@Dave V - Dave, now's a good time to get into 3D resin printing as the bugs have been worked out of printer mechanicals, the resins, the slicer apps and the 3D modeling apps...and the prices are very reasonable also.
Although several of the TRW members are going with smaller 7" DLP machines, I've found that modern, high resolution 10" LED/MSLA machines are a very practical way to go and allow easy placement of larger items such as structures, passenger cars, etc, with ultimate resolution that allows ultra-fine details, such as wood grain, rivet/nut&bolt details, and will also print excellent curved surfaces with barely visible layer lines...or, in some cases, no visible layer lines...which is great for things like passenger car roofs, horn bells, sand domes, cab roofs, etc. Most modern higher-end machines have an anti-aliasing algorithm that produces smooth curved surface. (I won't get into anti-aliasing in this post).
Most of today's 3D resin printers will give you excellent results, even the most basic models. However, there are some "bells & whistles" on modern machines that make 3D printing easier, more reliable (fewer print failures) faster and less complicated, and able to be connected to your home wireless network if you want.
I don't recommend starting out with a basic, small printer especially for dedicated modelers such as yourself. A highly capable 3D resin printer is going to open up a whole new world as far as your modeling accuracy is concerned, making dependence on manufacturers' models to fit your road, era, location completely irrelevant, since you'll be able to just do it yourself...at a fraction of the cost and with much (much) better scale fidelity.
So, the printer I've been recommending to several N-scale modelers for about a year and a half is the Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra 16K, and they've been totally happy with it, one even buying a second machine to speed things up with his basement-filling-double-decked RGS in Nn3.
Although I don't think that a high resolution of 24µm which the Elegoo 16K machine has, is necessary for fine N-scale details (my "small" 10" printer has a resolution of 28.5µm and I'm perfectly happy with the minuscule details it produces), it's nice to have the finer resolution when resin technology catches up and can actually use such fine resolution. However, it's the "bells & whistles" on this machine that make it kinda perfect for a beginner, as well as for an advanced 3D modeler, so once you get familiar with 3D printing, you won't be wishing you'd have spent the extra money for a more capable machine.
What makes the Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra 16K machine good for beginners is the "tilt release" technology, which makes setup when slicing your 3D models half as complicated. Take my word for it. This also makes the machine faster, which isn't all that important to me, but, for it IS nice to wait less for your prints to finish up. No other company offers this "tilt release" technology, but, it's been on the market for a while and is now a proven technology.
One of the things that's really important for successful, detailed resin prints, is the temperature of the resin. It's got to be a few degrees hotter than room temperature to be fully capable, and this machine has an integral resin vat heater, keeping the resin at 30C (85F), which is something my "big" Anycubic Photon Mono M7 Max printer has and I love it.
This machine also has a full array of sensors that will detect such things as print failure, hardened residue, low resin volume and leveling failure...and will stop your print to prevent damage, and/or resin wastage. If the power goes out, it will also allow you to start right back up where the print left off when the power comes back on.
Elegoo claims that the build plate is "self-leveling" but actually it is just spring loaded, but is rtr out-of-the-box.
Other feature include a built-in camera for stop motion videos of your print if you want...it also monitors the print for empty-build-plate failures and warped prints...with its own little built-in light, also a typical laser-etched build-plate surface, overheating detection to protect the innards of the machine, ability to vary the exposure timing in various sections of the build plate if necessary, advanced PFA release film for faster printing, and for use with the tilt-release system, a separate dedicated drip tray to keep resin out of the guts of the tilt-release mechanism, also a tempered glass LCD protector...and more.
Price right now is discounted to $499...while not cheap, is not expensive considering the top-of-the-line features and build quality. I paid $699 for my 10" machine two and a half years ago, and around the same price for my 13.6" Anycubic machine a year ago.
Printing is only a portion of the 3D resin-printing experience. The resin prints when they come out of the printer, are only partially cured and need cleaning and curing before they're finished. To do this quickly, cleanly and accurately, a machine that does both washing and curing is a good idea to have. Elegoo, when you buy your printer, offers bundles that include their wash and cure machine(s). I would recommend their largest wash & cure machine, the Mercury Plus V3 for a bundle price of $579 for both, a $70 savings over buying them separately with their individual discounts.
There are parts to any LCD or MSLA printers that get used up after printing a lot of models. These are the release film on the bottom of the resin tank...which must be replaced after around 45,000 releases. So, buying a package of ten replacement PFA film sheets should be done and included in the bundle for extra 5% savings. This will add $57 to the bundle price.
