PC Load Letter?!! What does that even mean?!!
We’ve all been there at least at one point in our lives. We try to print some important term paper or directions to that interview (Back when map quest was the rage),
and the printer is having issues. It’s annoying and mostly just a tedious problem but has the potential to be a giant pain in the side.
Well when you 3d print something you have the similar issues, kind of. But you also have the disastrous(-ly messy!) issues as well. As discussed in the last entry I decided to 3d print Harry Dresden. I own a Photon Mono and its nice it prints what I tell it too and have had very little issues.
I fired up my 3d printing software and added supports for my mini. After setting the supports up my file looked like this.
After setting the printer and loading the printing fluid I started the print and went to bed. In the morning I came to clean up and remove the print from the printing bead. Well I was greeted with a very weird looking man:
The cloak is all stretched and distorted and there was no staff either! I’m new at this but I figured out what I did wrong. I had read that tilting your print at a ~30-degree angle increases your chance of a successful print. I hadn’t yet tried this out as every print I’ve done has been a 100% pass rate. In my prework haste I loaded up my printing software and tilted the file 45-degrees. I know that’s a bit extreme versus what I just said. But no coffee and working with a tired mind I made some hasty decisions. In the end the file looked like this:
All supported and tilted like I was. I poured some more resin into the reservoir and started the second attempt and left for the day praying that all would work out this time.
When I returned home I found my second attempt to be a success! Now I started the cleaning process, the easiest way I’ve found is by removing the supports before curing. As they are more malleable and won’t damage the print. To remove them I just use a standard sprue cutter and snip the supports until they all snapped off.
Next is washing the print in two separate baths of alcohol (99% isopropyl), the first I use a toothbrush and get off most of the debris. The second I just dunk the print in and out to get off any residual debris left over. Lastly, I use Anycubic Wash and Cure station, I put the mini in another vat of Isopropyl and start the wash cycle for ~3mins.
After the wash is done, I take the mini out and let the alcohol evaporate. I do a once over to make sure no resin goobers are on the print and start the cure cycle ~6mins. Afterwards I change the angle of the print and do a shorter cure cycle ~2mins.
With the printing process out of the way I’m left with this as a result:
**Victory fanfare** Now half of my mini’s are assembled and ready for priming. Next, I get to assemble the Erlking.