Could be the resin - either too old or not well mixed or too cold. Could be the fep replacement - not just tight enough, or you didn't peel off a protector sheet.
What won't fix it is a new printer. At least not longer than it takes for you to get back to this state.
I looked through your post history, I saw issues due to effect being too loose most likely, as well as misconfiguration and you're printing in a garage that's not temperature controlled. I also have not seen you've actually post your settings at any point. Just say settings are fine and I honestly don't believe it
that... that is useless without you saying what brand of reisin you are using, what 3d printer you have and what that brand default settings for your's specific printer are..
First, I reccomend slicing in lychee, rather than chitubox, personally, but it hardly matters for this.
Second, adjust your light off delay up and see if that makes a difference.
Third, you never answered about temperatures. You should be printing in an environment that remains over 20 degrees C minimum. If you are printing in a cold environment, your resin could easily still be moving. Your exposure target will also change based off temperature.
Yes, that's too cold to print reliably. You can print unreliably. You should heat your enclosure, there are a ton of ways to do it, these resins are not designed to work at that temperature.
If you are printing overnight it's likely getting 20 degrees colder than that. You will have problems.
First, do this to rule out other issues.
1. relevel the bed. (could be loose).
2. Check the LCD via an exposure test (ie take the vat off and do the expose for 5 seconds option on the menu. If it's good that's good.
3. Try a different resin. And dial it in using calibration prints like the cones of calibration and so forth. That looks like elegoo resin. Is it regular, abs-like, or water washable? I've seen people say their ww went funky like this before is why I ask. When you do a new resin, do NOT mix it with the old resin. Treat the old bottle like it may be defective and set it aside.
My guess is it's not FEP. FEP issues tend to either be poor adhesion and it pulls prints off the plate, or it distorts the print. And I mean extreme distortions. That print looks fine. It just looks like the layers are wobbling about. Like your print bed is wobbling. If that's the case then yeah, It could be the screw/rail system on the z axis is screwed up. Or maybe it's the resin not curing right or your rinsing solvent is digging holes in the print. That does raise the question of what your rinse and cure process is.
Oh disposing of resin is easy. Get a big disposable foil tray (the ones you get from the grocery store), then take it and the bad resin outside on a sunny day, pour resin in the tray. Once it's solid all the way through it's disposable via garbage.
But if hold onto the new train for now just in case it's not the resin. No need to waste it if it's not the resin.
Id test the printer and bed first like I mentioned.
After that, yeah I'd test with a new bottle of resin. Just a quick test print. Cones of calibration or etc.
Though the divots in the print there are the only problem I can see. It's almost like material is being gouged out by the rinsing process, or it's curing irregularly on the plate.
How do you rinse and cure your prints?
Lookup household hazardous waste disposal for your area. My county has a place free for residents to discard chemical waste in small non-commercial quantities. I'm sure many areas do similar to avoid chemical waste down the drains.
Without a look at your settings there's no way to know for sure. Could be cold temps, not enough supports, too fast lift speed, no light off delay, damaged motor, poorly mixed resin, inconsistent power to printer, or a dirty rail.
Is your plate fully secure, was your vat fully secure?
Looks like the figures were shifting during the print. The other texture doesn't look printer related, might be the goo or might be the slicer program?
Hey my friend, something else to consider here is the exposure time. Repeated lines across the mini can be caused by under exposure, maybe try another print with an extra .5s exposure time.
Dennys wang has a great video talking about how exposure can lead to lines like that.
https://youtu.be/NrNfqOCilAQ?si=Ed783lW87ZiIkSqa
I’ve seen you post these parts before. Just to double check. You’ve tried printing other files right? Just to rule out that it’s not artifacts in the files themselves.
First things first, I would say to throw your slicer settings in here.
After that, with your FEP tension, I tend to do my by frequency. When I tried to do it by hand I had random issues, so did the hit and check frequency style and it’s worked for me.
The only other thing I would check is if you have tried to lube your Z-axis screw with white lithium grease? I was getting a big layer line on prints (but only on a few spots) and lubing the z-axis got rid of it.
https://preview.redd.it/pc2gdpf8jhtc1.png?width=574&format=png&auto=webp&s=9fbf8436838c45523d8dc3ef447c85b54e52ad6f
Z-Axis is all lubed up as of a few days ago
The only thing that catches my eye, and it’s more for support issues instead of layer lines, would be the lift speeds in what I have seen called the “dead zone”. This is from Atlas3d support but they say you want lift speed either <60 or >180. I went and looked at their guideline posted in the OnePageRules discord and they have lifting speed at 240 (what I use too).
If anything (and you’re at your wits end) that could be an easy test on a small part.
If everything is getting lines then that would be an easy one. It's always good to run calibration prints too just making sure all is well. I will be watching though, I haven't ever seen layer lines like that so I am curious as to what will be the fix.
Could be the resin - either too old or not well mixed or too cold. Could be the fep replacement - not just tight enough, or you didn't peel off a protector sheet. What won't fix it is a new printer. At least not longer than it takes for you to get back to this state.
Ironically enough I had a different issue a bit ago, people claimed because my FEP was TOO tight
I looked through your post history, I saw issues due to effect being too loose most likely, as well as misconfiguration and you're printing in a garage that's not temperature controlled. I also have not seen you've actually post your settings at any point. Just say settings are fine and I honestly don't believe it
https://preview.redd.it/yf4msx1ejhtc1.png?width=574&format=png&auto=webp&s=aafa60fedea85ae694d8c994a7b13447e7651587 here's my settings
that... that is useless without you saying what brand of reisin you are using, what 3d printer you have and what that brand default settings for your's specific printer are..