Okay, another consumable item would be the LCD screen itself, which has a life usually between 1000 and 2000 hours of "on-time"...meaning the time the LDC is actually working, not how long the printer is turned on. Although it is a good idea to have a spare on hand, it wouldn't be necessary for quite a while before the old one gives out. However, if the original lasts years, and the machine is otherwise working well, it may be nearly impossible to find a replacement screen a few years in the future. If you feel like affording it, you can save 5% by including one in the bundle for $123.49 extra.
If you want to use a different resin, such as a clear resin, or different color etc., then it is a good idea to have an extra resin tank or two ready to take the different resin. For this machine and it's integrally heated vat, the cost would be $50.34.
Another item that is very convenient to have is an extra build plate. While the prints are dripping resin off-machine, with an extra build plate, you could attach it and start another print while the original build plate still has the print(s) attached to it...saving 30 to 45 minutes, or more while you let the prints drip resin, then wash them (while still attached to the build plate which is what I generally do), and then strip them off before curing. This saves me a whole lot of time, but, I'm printing production runs, so maybe this isn't so important to you. If you want an extra build plate, its discounted price when added to the bundle is an extra $47.50.
When you wash your prints, the uncured resin washes off into the 91% or stronger Isopropyl Alcohol, and the IPA gets cloudy with dissolved resin pretty quickly. The answer to this problem is another wash tank, filled with much cleaner IPA...and because your prints are much cleaner from being cleaned in the first wash, the IPA in the second tank stays clean much longer than the IPA in the first tank. When the IPA in the first tank becomes unsuitable for washing because of all the dissolved resin in it, time to dispose of the IPA in that tank and move the second tank into its place, filling the first tank that you've emptied with fresh IPA so it becomes the second wash tank. An extra wash tank for the Mercury Plus V3.0 or $36.99 before its 5% discount for including it in the bundle.
For a 20% discount on the extra wash tank, buy an item you'll need to put under your machines, two 400mm X 300mm premium silicone mats, which the resin won't stick to and can be easily cleaned with IPA. A package of two of these sells for $14.99 before the 20% discount. Both the extra wash tank and the silicone mats with their 20% discounts will add $41.58 to the price.
I use, and am very happy with resin I buy from Anycubic, which will work just fine in your Elegoo machine. Everybody I've recommended it to is happy with it and mention it's better than the previous resins they had been experimenting with for their N-scale models. This resin is Anycubic ABS-Like Pro2 Resin. I use both the Grey and Clear, and I am very happy with the results on my extremely fine cross-section small N-scale detail parts as well as my G-scale projects. You'll want to purchase more than one bottle of it, and if you have the resources you can save a bunch by buying it directly from Anycubic in 3KG (or greater) batches. I bought a 20 bottle batch last month for a discounted price per bottle of only $19.99 per bottle, vs $28.99 single bottle price. Batch discounts start at the 3-bottle batch with a 28% discount and goes up to a 38% discount with the 20KG batch (each bottle is 1KG). I highly recommend this resin for N-scale detailed models because of its high flowability and detail retention, as well as for larger scales due to its durability.
Before you can print anything, you need to be able to either purchase or create STL files, which is the file format your rendered 3D models will be in (there are other usable formats but I create STL files exclusively). To create your 3D models you need an app. Personally, I use Autodesk Fusion360, but there are other, simpler to learn apps that work just fine for creating relatively simple 3D models of N-scale objects, such as Tinkercad. Most popular 3D apps have tutorials, both official and otherwise you can access on YouTube that will take your through beginning-to-end instructions on how to create printable STL files of your models.
My computer, which is about 8 years old, handles Fusion360 just fine, but I'm being forced to install Windows11 now that Autodesk has decided that all upgrades will only be viable in that POS OS. Oh well, gotta do what I gotta do...
After you get your STL files created, to print them, they have to be imported into a "slicer" app. This app requires you to input your brand of 3D printer, the resin you're gonna use, and allows you to support your models in various ways either manually or automatically...or a combination of both...assisting you by showing you where your support attachment points should be...among dozens of other options. Once again, there are many tutorials on YouTube to teach you the how to support your models successfully. THEN, the "slicer" app lets you "slice" your supports and your model into horizontal slices so that your 3D printer can create a 3D print.
