1

Hi,

I am wondering how are you guys and gals post curing your resin printed objects? Do you have any kind of UV owen? Where to get one of reasonable cost?
Did you make one yourself perhaps?

Or just waiting for a sunny day? :slight_smile:

Thanks

3 Likes
2

Hi @Jorge_Lopes,

I don’t use a UV cabinet, But you can find a good cheap one here.

I just follow the instruction, Two Baths of IPA (I use 100%) for about 10 - 15 minutes and aftewards I drop my model next to a window for minimum 8 hours. Its long, but it worth the time. You don’t need a sunny day for good UV curing. Its actually possible to have stronger UV rays on cloudy days :slight_smile:

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Well, the tough resin and castable resin need strong post curing. And sometimes time is money.

Anyway, thanks for your hint. It might be useful however the wavelenght of this sterilizer is 254nm where Formlabs resins are being cured with near ultraviolet wavelenght 405nm. Real UV , e.g.254nm, will still cure the resin but slowly. I was thinking of a DIY UV cabinet using 395-410nm near UV LEDs.

By the way, I did not know UV rays could be stronger on cloudy days. How so? Doesn’t clouds act like a filter?

Thanks again.

4

Hi,

Ive read an article about this. Quite funny, the don’t know the reason for this.

If you are planning to create a uv cabinet, please share your toughts. I definitly want to try it to.

Cheers

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That UV sterilizer’s light bulb can be replaced by another G5T5 bulb such as the one I got from topbulb.com, which has peak power at 368nm, much closer to 405nm, and it cures in about 15-30min for me. I suggest using a glass/plastic container with water inside as per Formlabs recomendation for even curing. Just be careful with water splashing, as there are exposed wires (I suggest doing it in gloves). I have overexposed in the sun a couple of times, and the parts had more yellow tint.

Light bulb:
http://www.topbulb.com/8w-t5-fluorescent-blacklight-blue-miniature-bipin-base