First 3D Print

[robcat2075]

I got a 3D resin printer.

My first print is the teapot from the Three Teapots Benchmark

 

As it is printed on the build plate. This took one hour to print. At this scale the walls are paper thin.

 

After curing and removing the supports:

 

[Roger]

Cool!  Are you planning any special projects with it?  

[robcat2075]

1 hour ago, Roger said:

Cool!  Are you planning any special projects with it?  

Yes, I still have contest medals to make!

[robcat2075]

Layer lines can be observed on shallow slopes. These are 0.1mm layers. I think they can be made smaller in exchange for longer printing time.

The 3D print is pretty good but consider that the penny has finer details than this 3D print could show.

[Roger]

Is there any kind of chemical treatment that can eliminate or reduce the lines?   You probably can't really see it unless you are right up on it, though. 

[robcat2075]

37 minutes ago, Roger said:

Is there any kind of chemical treatment that can eliminate or reduce the lines?   You probably can't really see it unless you are right up on it, though. 

Maybe. But the last thing I need is more chemicals for this.

[Roger]

1 minute ago, robcat2075 said:

Maybe. But the last thing I need is more chemicals for this.

True.  Looking at the first 3 photos, the model looks pretty smooth.  You can really only see the lines when you are zoomed way in. 

[Tom]

Cool!!....resin printing is a bit tricky with all the chemicals but if anyone can do it right...it is Rob!

My local public library has a 3d printer that I have used for simple printing dice.however I want to print some more complicated things which brings up a question. 

What happens when you have a 3d model sitting on top of (but not connected to)  another 3D object (see attached). It is a sphere just sitting on top of a cube.

If that is exported as an STL file, will it print it like a sphere on top of the cube or will the fact that they are not connected with splines confuse the printing software?

 

Thanks for any clarifications!

Tom

[robcat2075]

 

1 hour ago, Tom said:

What happens when you have a 3d model sitting on top of (but not connected to)  another 3D object (see attached). It is a sphere just sitting on top of a cube.

If that is exported as an STL file, will it print it like a sphere on top of the cube or will the fact that they are not connected with splines confuse the printing software?

Hi Tom,

There has to be continuous support from the "build plate" to any object that is not sitting on the build plate. Fortunately "slicer" programs can automate the placement of those supports. The supports are snapped off when the print is done.

In practice the build plate is above the resin vat and lifted as layers are added

 

the models can be rotated to manage where the supports are placed.

 

A problem with a sphere or cube (for resin printing) is that they are solid enclosed shapes; uncurable resin will be trapped inside if no holes are added for it to drain out. I've read that the ideal resin surface should be 5mm or less.

 

[Fuchur]

3 hours ago, Roger said:

Is there any kind of chemical treatment that can eliminate or reduce the lines?   You probably can't really see it unless you are right up on it, though. 

Yes it can be done. Depends on the material which once work.
Some are pretty toxic so, but it depends.

But you can easily go smaller than 0.1mm (100 microns) with a resin printer... If you go with 10-50 microns (depends on the printer if you can) you will likely do no longer see the rings with bare eyes.
Still they will be there especially with round shapes you print in the "wrong" direction / rotation. (sometimes you can not do it differently)

These are some of mine with my resin printer where you can see it on the sphere stuff too:
https://www.patchwork3d.de/blog-5-en/schmuck-aus-dem-dlp-drucker-elegoo-mars-1029

But the problem with resin printers is: 
You need more time and it is more trouble for less strong parts. If you want to do small figures, resin is great, if you need strong parts to be useable in real world scenario you want a FDM machine.

Best regards
*Fuchur*

[Tom]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback!

If you just stick one object onto another (see attached), will it be printed that way? Or do the splines of one object need to actually be connected to the splines of another?

[robcat2075]

10 hours ago, Tom said:

Thanks to everyone for the feedback!

If you just stick one object onto another (see attached), will it be printed that way? Or do the splines of one object need to actually be connected to the splines of another?

 

When i started designing medals 10 years ago, and Ken Citron was doing all the printing, he had to take the shapes into a polygon editor and do a boolean merge to create one continuous surface.

 

Today, in the "Chitubox" software I am using now, I can export an A:M model of intersecting shapes and the slicer intelligently regards them as merged. I presume that is true of most other software today.

[robcat2075]

See more 3D printing in my medal thread...

https://forums.hash.com/topic/52666-prehistoric-medal-wip/#findComment-435442

 

[Fuchur]

16 hours ago, Tom said:

Thanks to everyone for the feedback!

If you just stick one object onto another (see attached), will it be printed that way? Or do the splines of one object need to actually be connected to the splines of another?

In general that should work... it is all about the slicer so, not the printer itself.

Best regards
*Fuchur*

[Tom]

Thank you Fuchur!

That makes sense...

[robcat2075]

Whoops!

Don't flex these resin prints. They don't flex!

[fae_alba]

i've been curious to know if resin printing is less finicky than pla. I've been having a devil of a time with my gantry pla printer to not break a print half way thru and am at the point of having to breaky the hot end down to fix the issue. If resin is a bit less labor intensive to print I just might sell off my pla printer

 

[Ganthofer]

@fae_alba- do you use a dryer/dehumidifier on your filament? I have a friend that swears it improves the quality of the 3D printing. Obviously, there are a number of reasons for PLA 3D printing issues.

[Fuchur]

On 8/31/2025 at 8:47 PM, fae_alba said:

i've been curious to know if resin printing is less finicky than pla. I've been having a devil of a time with my gantry pla printer to not break a print half way thru and am at the point of having to breaky the hot end down to fix the issue. If resin is a bit less labor intensive to print I just might sell off my pla printer

 

Actually, from my experience, it is more work.
What I have found is: The cheaper your printer, the more work you have to put in to keep it functioning nicely.

I have a P1S by Bambu Labs nowadays and it works pretty nicely from the get go.
My former Maker Bot Replicator 2 was nice but much more trouble and if you wanted trouble (meaning: Less time printing more time fiddeling with it) get a Replicator 2x. (even when i got it and it was a two headed printer, which was way cooler, I just printed everything on my Rep2, because it was THAT much more reliable)

Today my P1S is pretty much ready to go without much more to do.
Actually the P1S was less expensive than my Maker Bot Replicator 2 was, but if you think of how many years have been inbetween those, it makes sense again.

My Elegoo Mars (resin printer) is fun too, BUT you have to handle pretty toxic materials meaning you should wear protective gear, have to use UV lights to harden the outcome, need to wash it with chemicals, etc.
And as mentioned before: If you want to "only" create decorative figures, Resin printers are very nice.

If you want to create "functional" stuff with it, you likely want to go with FDM machines, UNLESS you are only using it to create molds for other procedures afterwards.
(but at least if you want it to do by your own, that one is tricky... I will not put a smelting furnace with thousands of degrees in my yard to create iron parts or something like that.  )

Best regards
*Fuchur*