Build your own easy UV Curing Chamber for Resin 3D Printers like the Anycubic Photon

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Build your own easy UV Curing Chamber for Resin 3D Printers like the Anycubic Photon

I recently bought an Anycubic Photon Resin DLP 3D printer and it is awesome.  It uses UV light to cure thin layers of resin to create highly detailed 3D prints. You can see some examples below.  You can leave your prints to cure on a windowsill but the UK is not known for its high levels of sunshine so you may also need a way to cure your UV after the print process.  It normally is just a little soft so that you can dent it with a finger nail if you try hard.  UV curing stops all of that.

This was a really easy UV curing chamber to build and only took me a couple of hours – most of which was soldering the LED strips.  If you don’t want to solder, you can probably just wind the LED tape around a suitable container.

First Prints

My first proper print (after the test cube) was this 3D head from Thingiverse.  I took the bust bit off and made it hollow with a 1mm thick wall using Blender:

 

I printed the first print using .05mm layers and standard setting:

0.05mm layer print
0.05mm layer print

You can clearly see the lines around the lips, forehead and neck.  The resin itself is translucent and refracts so it looks even more obvious as you move it.

I printed it again at 0.025mm layers:

0.025mm layer print
0.025mm layer print

The lines are so much better – result!  It’s also a bit shinier as I only rinsed with 100% Isopropyl Alcohol and omitted a final water step.  It probably won’t make a difference when primed but I like this look better.

I was really interested in what the prints were like when primed:

Here’s 0.05mm:

0.05mm layer print
0.05mm layer print

And here’s 0.025mm:

0.025mm layer print
0.025mm layer print

Whilst you can still see some very fine lines on the 0.025mm, I’m really happy. I’m being a little picky here and you have to remember that the picture is bigger than the actual print which is only 50mm long from neck to top of head. I could try the 0.01mm setting but I’m not sure whether the printer will differentiate much more at that level. One perhaps to try next.

Overall, I’m really pleased. The lines which put me off buying a 3D printer are not really there and the print quality is superb!

Tools & Materials

  • Really Useful Box – 9l which has internal dimensions of 33.5 x 21 x 14 cm (13 x 8.3 x 5.5 inches)
  • 405nm LED strip.  I bought this one from Amazon which includes a power adapter: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07859JRNJ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
  • Strong kitchen foil
  • Spray permanent adhesive
  • Soldering iron
  • Solder
  • Flux – I just use plumbing flux but it is acidic so you should clean it well afterwards
  • Holding Clips
  • Wire – at least two colours
  • Wire strippers
  • Hot glue gun – I used my nifty new Bosch Glue Pen
  • Turntable – I bought this battery operated turntable from eBay or Amazon years ago.

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