How to use

Apart from Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) printers, we also have one Stereolithography (SLA) printer. SLA printers are based on the principle of photopolymerization: curing with light. The material used for SLA is liquid resin, typically contained in a reservoir integrated into the printer. A concentrated beam of light is emitted on specific locations in the resin vat, causing a rapid process of polymerization which turns the liquid resin into solid plastic. The build platform adjusts to allow the fresh resin to come in contact with the light emitter and for the next layer of the model to be printed.

We have the Elegoo Mars 3 Ultra 4K mono LCD printer and the Elegoo Mercury Plus 2 in 1 washing and curing station 2.0. It has a 6.6-inch ultra-4K high-resolution monochrome LCD, an upgraded COB UV light source structure, and a new release film 2.0 for printing. For slicing we use Chitubox Free.

How to set up the machines¶

Elegoo Mars 3¶

Leveling the build plate: untighten the two bolts holding the build platform (the top part) with an allen key so it can move around freely. Turn on the machine and use two sheets of paper to level the bed (source). Press “Tool” > “Manual” > “Home” (the top left button) and wait for the Z axis to go down and stop. Then tighten the bolts: make sure to first tighten the front bolt and then the right side bolt. Adjust Z axis if there is too much or too little resistance, by moving up with 0.1mm increments. You don’t have to level every time every time, once it’s set it should be fine for a while. After leveling is complete, set the current Z axis as the first layer for printing (taking one step back in the menu, then on the top right).
Put on gloves and a mask!
Pour resin in the tray:

Put the tray back & secure it with the bolts on the sides.
Place the mini air purifiers (we have these) on both sides next to the Z axis; don’t forget to turn them on. By putting them close to your ear you should hear them make sound. Then put the lid back on the machine.
Insert the USB with your sliced model, press print then the play button:
For the first couple of layers you can’t see anything since the print is still submerged in the resin. You can see on the screen what layer is being printed. If you want to check on your model you can pause the print, which will lift the build plate so you can see what’s been printed so far.
Once the print is done, you can take off the entire build plate by loosening the bolt on top. Submerge the buildplate plus print (if it’s not too big) in alcohol isopropyl or water (depending on whether the resin used is based on alcohol or water) in a container for the Mercury Plus. This is to wash everything; the tutorial I’m following says to take off the model before doing this to wash it separately, but submerging everything is the way Henk showed me. With bigger models it’s probably best to take the model off first. Place the entire container on the plate of the Mercury, set mode to water rotation (the icon with the two rotating droplets) and set the time to 5 minutes.

Removing the print:
After the model has dried it’s time to cure the model. For this we also use the Mercury. Set mode to UV (light symbol) and time to 5 minutes.
Pour leftover resin back into the bottle. For pouring the resin you have to use a filter. It’s probably going to get messy so put some paper on your working area.
Clean the tray with alcohol (wipes work pretty well). You can also cure the material and then peel it off but this is not really recommended I think.