I believe that Elegoo supplies two slicer apps with its machines, one of them being Chitibox, one of my preferred slicers, although I use LycheeSlicer...my other preferred slicer.
This is going to require a bit of computer time during the learning curve on how to use both your 3D app and your slicer app. I've gone to using two side-by-side monitors, using one monitor to watch and pause the tutorials, while working with the app on the other monitor. Works very well for me, and has saved me a lot of time.
After you've successfully created a sliced file for your particular printer with the resin you're using specified, upload a copy to the supplied USB flash drive your printer supplies (or upload it using your wireless network), eject the flash drive and plug it into your printer's USB port. Going through your printer's OS, you'll see that you can choose what to print, so be sure to give your created file a name that properly identifies it.
Other items that you're going to need will be enough 91% (or stronger) IPA to fill your wash & cure's tank to a proper level, with extra to wipe down little spills or drops of resin you inevitably cannot avoid.
You'll also need a good supply of Nitrile gloves, which I wear constantly when handling anything that has uncured resin around in an open container. I buy mine at Harbor Freight Tools for a very good price.
If the smell of the resin and alcohol bothers you, then an appropriate respirator should be worn. If possible, vent the room your printers are in to the outside, which greatly helps get rid of the offensive fumes. This is what I do, and I don't feel the need for a respirator. Since I'll be 77 this year, I also don't worry about any future damage the fumes might do to me, but you may feel that you have long enough left to take precautions.
I use a lot of paper towels in the process, cleaning things with them. Those paper towels where I wipe raw resin off of things, I will cure the resin that's on them using a UV curing flashlight I bought at Hobby Lobby, or my rechargeable flashlight with a UV function I bought at The Home Depot. Curing the resin quickly that's on the paper towel I just used, stops the odor and keeps the wet resin from getting on things since it's now hard.
I also use microfiber clothes for cleaning sensitive areas, such as the plastic parts of my machines, LCD control panels and for wiping the release film if I need to clean my NFEP film before changing it. Again, Harbor Freight Tools is a good source for these.
Since I don't want to be constantly cleaning everything if I get drops of resin on stuff, or IPA drips...I used cheap aluminum broiling pans where I can sit my build plate with the attached prints in it...with three half-paper towels in the bottom of it..while the parts drain. I use another one for the IPA to drain off of after taking them out of my wash & cure's IPA tank, still attached to the build plate, often helping the IPA evaporate by using my old shop hair dryer set on medium velocity, low heat. I buy the broiling pans at my local WinCo supermarket, for about $1.90 each, and I have several in reserve.
When curing, the IPA needs to be completely gone, so I usually wait at least 30 minutes before curing, or help the evaporation along with my shop hairdryer if I'm in a hurry. Depending on the part and its thickness, I usually cure between 2.5 minutes and 6 minutes...the thick G-scale stuff taking longer.
If the parts warp, I put them in a flat-bottomed pan and pour water that I've just boiled in...enough to cover the parts...they usually straighten right up, sometimes with a little assistance from me when they've been taken out of the hot water and put on a flat surface. When they cool off, they remain straight surprisingly. An easy solution to a very common problem.
Ideally, you should have a separate printing room with opaque shades on any windows. Before I moved to my new residence, my 3D printing room was the laundry/utility room with a couple of high, narrow windows in my basement. The nearest window's glass got replaced with piece of 2" pink foam insulation with a hole in it to retain a dryer vent, which was hooked up to my spray booth's ventilation fan, exactly adjacent to my 3D printing bench where my 3D printers were located...the fairly heavy-duty continual use fan was almost always on, sucking the stinky air outside. My present setup is almost the same except it's in a small, spare bedroom and the single window is much larger. I heat it in the Winter with a thermostat equipped electric space heater that's set at 75F. In the Summer, I probably won't need the heater.
That's about it except for a link to Elegoo's site here:
https://us.elegoo.com/collections/lcd-printers/products/saturn-4-ultra-16k-10inch-monochrome-lcd-resin-3d-printerHere's a link to the Anycubic site for the resin:
https://store.anycubic.com/products/abs-like-resin-pro-2?_sasdk=dMTlkNmViMmIwOGQ0YTAtMDY1MGU4OWNjMmFmYjk0LTg1YzUwMjktMjM1OTI5Ni0xOWQ2ZWIyYjA4ZTEyODUMy apologies about any typos or grammar mistakes...I'm too tired to proofread it tonight!
Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore
