Author Topic: Elegoo Saturn - first week  (Read 4650 times)

Offline BillTodd

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Elegoo Saturn - first week
« on: May 18, 2021, 03:43:50 AM »
After months of waiting , my  new Elegoo Saturn finally arrived . All nicely packaged and wrapped.

It seems well made, rigid and worth the money*

The first print failed – because I hadn’t level the bed correctly

The second print came out nicely although had a minor and inconsequential warp (which I now know is caused by droop)

The third print , a miniature ‘little dancer’ (Degas) was so good I printed a second copy as large as I could squeeze in to the build volume : she came out just over 250mm tall and near as perfect my imperfect support allowed (droop is a real problem!)

One week playing and  I’ve burned through the first kilogram of resin.

The result is :

538g of useable prints  - all very nice :-)

at the cost of

1kg Anycubic  sensitive basic  White
~1l IPA  with another 1.5l in tubs and jars , contaminated with resin
1/2  a roll of  blue industrial paper wipe
about 1/4- 1/2 box of gloves
1/2 of my two brain cells...


* I paid £415 to Banggood and I’m currently awaiting the bad news from the shipper for handling the HMRC paper work  for the Duty and VAT.

Bill
Bill

Offline BillTodd

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Re: Elegoo Saturn - first week
« Reply #1 on: May 18, 2021, 04:02:46 AM »
By the way...

I've decided to make my coil winder project open source* (and 3d printed) , in the hope that someone else will find it useful ;-).  It's currently in use winding microphone transformers so it does kinda work.

The software in in my 'stanwegian'  flavour of Python  and is design to run on a RPi  (it was developed in Windows an Linux and can run on those platforms just as well)  . Motor control is handled by a couple of PIC 12F1572s.

Let me know if anyone is interested and I'll share some more info.

*if anyone knows the more about publishing open source designs ,  please let me know.
Bill

Offline awemawson

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Re: Elegoo Saturn - first week
« Reply #2 on: May 18, 2021, 05:20:07 AM »
No I'm not jealous - no really I'M NOT JEALOUS . . . .

. . . .OK I'm jealous - there I've said it !


Very nice  :thumbup:
Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline John Rudd

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Re: Elegoo Saturn - first week
« Reply #3 on: May 18, 2021, 06:30:22 AM »
Jealous with envy...is that superlative? :lol:

Very nice Bill....I like the coil formers... :bow:

I keep thinking of buying a 3d printer...
I need to make some small molding boxes for encapsulating circuit boards ( speed control) for some electric drills I'm refurbing, but cant justify the cost at the moment..
eccentric millionaire financed by 'er indoors
Location:  Backworth Newcastle

Skype: chippiejnr

Offline BillTodd

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Re: Elegoo Saturn - first week
« Reply #4 on: May 18, 2021, 07:11:30 AM »
No I'm not jealous - no really I'M NOT JEALOUS . . . .

. . . .OK I'm jealous - there I've said it !


Very nice  :thumbup:
:D
Bill

Offline BillTodd

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Re: Elegoo Saturn - first week
« Reply #5 on: May 18, 2021, 07:13:07 AM »
Jealous with envy...is that superlative? :lol:

Very nice Bill....I like the coil formers... :bow:

I keep thinking of buying a 3d printer...
I need to make some small molding boxes for encapsulating circuit boards ( speed control) for some electric drills I'm refurbing, but cant justify the cost at the moment..

Yeah ,the bobbins are the result of trying to squeeze too many connections into a can  .
« Last Edit: May 18, 2021, 11:33:09 AM by BillTodd »
Bill

Offline BillTodd

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Re: Elegoo Saturn - first week
« Reply #6 on: May 18, 2021, 07:21:28 AM »
One thing I have found useful (and not seen elsewhere) is the use of a blue laser for spot hardening and making alternative design decisions (aka  fixing cock-ups) or repairing breakages.

can't tap an M3 into a 3mm hole ? - drip some resin in the hole , zap with laser for a few seconds (careful it gets hot!) , redrill to correct size and tap. :)

Oh and be careful of sunlight with the sensitive resin  - I'm was just experimenting with mixing graphite into the resin for bearings , poured the mix into a small bottle-cap mould walked into the sun and it solidified instantly .
Bill

Offline Brass_Machine

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Re: Elegoo Saturn - first week
« Reply #7 on: May 18, 2021, 10:44:47 AM »
That's awesome!

