UV Curing Station for SLA,

Last crawled date: 4 years, 3 months ago

This is a great way to cure prints without breaking the bank. In most cases I can fully cure items in about 3-10 minutes depending on size, resin used geometry and density.
I designed this around readily available and relatively cheap UV lamps, fans, and motors found on Amazon. It was designed as a cheaper alternative to the Prusa UV cure station the CW1 ($699 usd!!) Can you build something cheaper? Yeah just set stuff outside, on one of those $5 solar powered spinning bases. The advantage of this design is the slow rotation offers even UV exposure and the intensity of the two wrap around UV lamps leads to quick and thorough resin curing while the dual fans help dry any remaining isopropanol or other cleaning liquid. Also since all sides are being cured at once this theoretically reduces warping. I like it a lot it is pretty strait forward to assemble, works well, is a convenient size to store and I don't have to go outside where other humans are.
When curing I personally put a white paper plate over the top to help reflect the light a back down and protect me from direct UV exposure (be safe kids).. you can run it with out a top and it works just fine just try to avoid looking into the pretty pretty lights for long with out proper protection.--- If requested I can make a little lid for this----, It just wast something I personally saw the need to spend the time and filament on since it is not technically needed.
If you have a jumbo SLA printer and need a taller Curing station and would like me to try to figure out a double stacked version of this let me know.
This will require a little soldering (or twisting wires together and insulating) so if you are not comfortable with a little low voltage electrical work ask a friend for help or consider buying the Prusa CW1 ($699 usd!!). -Full instructions coming soon-, I welcome your input.. However Assembly is very strait forward, take apart the uv lamps, wire the power from the power supply plug on one of them, through bottom hole and to the lighted button, then back in the button hole and directly to the motor, fans, led lamps (bypass control board), it is low amps and everything is just 12v so there is no real need for a more complex system than that...a timer would be nice but isn't strictly necessary Pull the button in it square hole, Then screw the fans in place one should blow in, one should blow out to create cross breeze. Push the motor in its slot, and slide the platform on the shaft, reassemble the shells of the lamps and glue them in the cradles and you're ready to go!
Here is what you'll need (if in the future these links don't work try searching for the names in your preferred online retailer):
You'll want 2 of these:
SUNUV 24W LED UV Light Nail Gel Dryer Curing Lamp with 2 Timing Setting for Gel Based Polish SUN9C (White)https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01JGG5CMO
Push button, you can just wire it all to come on when plugged in but who doesn't love a light up clicky push button?
Baomain 16mm Push Button Switch Latching Square Cap LED Lamp Red Yellow Blue Green Light DC 12V SPDT 5 Pin 4 Packhttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N2T2LJI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Really any 12v 60mmx6omm fans could work:
Wathai 60mm x 60mm x 25mm 12V 2P Dual Ball DC Case Fan Brushless Cooling Fanhttps://www.amazon.com/Wathai-60mm-25mm-Brushless-Cooling/dp/B07Q2JWNFX
Slow geared 12v motor to make it spin:
uxcell Uxcell DC 12V 6RPM Worm Gear Motor 6mm Female Shaft High Torque Turbine Reducerhttps://www.amazon.com/15RPM-Shaft-Torque-Turbine-Geared/dp/B01MXPNX7P
I use this to clean of resin after printing (works great!):
INTLLAB Magnetic Stirrer Stainless Steel Magnetic Mixer with stir bar (No Heating) Max Stirring Capacity: 3000mlhttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072K24X5P/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This is the beaker I used to match the filehttps://www.amazon.com/dp/B004DGIII8
That said it was surprisingly hard to get it to fit just right and still make sure the flow was not inhibited by the cage I'm not 100% that other brands would work. The Lab grade glas stans up well to the Ipa and resin residue and works perfectly with the stirrer....That said I have since seen many smarter ways to store and use your IPA for example the pickle container https://www.amazon.com/LOCK-HPL933BT-Pickle-Container/dp/B06WD1F7HD
So look around and use your best judgement for what fits your work station prefrances.
Recommended Accessory:
Lastly one of the best little accessories to an SLA set up is a silicone litter/ pet food mat or some version of it (wham bam sells the slap mat), put it under your machine and clean-up station it'll protect your table contain your spills and clean up easily if you do accidently tip over a resin bottle or something..even has a little lip to keep in liquids.. This one works but i have seen them for less in several big box stores so shop around. Vivaglory Pet Food Mat Large 24" L x 16" W or Small 19" L x 12" W Waterproof Non-Slip FDA Grade Silicone Mat Anti-Messy Design for Puppy Kitty Dog Cat Small Medium Large Animals https://www.amazon.com/Vivaglory-Waterproof-Non-Slip-Stainless-Anti-Messy/dp/B01NBTA4J0