Newbie's v1.3 3D Resin Printing Guide (Handbook)

3D Printing with resin guide by Tom Sargison aka “bod” v1.
3
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................ 2
I. Safety first ............................................................................................................................................................................ 2
Filtering fumes from printer while printing. ....................................................................................................................... 4
II. Tools and tips for Resin 3d Printing you will need. ............................................................................................................. 7
What tools and things should I get? ................................................................................................................................... 7
What can I use to wash the prints? .................................................................................................................................. 11
III. Things that you must always remember and keep in mind for safe printing. ................................................................. 12
IV. Main rules of getting object ready to be printed. ........................................................................................................... 15
Before we get to supports. ............................................................................................................................................... 15
V. Setting up supports. Support placement rules and tips. .................................................................................................. 17
1. Let’s start with platform touch shape. ......................................................................................................................... 17
2. Center part of support rod and its 3 presets. ............................................................................................................... 18
3. How to place supports correctly. .................................................................................................................................. 21
4. Placing supports too close to an object. ....................................................................................................................... 30
5. How to generally do manual supports? ........................................................................................................................ 31
VI. Checking your object after slicing and before printing. .................................................................................................. 34
VII. VAT hints. ........................................................................................................................................................................ 36
1. How long can I leave resin in a VAT? ............................................................................................................................ 36
2. How to get cured resin off FEP film? ............................................................................................................................ 36
3. How do I know when to change my FEP film? .............................................................................................................. 37
4. How do I change a FEP film? ......................................................................................................................................... 40
6. How do I cure my models after print? .......................................................................................................................... 43
7. How to make Crystal Clear prints (like Headlight lenses)? ........................................................................................... 44
8. How to detach printed objects with narrow utility knife correctly? ............................................................................ 45
VIII. Print Profile settings. ..................................................................................................................................................... 45
1. General settings. ........................................................................................................................................................... 45
2. Dangers of Anti-aliasing. ............................................................................................................................................... 48
2. Resin exposure. ............................................................................................................................................................. 49
IX. Determining your resin exposure settings....................................................................................................................... 49
To be continued… ................................................................................................................................................................. 55
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3D Printing with resin guide by Tom Sargison aka “bod” v1.3
Introduction
Hello dear friend! My name is Tom Sargison, I’m from Russia. I do FDM printing on professional basis for over 4 years
and I’m a year in Resin printing. I’m using Anycubic Photon with Chitubox Slicer Original so mainly everything will turn
around that printer and all examples will be in Chitubox Slicer software. But general issues and rules can be applied to
any resin printer and Slicer.
First off all I must mention that everything you will see here is purely my own experience and experience of my friends
and other members of resin printing community. I would like to give credit to Photonsters group and Anycubic Photon
Owners group I got some of experience from them as well and some example photos were taken from these groups. My
prints are about 95% successful at the moment and when I was stating I didn’t take photos of my fails, so I take them
from people that happen to have them. This is not a science proven knowledge so I may be wrong in some things. Also
English is not my native language so it may sound bulky rusty or have grammar mistakes – please forgive.
This manual I propose as Newbie’s handbook in Resin printing. I know that Photonsters community has made guides on
everything but all info is separated and in different forms (pdf’s, txt’s etc) Many people are scared of github’s navigation
and they struggle to find things there. So I decided to make “Everything you should know” in one place. Hope it will be
helpful to someone and my work was not completely useless. Consider visiting me in my group BoostOrDie 3D
Workshop
Visit my Cloud folder for Updates of this guide and for software and test models featured. (click me)
If you found it useful or I helped to solve your problem consider buying me a beer of your
choice. https://www.paypal.me/bod3d
I. Safety first
PS: Specially for some strange people that accuse me of spreading hysteria and scaremonding – DO NOT BUG ME with
this! NONE of you can prove me wrong but some how you think that you are GOD DAMN right in safety issues. You ask
me to bring some proof that resin is hazardous but none of you can show the opposite proof. It is your life, your health.
Do what ever you think is best for you don’t bug me about it. End of story.
To all normal people reading my guide: The next paragraph is not to scare you off. This is just common sense. This is me
warning you about very important thing that NOBODY will warn you if you are new to resin 3D printing.
Resin 3D printing is not more dangerous than Spray painting IF YOU TAKE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS!
So, stay calm and use safety gear.
No matter what Anycubic tells you…
Its bullshit!
Resin is a highly toxic (hazardous) chemical that may cause health issues if you don’t take safety precautions. If you have
high predisposition to blood pressure drops and rises – it will affect you! Some resins can cause dizziness if inhaled.
Different resins have different hazard levels. That means that some resins are more toxic, some are less but nobody
knows for sure because manufacturers do not state ingredients used.
STRICTLY MY OPINION – handle any chemical that you cannot determine how hazardous it is as dangerous.
NOTE. If you are feeling dizzy or near passing out or start to feel headaches – Leave the room immediately! Go out to
fresh air if possible. Do not enter the room with resin fumes until you feel better. Open windows to ventilate the room.
Resin is also harmfull for your skin. It can cause irritations or allergy reactions. So if you are newbie – wear any thin
rubber silicon or nitrile gloves. If you are a pro – just don’t get naked skin to contact with liquid resin.
NOTE. Better wear any rubbery thin gloves to avoid contact of bare skin with liquid resin. If you managed to get resin on
bare skin – Wash your hands with warm and soap water!
ATTENTION! Make sure water is warm and you have applied soap on hands before you put your hands under the
stream! (cold plain water makes some resins go super sticky and hard to wash off).
Don’t be fooled by resin’s weak smell. It still gives fumes and it is still harmfull! Always handle resin as dangerous
chemicals. It will safe your health (and maybe your life)!
How to protect yourself?
The masks that are given with printer are bullshit. This mask is mainly designed to protect surrounding people FROM
YOUR infectious breath when you have cold or flu. It DOESN’T PROTECT you on inhale.
My personal recommendation will be using a respirator mask with high grade filter cartridges.
NOTE. I use 3M branded mask 7500 series with cartridges 6075 A1+Form. It stops all the fumes from resin. This mask
will protect you. You can use any other branded masks as long as you find same level of filtering.
Please buy ORIGINAL masks. Don’t buy a cheaper version as they are fake and have flaws. First mask I bought was a fake
3M mask and it had poor valves. I had to do strong inhale so that valves close and I don’t breathe unfiltered air.
Use protective goggles or glasses because some time you can get spits of resin in a face by accident. If it get in your eyes
I have no idea how it will affect you but I guess you definitely won’t get spider vision. Also while cutting supports off the
printed object they tend to shoot at your face.
Filtering fumes from printer while printing.
Another bullshit from Anycubic is carbon filter that are built in. A box with a bag of charcoal.. really? REALLY Anycubic??
Totally useless piece of crap. They made a box and just dropped a baggie of charcoal or some other ODOR REMOVER in
it. No air tightness, no filtering.. Nothing. It only kill bad odor but it doesn’t make fumes cleaner. Take this crap out and
take fans out as well. They do nothing only make extra noise. (printer makes less noise without them) Print plugs to
cover holes.
Well done anycubic.. well done!

