Wow, that works? Do you lose much in the way of engraved details doing the coating? How hard is it to control in tightly toleranced areas? Can you just leave like a 100micron gap and call it good or do you have to be more careful than that? As for mixing resins, just how complicated is that? I imagine that different resins have different cure times so it probably takes some trial and error to figure out the settings for your mixes. How opaque is formlabs durable? Would it be possible to use it as a clear coat over painted parts? I've tried epoxy for that but found it very difficult to work with - too thick to spread evenly, even after I thinned it with denatured alcohol, and the working time is too short. With a resin that doesn't harden until you hit it with a lamp, your working time would essentially be as long as you like. Damn, I need to get a resin printer. I love my fdm but it's so difficult to get quality prints of tiny detailed parts out of it.
Thank you. I am hoping that it prompts a designer to "not let some fan out do them" and design a killer version! lol. I only coat the areas that need it directly, but I bet if you dipped and let the extra drain off over a day it would leave a nice clear coat finish. The Durable is almost completely clear. You would lose as much surface detail by coating it as you would get from printing a part in clear...little to none. lol. I think that you would still be able to see them via shadows and lines, but they may not "feel" as deep if that makes sense. Most of the parts that I coated feel no different tolerance wise unless I really glop it on in the case of a loose joint. You nailed it on the working time!! you can get it right before setting it in stone! Mixing resins is easy. there are plenty of options that are within the same exposure range, and even if they are not, it usually averages out the exposure time. Right now I have a Hard and Flexible engineering resin from 3dresyns that I mix into just about everything. It drastically cuts back on the brittleness. For a part that you want to bend without breaking i put more of the flexible in, and less for more rigidity. My end goal is to find a white hard and tough, and a white or clear flexible to mix. Then you can add pigmentation as needed. Resin is a neat thing. You can use it as a glue, but the set glue is basically 3d printed together. So now that I don't need to break up parts to be printed durable resin, I can break them up by color needs. A decepticon logo can be separated, printed in purple, and "UV resin glued" into its local. Paint apps plus!
I'll pay back a 5th of that for one of these assembled and preferably colored. Start taking pre-orders and pay off all the r&d homie!
Still printing, re-printing, and assembling. I did print some parts in the wrong resin and they were way too brittle, so I had to re print them. I am hoping to have this fully assembled by this weekend, and then I can see a few areas for improvement. I want to split up each of the two larger body parts into two parts each. They are a challenge to print as is, and having to re print a large part like that because a tab or something broke off would be a drag. With a physical model in hand I always notice things that I couldn't see on the screen. More soon. I will keep working and keep offering it to designers for free in the hopes that it spawns an even better version! I also found a cyberverse hardshell on the ebay for $6, and I have to say that I am impressed. The size sucks, but the engineering at that scale is pretty amazing i think. He is soooooo tiny!
I could be talking outta my @$s here but, I saw something about a One Day License from Takara. Another designer is doing a Beast Wars Scorponok. You might wanna look into it.
Here you go. It's a WIP resin kit. I just think that this project is right in line with this One day fan license.
Not completely sure. My poorly educated (on this matter) guess is that for the Japanese Wonderfest Takara is backing these fan-made kits. So basically a garage kit that legally uses all the names and logos associated with it that is available to purchase.
Hey all! Sorry for the absence. The north country summers are always too short, so you can't be inside on a computer! lol. I just got back onto Blender this morning, and sent out revised test print for the hip joint. It is the weakest link right now, but I think I may have figured it out this morning. So HAPPY not to be wasting time with a printer at home, it just added too much hassle for me. While the Hip Parts are being printed and shipped, I will work on a few other small adjustments. The resins were just too fragile, and I am very excited to see the Nylon PA-12 printed on an HP Multi Jet. It is supposed to be smoother on the finish, and come out with a bit more density than the SLS equivalent.
Whatever gets you closer to selling be one... Are you using a commercial print service? That sounds pricey!