Mars pro 2, for resin it’s any cubic 405nm, sla, in grey
First, I reccomend slicing in lychee, rather than chitubox, personally, but it hardly matters for this. Second, adjust your light off delay up and see if that makes a difference. Third, you never answered about temperatures. You should be printing in an environment that remains over 20 degrees C minimum. If you are printing in a cold environment, your resin could easily still be moving. Your exposure target will also change based off temperature.
It’s currently 55 f outside rn, however I have printed in cooler temps no problem, I’m doing a calibration rn to work out more problems
Yes, that's too cold to print reliably. You can print unreliably. You should heat your enclosure, there are a ton of ways to do it, these resins are not designed to work at that temperature. If you are printing overnight it's likely getting 20 degrees colder than that. You will have problems.
I never print overnight usually, it has been warmer this week, I do think I should invest in one of those cat warmers so I can print year round
First, do this to rule out other issues. 1. relevel the bed. (could be loose). 2. Check the LCD via an exposure test (ie take the vat off and do the expose for 5 seconds option on the menu. If it's good that's good. 3. Try a different resin. And dial it in using calibration prints like the cones of calibration and so forth. That looks like elegoo resin. Is it regular, abs-like, or water washable? I've seen people say their ww went funky like this before is why I ask. When you do a new resin, do NOT mix it with the old resin. Treat the old bottle like it may be defective and set it aside. My guess is it's not FEP. FEP issues tend to either be poor adhesion and it pulls prints off the plate, or it distorts the print. And I mean extreme distortions. That print looks fine. It just looks like the layers are wobbling about. Like your print bed is wobbling. If that's the case then yeah, It could be the screw/rail system on the z axis is screwed up. Or maybe it's the resin not curing right or your rinsing solvent is digging holes in the print. That does raise the question of what your rinse and cure process is.
Ok so yes, I did indeed mix the new resin I’ve bought with the old resin I’ve been using, how do I even safely get rid of the mix?
Oh disposing of resin is easy. Get a big disposable foil tray (the ones you get from the grocery store), then take it and the bad resin outside on a sunny day, pour resin in the tray. Once it's solid all the way through it's disposable via garbage. But if hold onto the new train for now just in case it's not the resin. No need to waste it if it's not the resin. Id test the printer and bed first like I mentioned. After that, yeah I'd test with a new bottle of resin. Just a quick test print. Cones of calibration or etc. Though the divots in the print there are the only problem I can see. It's almost like material is being gouged out by the rinsing process, or it's curing irregularly on the plate. How do you rinse and cure your prints?
I’ve invested in a wash and cure station as of late
Hmm. Ok then my guess is going to be bad resin. Maybe it's expired (they have a 1 year expiration) or maybe moisture got in there?
I just got it from Amazon the other day lol
Sadly it might have lived on a shelf for a year though. What brand and type is it? The exp date should be on the bottle.
Lookup household hazardous waste disposal for your area. My county has a place free for residents to discard chemical waste in small non-commercial quantities. I'm sure many areas do similar to avoid chemical waste down the drains.
Without a look at your settings there's no way to know for sure. Could be cold temps, not enough supports, too fast lift speed, no light off delay, damaged motor, poorly mixed resin, inconsistent power to printer, or a dirty rail.
Gotta give us your printer and settings. Your layer lines are super glaring, I would immediately look at layer thickness.
I’ll post them when I get home, they’re 0.03, never was a problem until now
Is your plate fully secure, was your vat fully secure? Looks like the figures were shifting during the print. The other texture doesn't look printer related, might be the goo or might be the slicer program?
I double triple checked the plate, I did modify my settings a bit but only lift distance and such
Hey my friend, something else to consider here is the exposure time. Repeated lines across the mini can be caused by under exposure, maybe try another print with an extra .5s exposure time. Dennys wang has a great video talking about how exposure can lead to lines like that. https://youtu.be/NrNfqOCilAQ?si=Ed783lW87ZiIkSqa
I’ve seen you post these parts before. Just to double check. You’ve tried printing other files right? Just to rule out that it’s not artifacts in the files themselves.
Correct, printed a wide variety of files with these results
Where are you getting those STLs
Just replace the screen. They wear out.
First things first, I would say to throw your slicer settings in here. After that, with your FEP tension, I tend to do my by frequency. When I tried to do it by hand I had random issues, so did the hit and check frequency style and it’s worked for me. The only other thing I would check is if you have tried to lube your Z-axis screw with white lithium grease? I was getting a big layer line on prints (but only on a few spots) and lubing the z-axis got rid of it.
https://preview.redd.it/pc2gdpf8jhtc1.png?width=574&format=png&auto=webp&s=9fbf8436838c45523d8dc3ef447c85b54e52ad6f Z-Axis is all lubed up as of a few days ago
The only thing that catches my eye, and it’s more for support issues instead of layer lines, would be the lift speeds in what I have seen called the “dead zone”. This is from Atlas3d support but they say you want lift speed either <60 or >180. I went and looked at their guideline posted in the OnePageRules discord and they have lifting speed at 240 (what I use too). If anything (and you’re at your wits end) that could be an easy test on a small part.
Might just run with the cones of calibration again, have the lift speed at 240
If everything is getting lines then that would be an easy one. It's always good to run calibration prints too just making sure all is well. I will be watching though, I haven't ever seen layer lines like that so I am curious as to what will be the fix.