If you have other branded printer with same crap, know that it is useless.
First of all I must divide resin printers to two types:

- Dome type
- General type (with doors or latches)
Dome type has a cover on top of printing area that looks like dome without holes or any gaps and keeps all fumes inside
quite well and has very little vapor escape.
General type is a printer like Photon (S) with a lid or a door that lets vapors escape quite well during prints and storage.
Because it is not air tight at all.
Dome type printers are “air cleaner” during printing and storage even with filled VAT.
General type printers smell a lot during printing and little during storage.
My recommendation is to make some suction upgrade to a body with a FAN from PRINTING chamber (not the basement
compartment):
Or get an enclosure with exhaust pipe going to vent system. For example this is how I have it done:
No fans. Passive suction by vent system. No smell No vapors.
Also if you store your printer with filled VAT, I recommend getting or printing yourself a lid for the VAT. It protects resin
from light, dust, and lowers fumes and vapors escaping to air. With General type printers it helps to stop vapors from
resin.
NOTE. Get yourself a lid for VAT. It is a useful thing. ABS doesn’t like resin if exposed it gets very sticky. Keep abs clear of
resin.
II. Tools and tips for Resin 3d Printing you will need.
What tools and things should I get?
I will tell you about all the items I have in my resin printing arsenal.
1. Get yourself a black plastic storage box to keep things organized (if you have a workshop you may use some cabinet
or locker that doesn’t allow light in side it.
My black box:
2. Get two Jars (plastic or glass) with well sealing lid that doesn’t leak upside down.
I found these nice plastic jars on Aliexpress. They don’t leak and they are small volume use little IPA to fill them. I print
mostly small things that fit inside.
Also I use two bigger jars that fit smaller (main jars I use) inside them in case if print doesn’t fit. Plus to extra seal the
washing jars so they don’t stink in box.
3. Tweezers. Get long tweezers to handle dirty prints. Drop in jars and get out of jars.
4. Narrow utility knife. Buy a separate utility knife for this set. I recommend using narrow 10mm utility knife to detach
prints from build plate without damage. Don’t use Spatulas. I will show how to use this knife correctly later on.
(I advise using only knife with a metal sleeve holding the blade. Do not use cheapo all plastic knife!)
5. Filter (strainer) for resin. This is a ansertain topic as everyone does it their way. I will just show the easiest and
cleanest way I found for myself.
Buy a tea strainer that looks like this one (can get it from Ikea or any cheapo shop)
Snap off handles and you will get two strainers for the price of one ) You will need only one. Put second away.
This strainer is enough to filter out any tine flakes. It can be placed on top of any bottle neck. Also you can get Funnels
that use this strainer as filter from Thingiverse (my design https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3449439)
Main benefit is that it is easy to clean. After using just take paper tower fold it twice put strainer in center of 1 half and
cover it with other half. Soak. Paper towel collects all the resin and dirt. Strainer is clean like new.
6. Silicon spatula(scraper). U found a silicon cooking spatula on aliexpress that almost fits VAT (cut off corners for 2-
3mm) and it will wit perfectly.
Also my wife broke her IKEA’s cooking spatula and I took it to my resin tool set. It comes handy too.
What do I need them for?
1) I use green spatula to mix resin that was left in vat for long time. And to find any leftovers in FEP after failed prints.
2) Red Spatula us used to run down resin when I need to clean VAT or Change resin. Yes you can leave it to drip down on
its own but it take very long time. Use spatula to make it quick.
7. IPA Wipes. Go to AutoStore and buy Wipes for Cars for cleaning interior. It should definetly state IPA in contents.
use them for wiping tools, screen, VAT. When cleaning. Don’t be economical use as much as needed.
NOTE. Never use wipes for screen and outer side of FEP film that may had contact with resin! If not sure – Use new one!
Always! New packet of Wipes is cheaper than new screen replacement!
8. Dremel tool with diamond sanding bit.
You can use any dremel you are comfortable with. I recommend one that has RPM control.
Get different shapes and sizes of bits for various situations.
9. UV lamp and a solar powered Turntable.
10. UV curing box. You can make it from any plastic or cardboard box and foil duct tape.
What can I use to wash the prints?

