Reify3D Forum

At 25xy 30z a print that took 2:52 minutes with Emerald It now takes 1:28 minutes. Half the time.
"AWESOME"

Thank you for making this resin.

Just wanted to share my experience with SolusCast.

PRINTING: Printing at 25xy, 30z I noticed that with the default settings I was getting overexposure.
I brought the exposure time from 2.2 to .7 seconds per layer.
Prints that were taking 3 hrs with Emerald are now taking 1.5 hrs.
The other thing that I like is that the supports break easily outside of the model so a little sanding is all it takes for smooth surface.

Curing: I cured the model for 2 hrs. with the "Firefly" unit that I have had for a long time and not used very much.
The back of the pendant had not fully cured so I decided to put it under the lizard light for 2 hrs. and that did fully harden the back surface.

Casting: I am using Optima Casting Inverstment.
Decide to use the "Maverick" burnout schedule.
Ramp up to 1500, took about 2 hrs.
held at 1500 for 3 hrs.
brought down to casting temperature.

The important areas where the prongs are turned out very well.
There is a little degrading at the bottom of the bezel and that is not a big deal.
So far So good.

eg123 wrote: I cured the model for 2 hrs. with the "Firefly" unit that I have had for a long time and not used very much.
The back of the pendant had not fully cured so I decided to put it under the lizard light for 2 hrs. and that did fully harden the back surface.

Thats a great news!

What are the specifications of the "Firefly" and the "Lizard" lights/units? I am not familiar with the terms. Did you add acid to the investment?

On my test I also noticed that the surface was more degraded on the opposite side of the sprue and it looked like incomplete burnout - the molten metal pushed the ashes to the back of the cavity. Maybe if you increase the burnout time with 1-2 more hours and vacuum the investment prior casting that would solve the problem.

Encouraging!

Thanks for posting

Storen Don't know the specifics of the "Firefly" curing unit and It is used for curing resin. I got it from Stuller.
If I didn't have the Firefly I would use Solus Box unit that is specific for curing this resin.

The "lizard" light you can get it from any pet store. It is used for reptile pets. It reaches temperatures of 125-150.

eg123 wrote:Storen Don't know the specifics of the "Firefly" curing unit and It is used for curing resin. I got it from Stuller.

I checked the manufacturer website - there is no information about the UV sources used in this unit. However after seeing the videos I am under the impression these are quite powerful UV lights with the right wavelength for DLP resins. Powerful enough to penetrate the acrylic walls of the tool and RTV mold and cure the photo polymer which I assume is less UV-sensitive than the print resin. The lights are very close to the pattern and are in an air-tight chamber. Is it getting hot? The pressure from the compressor probably increases the heating effect. Overall it looks like a descent curing unit.

eg123 wrote:The "lizard" light you can get it from any pet store. It is used for reptile pets. It reaches temperatures of 125-150.

This is probably the right temperature. At higher temp the resin may crack.

- How did you mix the investment? Was it 38:100? Did you add boric acid?

Storen
I don't think the resin can take quick thermal change at the beginning because my first print cracked when I put it under the lizard light so I decided to just cure with no pressure.

I've heard about using boric acid and people have gotten good results. I will do that next time I cast resin.

Vic is the name of the guy that invented the firefly , last I spoke to him , he said he was considering buying a solus ? dont know if he did ?

but here is his email if you want to ask him ?

hdcasting@yahoo.com