all this and get the device.

You can't just pour alcohol from a canister without spilling it.

The build plate can be fixed at any depth, quite convenient.

And here's a demonstration of how effective this stirrer is at mixing such a volume of alcohol (video):

Curing Station

We will need:

• A box with dimensions 30cm by height and width, essentially we need to assemble a cube 30x30x30 - $1;
• 25 self-adhesive mirror tiles 15x15cm (they increase efficiency and aesthetics, but are not mandatory) - $13;
• A rotating table (had thoughts to print/make one myself, but it's dirt cheap) - $8;
• LED UV-strip 5m (in fact, it's even more than needed) - $33;
• A power supply for the LED strip 12V, 100W - $5.5;
• A timer relay, so you can set the operating time and not monitor the process - $5.5, I took the simplest one.

First, we check the UV strip, as the nanometers were not specified, it was unknown whether it would suit the resin:

By the way, curing the alcohol turned out to be a terrible idea, it only made things worse.

We assemble the box and stick on the tile:

The box fit perfectly in height in my rack, and on the right, I organized a convenient place for polymers.

I glued the strip in the center of the box in 5 lines on 3 sides, almost all of the purchased strip was used. A duck in a tanning bed:

As a summary, I can say that the technology is fire, very accessible these days. The cost of printing is not much higher than that of FDM printers (the resin is about twice as plastic per gram), but the quality and speed (especially for large batches of parts) are super. There are nuances, but this webbing from retractions, sanding of parts, etc., goes into history, the detail right after printing can even be painted (ideally with a preliminary primer, but that's already for super aesthetes).

Here are the first printing results:

And one of the first practical experiences - keychains for March 8th with the company's logo:

Despite having an FDM printer (even two) - I am extremely pleased with the purchase, many things that I previously printed on FDM have moved to SLA due to the unattainable precision and often even speed. The hassle with resin and chemicals after printing is not so bad, in my opinion, no worse than post-processing parts after FDM printing.