Resins can be:
- water-washable
- alcohol-washable (IPA)
- name me others..
Water washable resin is the best and cleaner resins but they cost more. Use warm soapy water to wash prints. Rinse
with clear warm water. Dry.
For general resins you should use chemicals to wash:

- Ethanol (drinkable or non-drinkable poisonous)
- Isopropyl alcohol (IPA)
- Medicine alcohol the more % the better.
Method of washing in alcohol:
It’s a simple method of two glasses in Russia. Use one for washing and drink the second one for fun. =)
Im JOKING! Don’t drink anything!
Get yourself two jars glass or plastic doesn’t matter. Cylinder shape is recommended. Only thing matters is volume of
jars and a lid that has good seal (doesn’t leak if turned over or shaken). Pour alcohol (IPA) in both of them. Sign each jar
as #1 and #2! Get a small syringe with needle you will need it sometimes.
- After printing detach your object from build plate and drop it in #1 jar(dirty jar) shake well for 1-2 minutes.
(Better use spiral movements if jar for cylinder shaped jars. Cylinder shape is better because prints don’t bang on walls
while shaked. Do circle motion! Banging may break prints if they are fragile.)
If your model is hollow use syringe to pour alcohol from jar inside the model a few times. Let it run out.
- Then take your print out of jar #1 shake as much alcohol off it and drop it in jar #2 (Clean jar). Shake it for another 1-2
minutes.
If your model is hollow use syringe to pour alcohol from jar inside the model a few times. Let it run out.
- take print out of Jar#2 and place it on a paper towel Let it dry out.
- examine print. If it has some glossy signs – wash it again in jar #2. Then dry and examine again.
Also you can use Ultrasonic bath for cleaning. It must be not high powered and don’t leave your print for more than half
an hour in it. Some resin don’t like it and may get micro cracks all over the place. Just check and see for your self.
Also Check that your Bath if it has Heater that it switches off completely by timer and not just ultrasonic turns off. Some
cheapo baths keep on heating until turned off manually.
NOTE. Well washed print should have MATTE surface almost velvet to touch. If resin is translucent – it should be cloudy.
Translucent resins are cloudy after washed not because alcohol affects resin (it doesn’t affect it if not left soaking for a
day) but because resin printing has layers like FDM does but very small that you cannot see with bare eye. Those layers
make surface matte. See super magnification on photo:
It can easily be turned in almost glass clear, but I will tell more about it later on.
III. Things that you must always remember and keep in mind for safe printing.
I. Most important and most severe rule: NEVER LIFT VAT UPWARDS!
Screen is a panel with paper thin flat cable that is layed in recession in red aluminum block and is being held by thin
double sided sticky tape. FEP film tends to stick to screen with time or during printing. If you lift VAT directly upwards
you put a lot of force to it and it can come loose and come out of its recession and you will damage the screen or tear
the flat cable. You may end up like this:
I. The correct way of taking VAT out is:
1) Release the bolts holding VAT down.

2) Press on front face of VAT so that it would start lifting up at this side. If resin is clear – you will see how «oil marks»
start to disappear. You have to continue pressing and lifting VAT from front slowly until it becomes free from screen.
3) Slide VAT out of printer.
If Resin is not clear – you have to learn to hear and feel FEP peeling from the screen process. It’s easy and you will get
hold of it with time.
II. If you want to take VAT out after print – ALWAYS take build plate out first! So that I wouldn’t drip resin on screen.
III. Do not try to wash resin away with plain COLD water. Somehow resin when comes in contact with cold plain water
becomes super sticky and slimy. It is very difficult to wash off any surface. Use IPA wipes. Or use Warm soapy water.
(you can use water freely with water-washable resins) This applies to regular resins.
IV. Place printer on a flat surface so that resin surface was parallel to surface it is standing on.
V. Never scrape or touch FEP film with anything that is not soft rubber or silicon. Don’t use fingernails.
VI. You can leave Resin in VAT for 1 month (tested). Nothing will happen to FEP.
VII. Always mix Resin well. Especially if it was stored In VAT. Use silicon spatula to mix resin.
VIII. Room temperature of 25-35 Celsius is recommended for successful printing.

IX. You can preheat resin for a more successful start if you put Resin container (bottle) under hot water tap for 5-10
minutes. Shake well afterwards.
X. Always use strainer when pouring resin from VAT to Bottle. Even if print was 100% successful.
One hint before you start Printing. It is recommended to give all screws on the bottom side of a VAT a half radius
tightening to make FEP tighter.
Basic rules of resin printing.

First of all you must remember that it is made of liquid. This means that all physics of liquids do apply.
Liquid has weight thickness and flow vacuumation.
First Basic rule – try to avoid printing and object parallel to build platform. «Rhombus rule»
This means that if you need to print for an example a basic cube, you need to place it with one of the corners facing
build plate instead of flat side facing build plate.
The only exception is if you are printing directly from build platform. But this is very situational and risky. I would not
recommend printing large objects of build plate.
Second Basic rule – avoid big contact surfaces per layer.

This means that if you have some big object by default orientation each layer will have big surface that touches FEP film
most of the layers. This created big amount of force that applies to FEP filv, object supports and object base layers while
trying to pull the object UP from FEP. Try turning and tilting your object different ways so that contact area woul be
smaller. This rule doesn’t work with round object and Huge chunky objects because no matter how you rotate them –
they tend to maintain same big contact area.
These rectangular are identical. One is laying flat, other is positioned in “Rhombus rule”. You can clearly see that second
object has almost twice less area of contact with FEP.
Less contact area – less force is pulling object off the build plate when lifting up. Less area of squishing the object into
FEP each new layer.
Third Basic rule – Do not try to save printing time! Remember – Printing 1 time fast, then reprinting again same thing
slower will always take more time than printing only 1 time slowly.
This means that if you have some tall object do not tilt it too much to save printing time – it is very likely to fail and you
will have to do it again properly. Print it as it should be in first attempt.
Object on the left (1h 32m) will print faster in this orientation will print faster but is more likely to delaminate (fall) form
build plate during print and is very likely to be deformed. If printed from build plate it will have elephant foot effect on
the bottom.
Object on the right (4h 52M) will print a lot longer but it will maintain its geometry and will not need reprinting again.
How to fill the VAT on photon?