I have been hooked on 3D printing for awhile now. I have 1 FDM printer that runs almost 24/7 and a 2nd being built. However I have been researching resin printers to figure which to buy.

Question... is the resin smell as bad as I hear or is it completely over blown?

Thanks
Eric
Science is fun.

We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.

Offline BillTodd

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Re: Elegoo Saturn - first week
« Reply #8 on: May 18, 2021, 11:11:52 AM »
Quote
Question... is the resin smell as bad as I hear or is it completely over blown?

I used to play with GRP. The resin used in fibre-glassing stinks far worse than the photopolymer, however...

While it's possible to sniff the bottle of resin without gagging, it does hang about it the back of ones throat and 'tastes' . Not nice.

The combination of resin and IPA is horrible and fills the room with the vapour , I have it in a lean-to conservatory room which is fairly well ventilated but it smells for hours after use.  I can't imagine using one within a home (you wouldn't stay married long!)

I'm not one for overly worrying about get #### on my hands but I still wear gloves with this #### 'cos it doesn't easily wash off (seem to just spread around) .  The resin seems slightly easier to spread than covid :-)

Bottom line is that I'm now wondering how I could automate the wash process , so that the printer could be contained in a box and only be opened after the part is washed, dried and ready to be separated from the support and cured !


 
Bill

Offline Muzzerboy

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Re: Elegoo Saturn - first week
« Reply #9 on: May 18, 2021, 11:41:04 AM »
For resins and nasty paints, I find Deb Kresto Special Ultra Hand Cleanser is great. It uses a very mild ester-based solvent which doesn't destroy your skin. You only need a tiny amount, rather like toothpaste, then wash it off with normal cleaner and/or liquid soap. You can buy 1-2 qties on ebay etc, as you probably don't need 12 tubes at once!

This place sells one-offs but charge more for the P&P than they do for the product:
https://www.hisltd.co.uk/ProductDetail/DEB-KRESTO-SPECIAL-ULTRA-250ml/3346D4D69D23479182D9C6DAD62EFE01?gclid=CjwKCAjwy42FBhB2EiwAJY0yQopRdPck24Ng_EXzE-bXFag7ErWaQQSZ2QzWoElyXV9jZ9AolNMFcxoC4h4QAvD_BwE
« Last Edit: May 18, 2021, 12:07:23 PM by Muzzerboy »

Offline BillTodd

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Re: Elegoo Saturn - first week
« Reply #10 on: May 18, 2021, 02:55:06 PM »
Thanks Muzzerboy , I'll look into that :-)


The temporarily assembled the printed slide looks like it should work OK - slide quite nicely with a bit of graphite power , I just need to purloin some  chrome 10mm bar from work and couple the motor to the screw
Bill

Offline efrench

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Re: Elegoo Saturn - first week
« Reply #11 on: May 18, 2021, 03:48:44 PM »
By the way...

I've decided to make my coil winder project open source* (and 3d printed) , in the hope that someone else will find it useful ;-).  It's currently in use winding microphone transformers so it does kinda work.

The software in in my 'stanwegian'  flavour of Python  and is design to run on a RPi  (it was developed in Windows an Linux and can run on those platforms just as well)  . Motor control is handled by a couple of PIC 12F1572s.

Let me know if anyone is interested and I'll share some more info.

*if anyone knows the more about publishing open source designs ,  please let me know.

I use GitHub.  You can select which open source license to use. Here's a link to my rose engine hardware and firmware.

Offline BillTodd

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Re: Elegoo Saturn - first week
« Reply #12 on: May 18, 2021, 04:57:46 PM »
How does github work?

I presume its a paid  service  ? Costs? 
Bill

Offline efrench

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Re: Elegoo Saturn - first week
« Reply #13 on: May 18, 2021, 07:41:37 PM »
It's free.  You just need to create your account and start adding files.

