Monday, February 17, 2025
First resin print from object file
Cut to the chase. The base of the centre triangle is 200μm (0.2mm) across. Imaged on a 10% tilt to make the clear resin visible.
Here is the actual test object. Original is as an SVG with 2mm thick lines on a scale of 1mm to 1 micron:
Note that the images are taken after the resin is cured. I wanted to cure them before I moved anything, so no micrograph of them pre-cure. Here's a screenshot from the USB cameras as I was running the right-hand triangles:
I do not have a particularly fantastic view! You can see how the probe is dipped in a relatively thin area of the resin reservoir, and how the folded edge of the reservoir's contact foil retains the resin.
Anyway, the right-hand one was done at a height which I could definitely see resin deposited through the USB microscope. Both resin prints granulated significantly on curing. The left-hand one was done more carefully, lowering the probe by 3μm until some perceivable change happened on the slide. The probe was dipped in resin after every 15 droplets were deposited. Droplets are 18μm apart on the right, 15μm apart on the left.
Viewed with an eyeball, the central triangle on the left is a discrete object with a hollow centre. Something useful may be happening if two lines are deposited close together. For further investigation.
The height of the cured droplets is not readily discernible at 100x magnification with a bench microscope. Better lighting and slider holders are going to be needed to get decent images.
Wow. So much learned with this session.