Resin is a thick and sticky substance. Avoid resin getting in threaded joints or moving mechanical parts of your printer. If
it gets where it shouldn’t you may have problems. If it gets cured while being where it is not supposed to be – you will
have BIG problems. To avoid getting your leveling mechanism ruined do not overfill your VAT! Photon has a mark of
maximum resin amount.
IV. Main rules of getting object ready to be printed.

If you are using Chitubox software first of all do all the main editing of model (scaling, hollowing, digging holes turning,
tilting) Only after you are happy with model placement proceed to support placement.
I will repeat again, every thing you will read further is my own experience and I may be wrong but I get successful prints
in 95% time.
Before we get to supports.

If you want to save resin or make model lighter so that it wont get torn off the build plate I recommend hollowing it
with wall thickness of 3-4mm. This way you get a pretty solid object with some nice weight but you save resin.
After object if hollowed you must make 2 breathing holes on the highest point of the model. in order to prevent suction
cup effect while printing which causes deformation and model ripping of supports or build plate
Last thing. When placing model on buildplate you should figure out what things should be supported and which can go
without supports. Some times Proper placement lets you to use less or none supports at all in some certain places. For
example tilting baby yoda this way you won’t need to support his hand. His hand is the part that is mainly visible so it is
better that it wont have to be cleaned after supports.
You must understand the main idea – you have to decide which model surfaces you can sacrifice for supports. Which
can be messed up by supports and which must remain perfectly clean.
Ok if we are clear with this let’s move on to Supports.
V. Setting up supports. Support placement rules and tips.
1. Let’s start with platform touch shape.

What is this? This is the flat chunky pancake that forms in first place and holds your object on build plate during print
process.
Types of shapes of support platforms:
Many people use Skate or Cone types and do fine. But in my opinion – they are dangerous. The shape is inclined to
delamination when pulled off Build plate during prints. It is not confirmed though.
Prism and Cube – just a geometry that doesn’t affect anything.
My recommendation is Cylinder. Why? – circle is a perfect shape. it doesn’t use extra resin to fil corner, it is easy to
detach after printing (I see no difference between cone and cylinder. Many say – there is. But to my opinion cylinder is
the best. Choose your preferred if you don’t agree.
My settings for the base platform are:
2. Center part of support rod and its 3 presets.
Support rod consists of 3 parts:
- Connection joint
- Connection rod
- Elbow
I recommend using a Connection joint as “Sphere” With about 40-50% of sphere depth.
Why? To my experience this helps to prevent getting Craters on objects surface when cutting off supports.
It is better to leave a blob that can be sanded of to smooth surface that to use putty or filler to restore smooth surface
that was compromised.
What are the 3 profiles for?
Chitubox software im using allows to use 3 profiles:
- Light
- Medium
- Heavy
They are for different situations. In 80% of my prints im using Medium profile for ALL supports on an object.
But sometime I need print something Big and Heavy then I use heavy supports to “anchor” an object to build plate so
that it stays there for sure. Other parts can be supported by medium supports as they don’t need to carry the main
weight.
This is how I printed my Baby Yoda:
You should get the idea on when and where you have to use different support profiles.
Now I give you my support settings that I use successfully:
Light supports:
Medium supports:
Heavy supports:
3. How to place supports correctly.

First of all you must remember that you are printing from a liquid substance it has its own behavior (physics).
Secondly you must remember that resin during printing is not completely hard. Imagine a scale from 0 to 10 where 0 is
mash potato soft and 10 is rock solid – printed object is somewhere at 7. Supports are flexible and they can bend quite a
lot, same with thin object parts. The thinner the softer they are.
Third thing Also called a “Rhombus Rule” to remember every layer change – lifting build plate is about ripping new
layers of the FEP film (new layers stick to FEP when being cured by UV. The bigger the layer area – the more force is
applied to that layer to be ripped of a FEP. Also more fore force is applied to supports.
The correct way to place the model is that it starts from tiny point instead of a big area.
This is because first lagers are thin and flimsy, if you print a big flat area as first layer it will start as a thin soft film and it
will have to fight the resin flow when going up and down this will lead to deforming and uneven aka “soap like” surface.
Sometimes it can lead to holes and tears on the surface and ripping of supports.
This is the result of starting prints incorrectly. ( When you forget about “Rhombus rule”)
You must avoid parallel surfaces to the Build plate and avoid small tilts. They behave the same. Do at least 25-30 or
better 45c tilts.
As in FDM printing there is maximum angle (overhang) that printer can handle same in resin printers. There is an angle it
can handle before it start to deform or get damaged any other way. You have to support angles that exceed limits of the
printer. Fort example this is the piece of a statuette I have successfully printed:
On the left you can see that it is quite an overhang and it should have supports added to it. But I didn’t want this surface
to be ruined. So I tried to squeeze out at much tilting as I could so that other important surface would go without
supports (on the right side) And it worked but I still got some deformation on left side (overhang was too much) I was
lucky that damage is not severe and will need some light sanding to fix.
You must remember, that your printer actually prints object upside down to what you see in slicer.
Object is actually hanging down.
Everything that is not supported and not connected to main object will disappear and will actually prevent anything else
to be printed over this first faulty spot.
If this separate piece won’t be supported – it will stick on a FEP film and will become a “dead zone” and won’t let UV
shine through. Anything that should be printed on this spot after that part won’t be printed.
If your object is simple enough such zone are easy to see. But if you are printing something very complicated you should
“scan” model for separate zone by slowly scrolling model layer by layer.
NOTE. 3 points is the most stable and simple base. So you have to add at least 2-3 support rods to those poping out
“islands”
Next tip I must tell you about is Making a more stable supports for models that lack support points. It’s a way to make
same supports (same amount) more sturdy than usual method. It’s called “Tom’s checker board” method. Haven’t seen
anyone using it before so I think I can name it after myself =).
For example you need to print something thin and long:
You will make supports in this way and thing – “Oh well, looks like this is ok” and you will be wrong. As I said before
resin during printing is quite soft and flexible in this case your print may get lines shifts or even totally fail because of
”sails” effect. It is when your object has big thin areas.
How to support this type of objects?

