Photocentric UV resin compatibility guide

Our high-performance resins have been formulated to be compatible with a wide range of 3rd party printers.

Resins:

UV Castable, UV High Tensile, UV DLP Crystal Clear, Durable UV80, UV DLP Firm, UV DLP Flexible, UV DLP Hard, UV DLP Poliglass, Rigid UV240 Plant-Based, UV Dental Model, UV LCD Firm, UV LCD Hard, Flexible UV160TR

Compatible Printers

Note: UV DLP resins may require longer exposure time when used on UV LCD printers. All resins print at a wavelength of 385nm or 405nm. 

  • Ackuretta FreeShape 120
  • Ackuretta Dentiq
  • Anycubic Mono
  • Anycubic Photon
  • Asiga Max
  • Asiga Pico
  • Asiga Pro 4K
  • Atum3D DLP Station 5
  • Beam3D Prism
  • Carima IM2
  • Creality LD-002R
  • Creality LD-002H
  • Creality Halot-One
  • Creality Halot-Sky
  • Cubicon Lux
  • DWS DigitalWax 028
  • Elegoo Mars
  • Elegoo Mars 2 & Mars 2 Pro
  • Elegoo Mars 3
  • Elegoo Saturn
  • Envisontec Perfactory
  • EPAX X1N
  • EPAX X10 Color
  • EPAX X10 & E10 Mono
  • EPAX X1K E6
  • Flashforge Hunter
  • IBEE by UNIZ
  • Kelant S400
  • Kudo3D Bean
  • Monoprice
  • Moonray
  • Orange Longer 30
  • Peopoly Phenom
  • Photocentric LC Dental
  • Phrozen Shuffle
  • Phrozen XL
  • Phrozen Transform (RGB)
  • Phrozen Sonic Mini & XL 4K
  • Phrozen Sonic 4K
  • Phrozen Sonic Mini 4K
  • Phrozen Sonic Mighty 4K
  • SainSmart Kumitsu
  • Shining Accufab-D1
  • Shining3D AccuFab-L4D
  • Shining3D AccuFab-L4K
  • Sparkmaker
  • UnionTech Cute300
  • Uniz Slash
  • Wanhao D7
  • W2P Solflex Series
  • W2P Sollab Series
  • Zortrax Inkspire

Photocentric Liquid Crystal Opus Compatible Resins

UV Castable, UV High Tensile, Durable UV80, UV DLP Hard, Rigid UV240 Plant-Based, UV Dental Model, Flexible UV160TR

Resin:

UV Laser Hard

Compatible Printers

  • Formlabs Form 1+
  • Formlabs Form 2
  • Formlabs Form 3
  • Peopoly Maoi
  • XYZ Printing Nobel 1A

UV Resin Layer Exposure

Overview

This guide will assist you in establishing a layer exposure time for a desired resin and layer thickness based on the characteristics of Photocentric’s UV Resin range and your UV 3D printer.

Each resin requires a specific energy to cure a certain layer thickness. ‘Energy’ is defined by multiplying ‘light output intensity’ of your printer and a ‘given time of exposure’. The equation below simply explains the matter:

Energy [mJ/cm²]= Light Output Intensity [mW/cm²] x Exposure Time [s]

Your UV 3D printer manufacturer will provide you with light output intensity value.

Example

For this example, we will look to establish the exposure time for a 100 µm layer with Durable UV80. The energy required for this is 12.1 mJ/cm². and the chosen UV 3D printer has a light output intensity of 6.2 mW/cm².

So, to calculate the exposure time, divide the Energy by the light output intensity:

12.1 ÷ 6.2 ≈ 2.0 s

Information on required energy for Photocentric’s UV Resin range can be found here >

Post Processing

All printed parts will need to be exposed to UV light to obtain the mechanical properties found in the technical data sheet for that material. Some resins require difference post exposures therefore please refer to individual technical data sheets for post processing instructions which can be found here >

Print Troubleshooting

Casting Issues

If you are having issues casting using the castable resins please refer to the instructions here.

Holes appearing in the side of prints

Holes in the sides are often caused by blowouts due to air cupping. This is caused by either hollow parts or parts where a large air gap is present in the print and there is no air gap for the air to release through. Please refer to hollowing prints below for more information if you are still experiencing difficulties.

Hollowing Prints

It is possible to hollow out prints using software such as Meshmixer or Tinkercad but this can also be done using Photocentric Studio. Always keep in mind that there needs to be drain holes to allow the flow of air throughout any hollow structure. It will form a cupping effect if the air has nowhere to go which leads to failures in the prints called “blowouts”.  Adding an air release hole into a print will help stop this.

Platform adhesion issues

If the print is removing itself from the print bed and remaining within the vat after a print, try increasing the base layer time (also known as the burn in time). This will aid in forming a strong bond between parts and the build platform.

If you are experiencing adhesion issues on a Formlabs printer, try reducing the platform z height by following the instructions found on Formlabs website here

Lack of details on prints

If you are finding that your prints are not coming out as well defined when using our resin, it is possible that the cure time you are using is incorrect. Try printing using our test piece here using your time. If the text is coming out very thin and there are many poles missing, increase the cure time and print again. If the text is coming out thick and blurred, all the poles are present but a large number of holes are filled in, the cure time is too high. Try reducing it.

My printer doesn’t have variable settings

When settings on the printer can’t be varied, we advise using the standard settings that the printer comes with such as the Clear and Black settings on the Formlabs printers.

Print failing on supports

It is important to ensure that enough supports are being used to print your part. Try increasing the number of the supports and the diameter of the poles. If they are still breaking around the point that connects the support to part, try increasing tip diameter. Certain resins, such as Flexible and Ultraflex, will need larger supports diameters and tip size due to the lower strength in the green state.

Prints cracking

Parts can crack if not enough supports are added to the part. Increase the number of supports to avoid the parts from moving too much during the print and stop cracks.