Offline JHovel

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Re: Elegoo Saturn - first week
« Reply #14 on: May 19, 2021, 08:15:39 AM »
Hi Bill,
I have a little Photon Zero and was given a Uniz Slash Plus by my dentist! Best things since sliced bread! Once you figure out the supports - or rather the best orientation of the print - they can make amazing stuff!
Have fun!
Cheers,
Joe

Offline Bee

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Re: Elegoo Saturn - first week
« Reply #15 on: May 22, 2021, 06:35:04 AM »
The Gauge One 3D Circle on Groups.io has been having weekly zoom calls for over a year now, though I only heard about them a couple of months ago. Obviously G1 specific but they come up with some interesting stuff.
Water based resins are more expensive but hardly smell apparently.
The description "ABS like" appears to be a marketing ploy and no different from regular.
Lots on youtube about modifying exposure times but an interesting problem can be the resin seeming to redissolve slightly near the first layers, perhaps due to rush of resin into the thin gap between plate and FEP in the initial stages.
Of interest to the G1 people is PLA warping and melting in California level sun, and water resistance in the UK. Materials other than PLA are quite sun resistant. The water based material expands when soaked for a week and becomes spongy and weak, but rehardens when dried.
The level of detail achieved on resin printers is way better than filament which is important for modellers but you really need both types to bulk and structural stuff with cheaper filament. Also resin does thinner sections so always save material with thin walls. Also always remember to design in drain holes.

Offline BillTodd

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Re: Elegoo Saturn - first week
« Reply #16 on: May 22, 2021, 08:10:23 AM »
Bee,

Interesting about the abs like resins. I've watched afew YouTube videos from cnc kitchen and tom salamandererer  , both suggest increased strength, but i  have wondered if this is just  a sensitive resin and is better cured by the initial exposure?

I'll have to try the water washable stuff , it might be the best way to avoid excessive ipa exposure which is , i think , the worst problem.  I know from experience that solvent exposure is nasty and non obvious ( blood pressure increases etc.)  I noticed that a number of yt modellers have been using water based washing solutions (surfactants) instead of ipa . A hot wash in a big bath of percil might be worth a try8-)

Hi Joe,
You're right,  correct orientation, is not obvious  , and slightly counter intuitive ,  i.e , it seems, the best way to print flat is to mount the part at a compound angle  !

Bill

Offline BillTodd

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Re: Elegoo Saturn - first week
« Reply #17 on: May 24, 2021, 06:58:26 AM »
Week three:

FEP punctured !   

Set a print going , checked it after a half hour or so and found the Z motor stalled and grumbling.  Turns out a small piece of the print (~4mm pyramid) had come adrift and was now stuck under the plate!

On close inspection it had punctured the FE plate and marked the polariser beneath. Fortunately the LCD seems fine and polarisers are available.

Of course , the larger, thicker FEP film is vastly more expensive (i.e. a complete rip off)

Bill - P'd off   :(

Bill

Offline awemawson

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Re: Elegoo Saturn - first week
« Reply #18 on: May 24, 2021, 07:03:13 AM »
Bad luck Bill  :(
Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline BillTodd

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Re: Elegoo Saturn - first week
« Reply #19 on: May 24, 2021, 07:37:10 AM »
Bad luck would be a cracked LCD  - these are unobtainable ATM
Bill

Offline BillTodd

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Re: Elegoo Saturn - next week
« Reply #20 on: June 16, 2021, 05:04:41 AM »
With the FEP film replaced and -  after a week of failed prints -  tightened like a drum-skin, I've been printing a few small parts for a model  (my brother is making a full size set of Ribi-Decoster front-forks for a motorcycle he is building and I thought it'd be fun to use the cad model I created to make a physical model too)

Yesterday I modelled another part for the coil winder to make it (I thought) 3d friendly  - turns out I got the design completely wrong for MLSA printing

Stresses in the part during printing (the polymerisation causes the material to shrink) buckled the print into something unusable . So I thought I'd experiment to see it I could straighten the part with heat.

I put it into an oven at ~120'C and it softened nicely but had a few surface cracks . I clamped it into a vice to hold it roughly square and returned next morning.

The cooled part has retained its corrected shape but the fractures now cover the part as every few hundred layers have tried to separate.

Bill