Move supports to sides like a checkers board.
This way your object will have a much more steady base and it won’t be bending that much. This method also should be
used when printing long thin objects like swords when you have to make very long support structures
To prevent “Sails effect” on tall thin objects add extra side supports. Better to use flat surfaces so that you could polish
support point after print and it won’t be seen any more.
Also notice how I paced those double vertical supports?
By placing them so close to one another I give them extra rigidness (toughness). They are stronger and hold your object
better.
How often do I have to place supports?
There are main supports and dedicated supports.

Dedicated I call supports for some details on the model. Supports that don’t carry any weight or withstand any force.
They are just there because they have to support some tiny detail of the object like Cigaretes from mouth or Glasses on
a face etc.
Main supports are any other support that is keeping model from falling of build plate.
You have to place Main supports with and interval between them in order to save objects geometry. In an example a
gave earlier (License plate) – you are ok to place them with interval shown earlier. If you are printing as an example –
swords again – your interval will shrink greatly because this object is very weak and can get warped during print. The
more supports – the stronger they are.
Another example that many people have trouble with:

Imagine you have to print such object:
It is tall with thin walls. You have titled it correctly, your base supports are good but it this enough? It might be enough.
This particular print was done successfully as shown BUT it had a big risk of warping shifting etc. It was a long print.
My recommendation is to make a bit MORE than NOT ENOUGH and reprint. So, I advise to add side supports. In this
particular case Outer surface is face of an object so we must save its perfect surface, inner surface is not that important.
Add supports on Center and along hanging edges
4. Placing supports too close to an object.

Always remember to check your support placement for “too close to an object” state.
At the beginning of mastering resin 3D printing I kept on getting this problem all the time because of me being
unobservant. This problem happens because of general liquids behavior – “surface tension” rules. This is same as when
1 drop of water stretches between two objects that are very close to each other and doesn’t fall from them
This is the closest example photo I could find.
Same happens with resin. If you place support too close to an object it will result in bonding support to an object and
ruining the object surface because resin gets stuck in a little gap between support and object.
This is what happens if supports are too close:
To avoid this happening – always check your supports.
5. How to generally do manual supports?
I use only manual supports because auto supports kinda suck.
As I said before – you must remember that you are printing from liquid. To print successfully it is better to add more
supports than less.
My method in support placement is:
1) Make a reliable support for first slices of an object.
2) Support object along its edges.
3) Now we need to support “floating islands”:
4) Now add supports to all Red and pink highlighted surfaces. Add supports everywhere you see large spaces without
supports. If this is inside surface or not important surface of a model don’t think. Just add supports. More supports is
better than less.
5) Side supports.
If you see that your object has some free side surfaces that can be supported without trouble – add supports.
They will add some rigidness to your object and make printing safer.
VI. Checking your object after slicing and before printing.

Why you MUST do it?
This is very important action. You always have to check your object after it is done slicing by scrolling through all layers
slowly. 3D models may look fine from outside but they may have nasty bugs on inside that you can’t see or don’t know
that this is wrong (if you have little experience).
On your left we see a model that looks OK. But it is severely bugged! I know it because this was one of my orders I’ve
printed a while ago and I didn’t check it before printing. LET’S CHECK IT!
Scroll layers and here we see a bug! Same thing was with the hole on the right if we scroll further down.
If you look closely you will see that a place where there should be a hole we get some overlapping.
This is what happens to bugged objects:
This is an example of a Bugged 3D model. But sometimes good 3D models that don’t have errors can have problems
after being Sliced. This is totally Slicer software error. It happens from time to time. This is second reason you have to
check your sliced job.
We are not finished yet! There is one more checking to be done!

After your 3d Model is sliced you have to save it to a flash drive (export, write etc). This process also is known for
making sudden surprises. So after your print job is saved onto a flash drive you MUST check it again with special
software.
1) Photon File Viewer – is a simple tool only capable of reading “.photon” files
2) Photon File Validator – more advanced software with more functions. Reads files “.photon” and “.cbddlp” and maybe
some others)
Do same thing – open file and scroll through all layers slowly and search for any weird shit going on.. If this file is OK –
you are now good to start printing.
You can skip all this but you risk wasting lots of time, lots of resin and if you won’t figure out what happened – loose
more time and more resin if you thinking that it was bad Build plate leveling (which it wasn’t).
VII. VAT hints.
1. How long can I leave resin in a VAT?

This is one of the first questions usually being asked.
Nobody knows exactly but it ok to leave it for 1 month for sure.
2. How to get cured resin off FEP film?

Sometimes when your print fails you get thin flat blobs on FEP film that are stuck and you cannot get them off by
fingers.
DO NOT TRY to pick it with anything SHARP! No knives no needles no spatulas! NO NO NO! You will damage your FEP
and this can lead to leakage and total devastation of your printer.
It is done in a much easier way! Put a finger on the outer side (under the VAT) and start “massaging” the edge of the
blob with slight press on FEP. Don’t use your fingernails! Only finger pads. Massage edges with circular motion. If
nothing happens from one edge of blob – try another edge and try pressing harder. Eventually it fill start to peel of the
FEP. Now use tweezers to grab it. And you are done.
Small tip for Clear resins. How to see if you got any debris stuck to FEP without draining and straining it?
Hardened bit of resin are almost impossible to see in liquid resin BUT the light shines through them differently than
through liquid resin. Take your VAT place it over white or any other bright color surface lift it up about 2-3cm above
this surface and let light shine through resin. Any hard particles will give a shadow on the surface under the VAT. Here is
an example photos:
3. How do I know when to change my FEP film?

