Wash and cure stations

Stephane Savard Sep 21, 2021

  1. Stephane Savard

    Stephane Savard TrainBoard Member

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    I'm thinking of getting a wash and cure station for my printer. Currently, my washing and curing setup is a three tubs of isopropyl alcohol, and a nail UV lamp over a foil lined box. I swish the parts in the tubs, and use a soft bristled paint brush to help it along.

    It's working well so far, but a bit of annoying setup, and I like the idea of using a dedicated wash and cure station. I'm wondering if any of you that use one may be able to help me make a decision, considering the few questions I have.

    The printer I use is an Anycubic Mono X - therefore a larger build plate. So my first question... do you all dunk your entire plate into your wash and cure stations for washing, or first remove the parts and place them into the wire basket? Many of my prints tend to be "containers", either locomotives, car bodies or buildings, I'm wondering how well the inside of these parts get clean if still attached to the build plate (i.e. with the opening of the "container" pointing towards the build plate)

    A follow up question for the Mono X users (or Elegoo Saturn users) is whether you use a regular sized wash and cure (Elegoo Mercury, Anycubic 2.0, etc), or the larger sized wash and cures (Anycubic Plus).

    The reason for the above questions is one of my biggest hangups on whether to purchase into a station. The larger sized wash and cure from Anycubic, the one that can fit the Mono X's build plate is 300$ (CAD), over twice the cost of the Elegoo Mercury at 135$. But if most people tend to wash their prints separate from the build plate, why pay more for the larger machine?

    Another question, not related to one machine or another, but how long do you wash your prints for in these machines? I've always heard to leave your prints in iso for the shortest period of time (with Siraya Tech saying less than 30 seconds!) But all reviews I've seen show that the shortest wash period on these machines being two minutes!

    Anyway, if you would share your experiences on how you use your wash and cure station, specifically for train related prints, I'd appreciate it!
     
    RMartin likes this.
  2. Stephane Savard

    Stephane Savard TrainBoard Member

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    Well, got less of a response than I'd hoped, but it's no longer important, just received an alert from Amazon - and purchased the Anycubic Wash and Cure Plus in a "lightning deal" for about 70$ off. That made up my mind for me :)
     
    Sumner likes this.
  3. Sumner

    Sumner TrainBoard Member

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    I'll bet that was a good choice and one you will be happy with. When I bought my Anycubic Photon Mono I bought the Elegoo wash and cure as it was quite a bit less than the Anycubic wash and cure and got about the same reviews.

    For you with the larger printer I think going with the larger wash station is a smart move that you won't regret down the road. Other than that I didn't have any real info as I haven't used the resin printer or wash station yet so no opinion there. Hopefully I'll get with it later in the fall.

    Sumner
     
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  4. SLSF Freak

    SLSF Freak Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I've been reserved on wash and cure stations but I would love an honest assessment from someone that uses them for the types of things we print. The volume of IPA seems overwhelming and I imagine my little parts getting lost in the bath, but that's because I don't own one and all I have is my imagination. Right now I use olive jars since they're tall enough to dunk passenger car sized prints (with the right jar) but small enough to fit my work area. I've considered getting one of those lab magnetic stirring base things to see if I can whip up a whirlpool of IPA in my olive jars like a mini-wash-n-cure. :ROFLMAO: Hmm, now that I think about it, that could be a niche market for Model RR's. Please let us know how it works for you!!

    -Mike
     
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  5. Stephane Savard

    Stephane Savard TrainBoard Member

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    I was considering that, but notice how there's so few people that have posted guides on using one. Two days ago I saw a YouTube video of a diy wash station using a computer fan. The guy specifically had one of those cheap intellilab stirring bases and mentioned how anemic these functioned. Hence why he went the complicated route of making his own stirring base from scratch.

    Anyway, once I start using the new wash and cure, I'll post my thoughts here!
     
    SLSF Freak likes this.
  6. Stephane Savard

    Stephane Savard TrainBoard Member

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    Just got the new machine today! Okay, I don't have a print ready to wash, so I filled the machine up with water and just did a "swirl" test with a prototype shell I printed a while back. Wanted to see how strong this thing can wash. Made a video!



    So yeah, wow. I did NOT expect it to be that strong! I suspect I'll do most of my washing with the parts still attached to the build plate honestly, but for those times when I'd prefer washing a part separately, I'll have to find a way to hold it in place.

    Hmm, I bought some 7" long plastic tweezers a few months back; the washing cycle only needs to be a few minutes, I can just hold the part in place in the alcohol storm :D

    Anyway, I'll have something to print in a week or so after I finish detailing the loco shell, I'll report again once I use the wash and cure for real!

    upload_2021-9-22_17-36-20.png
     
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  7. SLSF Freak

    SLSF Freak Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Thanks for the video - it answers some questions for sure. So definitely no free floating parts in that thing - whatever is being washed (at our scale) is going to need to be anchored down or contained so they can't bang around on the basket or neighboring parts. If you go the tweezer dunk route, you could consider putting some kind of tweezer grab (like a horizontal tube?) on your print's base so you have something secure to hold on to if supports are too precarious. I've been meaning to add that to my prints after having lost a few that slipped out of the cross lock tweezers but haven't gotten around to it yet. Anyway thanks again for sharing your experience with the Wash and Cure!

    Cheers -Mike
     
  8. HemiAdda2d

    HemiAdda2d Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I used gladware containers, denatured alcohol (it was a cheap, readily available choice when IPA became really scarce due to 'Rona), and an old toothbrush. I'm on a FB group for 3D printing and the typical issues with the W&C station is leaving IPA in the machine for long periods of time, and the magnet or something disintegrates.
     
    BNSF FAN likes this.
  9. Stephane Savard

    Stephane Savard TrainBoard Member

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    So a quick return to this thread.

    I've now had the chance to use the new wash and cure a few times. Though honestly, mostly for miniatures :whistle:

    First, my daughter needed a large Balrog and Gandalf miniature for school, so I printed some up, and used the wash and cure for the post processing. Another time, I spent a week printing some Dungeons and Dragons miniatures for my niece, so again, used the wash and cure for that.

    Honestly though, wow, the wash and cure works really well for miniatures. I leave all the 3D prints on the build plate, and put everything in the wash together for 2 minutes. After that, the parts are entirely clean, just need to dry the alcohol off with a blower (I use an airbrush). The UV lights are strong, and again, it's so much easier than with the cardboard shoe box and nail UV station.

    However, it's thirsty in alcohol; you need at least 6 litres in the machine for the dunking the plate.

    Ok, so what about train stuff?! Well, it's going to work really well for any parts, big or small. But there is a small issue with locomotive shells. I've had absolutely no problems with the swirling tornado of IPA damaging any of even the tiniest detail, but it does a poor job of cleaning the inside of the shell.

    Still, I really really like this machine, and would buy it again knowing what I know now. I mean the inside of locomotive shells are difficult to clean anyway even without a machine such as this. Plus cleaning the parts ON the build plate is super nice.

    Hope this helps!
     

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