I see a lot of people asking after first or several prints “Is my fep ruined already? It was crystal clear now it is misty or got
some scratches or some dents on it”
Remember – Crystal clear FEP will be only when its Brand new!. As soon as you poir resin in it it will become a bit cloudy
(or misty). THAT IS NORMAL! It won’t be as clear as new ever.
It is Ok that your FEP is cloudy from resin. It doesn’t affect the print. Most Resins are not clear on their own.
Little Dents and scratches are also OK.
What’s NOT OK:
1) Deep dents is not a big deal but they are likely to give you some artifacts on your prints. If you got those – better
change your FEP film.
2) Heavy scuffs and scrathches. They are usually white color and are very visible. Happen on sports where you print
most.
3) FEP Layer separation.

FEP consists of multiple layers and with time heavy dents or scratches may start layer separation. They are easily
spotted:
They look like a scratch that has white “web” spreading from it. Such zones become bigger with time. They are
guaranteed to ruin your print with artifacts. Avoid them if they are small. Better change FEP for new one because this is
potential spot for puncture or tear which will lead to leaking.
4. How do I change a FEP film?
This is not difficult. First of all if you are better with videos – just open Youtube and search for Anycubic Photon FEP
change – you will see many videos on how to change it.
Short manual from me:

1) Unscrew ALL bolts. There are two types of bolts. 8 Long bolts for FEP frame tension and others are short for
tightening two metal frames together.
ATTENTION! Have paper towels nearby because there will be some resin that you will need to wipe off clean.
Take a new FEP film (new sheet must be 10-15mm bigger than metal frame. And place it between to metal frames.
Before you start assembling you must do 2 things:

1) Check that metal frames are placed with correct sides.
On one sides you should have many holes with cone grooves:
2) Turn your frame so that you are looking on side “A” (see above) take a soda bottle cap and place it in the middle of a
metal frames under the FEP Film.
Press on a metal frame to lay it down on the surface of a table. Fep must not be jammed between frames so that it can
move as it needs to.
3) Take something sharp that can be used to puncture the FEP film. While holding metal frames with one hand,
puncture 1 hole on any corner (shown with a yellow arrow) and put a short screw in it (don’t tighten completely)
Do same thing with other corners. Then puncture and put screw in all other holes on this side of frame. When all bolts
are in place – Tighten them good (do not overtignten so that you don’t strip the bolts)
ATTENTION! Be VERY CAREFULL while doing the screws! Don’t hurry, pay attention! Otherwise your screw driver may
slip and you will damage new FEP film. If it happened – thoroughly examine the spot where you hit FEP in order to see if
it was punctured.
4) Soda cap can be now put away. Turn metal frame with a “B” side facing you. Use utility Knife to cut away all excess
FEP sticking out on the sides. (Again Be very carefull!)
5) Place metal frame on a VAT and start tightening screws in this order:
Tighten screws until metal frame is about 1 mm lower than VAT edges
Almost done.
6) Now is the hardest part – you must tighten the FEP by tightening Big screws in specific order. If you tighten screw #5
(see above) he next one should be screw #6 (the opposite screw) Same with other sides. You must tighten them all in
“Pairs” (“opposite pairs method”). You can use finger to feel how deep the metal frame is all round (it should be the
same).
How tioght should FEP be? That is the most difficult question to answer in text form. Some use Frequency analyzers to
tune fep to specific hertz rate, some do it just by intuition. Fep must be tight as Drum and when being hit by a finger in
the center make a high pitch noise.it should not stretch a lot when pressed with a finger on its center. Just slightly
stretch. Do not over tighten or it may break.
5. Do I have to tighten FEP film on a new Photon printer after buying it?
Yes! Vat comes in semi tightened condition for transportation and storing reasons. You have to tighten it a bit using
“opposite pairs method”
6. How do I cure my models after print?

When an object I done printing and washed from excess resin it has to be cured under UV lamp.
- Why?
your object is not completely cured. It has that velvet feel to the touch and maybe a little rubbery feel. It has to be
cured under a lamp for it to become finally hard and stop resin from giving a smell.
IF you plan to paint your object afterwards – You can Cure it for 2-10 minutes. No problems here. Cured objects can
change a tone of color after being cured. Don’t leave it for too long or it may become fragile.
If you are printing Glass parts like headlight glass for Scale RC cars – I Advice not to cure them at all. Just leave them as is
and cover them with clear varnish to return clearness. This is due to reason that clear resin becomes yellow color when
cured and the longer you cure it the darker it becomes. Anycubic Clear is safe to be cured for 60seconds. Longer – it will
start to go yellow.
7. How to make Crystal Clear prints (like Headlight lenses)?

This is easy.
1) Print your model

2) Wash it and let dry completely
3) Do not post Cure under UV lamp
4) Apply 2-3 cotes of clear varnish (spray or brush)
Also you can control amount of clearness by adding varnish from 1 side of object or on 2 sides:
Amount of layers applied also affects the degree of transparency.
8. How to detach printed objects with narrow utility knife correctly?

In my experience I suggest using a narrow stationary knife for detaching printed objects. It doesn’t damage the build
plate surface and it detaches objects very well. Spatulas are not as good, then need to much force to be applied.
How to use stationary knife correctly is shown on pictures below (slide it between the build plate and supports base)
VIII. Print Profile settings.

1. General settings.
Machine settings are pretty simple and no magic here. Just check that they are the same as on screenshot below.
Resin Tab is none of interest. It is used to make some predictions on print cost. This is up to you.
1) Layer Height. This obviously layer hight. I use 3 layer hights for different objectives:
- 0.025 (25 microns) – for extra fine detail. Very slow print.
- 0.035 (35 microns) – my main layer hight. It is balance between fine detail and speed. Goes well for any print. Layers
are nice and you wont die waiting for print to finish.
- 0.050 (50 microns) – Fast prints. Result is a bit better than FDM at 0.1mm. (quality is better then FDM but layers a well
visible)
2) Bottom layer count. This determines how many layers from start will be used as base layers (Base layers have
separate exposure settings)I recommend using 8-10 layers. That is more than enough. Or you can mathematically count
how many base layers you will need by dividing your “Touch thickness” setting in “Bottom support” settings tab by your
layer height. For example if your Touch thickness is 0.4 \ 0.035 = 11.4 layers.
3) Exposure time. This is exposure time of all layers that go after base layers. This setting is individual for model of
printer and resin compound. You have to use settings given by manufacturer or other community member. Or better –
test and find it yourself. (will tell you how to figure exposure time later on)
4) Bottom Exposure time. This is time used to exposure every base layer. This time is way bigger than usual layer time
because base layers need to get a good adhesion to build plate. Usually good adhesion need from 50 to 70 sec per layer.
My recommendation is 60-65 sec if your resin needs below 15 seconds for usual layers. If your Resin needs more than
15 seconds to cure usual layer – use 80-100 sec for base layers. This is for slow resins.
Don’t be scared by these long times. 60 seconds per 10 layers is only 10 minutes.
5) Light-off Delay and Bottom Light off Delay. (all further settings with “Bottom” in name mean that they affect only
base layers) This is important setting. What it does is basically it is a delay added to every regular and base layer. It is
needed to let your screen cool down after each layer. This is believed to save your screen and expand its lifespan. I use 5
sec in both fields. But you can save extra 2 sec per each regular layer if you use 3 instead of 5 in Light-off Delay field. My
Photon is almost a year old and my screen is still like new.
Remember this setting adds extra time per layer. If your regular layer is 8sec +5 sec and now your regular layer will have
13sec per layer. It makes your prints longer but your screen will last longer.
6) Bottom Lift Distance and Lift Distance. This is amount of Z travel of build plate during layer change. This settings has
two functions. First one is to let new resin flow to area that was cured and pulled away (refresh material) The thicker
the resin the slower it will flow the more time it will need. Especially this is vital when you are running low on resin in
VAT. Second function is extra “rest” (cool down) time for your screen. The more the distance – the longer it will take to
travel – the more time will be needed for every layer sequence to complete. I use 15mm this is good hight and I had no
problems with it. I do not recommend less than 10mm travel because I have seen many issues with low travel distances
like 5-8mm which didn’t repeat when person changed them to 10+ seconds.
7) Bottom Lift speed and Lifting speed. Speed (acceleration) of build plate movement. By default in first version of
chitubox it was 300mm\min. I have always used this value and all prints were fine. But since 1.6.0 Chitubox has a default
value for Photon printers as 150mm/min. I don’t know why the changed it. I tried both – didn’t see any difference.
8) Retract speed. I honestly don’t know what it does. If anybody knows tell me.
Infill tab.
Advanced tab. Anti-aliasing.
This tab only allows you to ad Anti-Aliasing to your print. What is basically smoothens vertical shells of your object .
Screen in made of pixels that are like tiny squares. Any diagonal lines turn out like ladders. AA does a slight blur between
nearest pixels and this allows them to look smoother.
Original Photon Doesn’t support AA in original software. But you can install a Photonsters firmware and it supports AA.
Original Photon supports AA since fimware v4.2.19
Photon S supports AA since firmware 5.0.2 (maybe earlier, tell me)
2. Dangers of Anti-aliasing.
AA is not always good. If you are printing something very tiny and it has tiny-tiny details AA can ruin your print. This
happens because basically AA blurs a few pixels on edges of objects. If this objects are very small AA literaly wipes
pixels. There little left or absolutely nothing left to print on this spot. For example I have stumbled upon this problem
when I was printing the Castle on a rock scaled down (23mm of maximum height)
I can explain that the towers were torn off by FEP During lifting up because the columns were too thin to hand it.
And this is the result of AA used with an object with such tiny elements. Same castle but different towers (they are more
interesting to show)
You can see that side towers were torn off (some column bits left).
Middle tower is in place because it is within main object body which saved it from being torn off. You can clearly see
those columns eaten by AA. There is no way they could hold side towers. They are too thin.
2. Resin exposure.
I din’t want to add this to guide because resin exposure is very particular printer related and resin brand (and color)
related. As I own only Original Photon and have friends with Photon S – I can give only data for these printers. Also I
mainly print using Anycubic and Wanhao resins. Main difference between Original and S model is power of UV diode.
Photon S has more powerful UV light. So this means that comparing to Original photon The Photon S exposure times are
about 35-45% less. If Anycubic Gray on Photon Original needs 7sec per layer, On Photon S it will be 4sec per layer.
IX. Determining your resin exposure settings.
This can be done using different methods. Maybe you have seen many posts in Photon owners group with some strange
sheets with dots on them and some others. Photon S has a built in test actually. I have no idea how to read them as
many other people. There are manuals explaining how but it is some crazy rocket science for most of people. I will tell
you how to do it the old-fashioned way. More time consuming but easy to do. You will need to do it only once for every
new resin you get. Get a new brand or new color – do the procedure once and your good for future use of the same
resin. There is a lot of text because I have to explain thoroughly everything, but the test is super simple when you do it.
First of all COLOR matters! Different color resin of the same brand may have different settings. Sometimes +/- 1,2 sec?
some times 5sec or more. So do the test for every new resin you will use.
Let’s start!
1. I have used a 3DSLA cube before but it was not convenient because I had to sign every cube after print to know what
layer time it was printed at. So I redesigned it so that it would have only useful test elements on it and layer time.
2. Usually you can find exposure settings recommended by a manufacturer on a package but all printers are different in
curing, so we will use recommended time as a reference point. For example Anycubic Clear green states 5-15sec:
NOTE! Some manufacturers do not give exposure recommendations. I assume they want us to guess. (very nice of you
Wanhao)
In case of Anycubic Clear Green you should take middle time – 10 sec as a reference point.
Testing is based on visual comparison. So lets take 10 sec/per layer and -5 sec and +5sec range.
This means we will print 15 (maybe less) test cubes. 5s,6s,7s,8s,9s,10s,11s,12s,13s,14s,15s.
Download test cubes from my cloud. You can find a link in the beginning of this guide. Cubes are placed in their folder
“bod Testing cubes”.
3. Drop each cube in slicer individually, and change normal exposure setting for each one corresponding to file name,
slice and save to some folder.
DO NOT CHANGE cube size or agree to scale to size software advice. It is the correct size! Yes, it is small, it is designed
so.
DO NOT USE SUPPORTS print directly from build plate.
NOTE! You can slice all cubes 1 time with Normal exposure time as stated on cube and base layer time as 60sec 8-10
layers and store them in some folder on your PC. Next time you will need to test a new resin – you can just drop them
on a USB drive and start printing without wasting time.
4. Start printing from a reference cube (In this example it is 10 sec). If reference cube prints successfully print cubes that
go have less time per layer (9s,8s,7s,6s, etc). Why?
Less time it takes per layer – the faster printing you will have. If reference print was successful you have to determine
the lowest time possible to do a successful print. This is why you should this direction.
5. After you have done cubes with 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 sec per layer (you should wash each of them as they finish being
printed) Put them all in front of you in same order as layer times and look closely.
I have no resin to test at the moment so I will show my old photos I found with black and grey resins and it has and it
has 3DSLA test cubes.
6. Examine cubes standing along side each other. use good lighting conditions and a magnifying glass if you have one.
My cube has 3 main test you need to pay attention to. Other elements are secondary.
First element is Checker board.
Look at the boxes. They must have sharp edges and straight lines.
Example:
Here is a closeup on good and bad cubes examples:
Second element is thin wall test.
This test shows how walls of different thickness be printed. 1, 0.5, 0.25, 0.2, 0.15, 0.1mm.
Let’s see an example:
Look for a result: All walls are printed. They are good quality and clearly divided.
Here is a closeup on good and bad cubes examples:
Third element is cross in a circle.
Well this test usually turns out good in 80% of time but some times it is a sign that your exposure time is not enough if
the cross is sagging.
7. Choosing the best cube. Half second time.

Some times you may get one element looking good almost on all cubes or on a range of cubes. Then you have to look on
second element it will tell you which is best.
Sometimes you get two cubes looking good almost identically. Use a magnifying glass for a closer inspection.
Or you can use a half second time setting and you it if you can’t determine which of the two cubes is better. In this
example if 7 sec and 8 sec look both good – use 7.5 sec exposure for this resin.
To be continued…

Newbie&#39;s v1.3 3D Resin Printing Guide (Handbook)

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3D Printing with resin guide by Tom Sargison aka “bod” v1.

How to protect yourself?

Filtering fumes from printer while printing.

Well done anycubic.. well done!

First of all I must divide resin printers to two types:

No fans. Passive suction by vent system. No smell No vapors.

What tools and things should I get?

9. UV lamp and a solar powered Turntable.

What can I use to wash the prints?

For general resins you should use chemicals to wash:

Method of washing in alcohol:

Im JOKING! Don’t drink anything!

I. The correct way of taking VAT out is:

1) Release the bolts holding VAT down.

VIII. Room temperature of 25-35 Celsius is recommended for successful printing.

Basic rules of resin printing.

Second Basic rule – avoid big contact surfaces per layer.

How to fill the VAT on photon?

IV. Main rules of getting object ready to be printed.

Before we get to supports.

Ok if we are clear with this let’s move on to Supports.

V. Setting up supports. Support placement rules and tips.

1. Let’s start with platform touch shape.

Types of shapes of support platforms:

Prism and Cube – just a geometry that doesn’t affect anything.

2. Center part of support rod and its 3 presets.

Support rod consists of 3 parts:

What are the 3 profiles for?

Chitubox software im using allows to use 3 profiles:

This is how I printed my Baby Yoda:

3. How to place supports correctly.

Object is actually hanging down.

For example you need to print something thin and long:

How to support this type of objects?

Also notice how I paced those double vertical supports?

How often do I have to place supports?

There are main supports and dedicated supports.

Another example that many people have trouble with:

Add supports on Center and along hanging edges

4. Placing supports too close to an object.

This is the closest example photo I could find.

This is what happens if supports are too close:

To avoid this happening – always check your supports.

5. How to generally do manual supports?

I use only manual supports because auto supports kinda suck.

1) Make a reliable support for first slices of an object.

2) Support object along its edges.

VI. Checking your object after slicing and before printing.

We are not finished yet! There is one more checking to be done!

VII. VAT hints.

1. How long can I leave resin in a VAT?

2. How to get cured resin off FEP film?

3. How do I know when to change my FEP film?

What’s NOT OK:

3) FEP Layer separation.

Short manual from me:

Before you start assembling you must do 2 things:

6. How do I cure my models after print?

7. How to make Crystal Clear prints (like Headlight lenses)?

1) Print your model

8. How to detach printed objects with narrow utility knife correctly?

VIII. Print Profile settings.

Advanced tab. Anti-aliasing.

IX. Determining your resin exposure settings.

Newbie's v1.3 3D Resin Printing Guide (Handbook)

Newbie's v1.3 3D Resin Printing Guide (Handbook)