Edit: Deleting this post. It's starting to get controversial, but that's OK. Not what I planned on, but whatevers.

(Wait, what? This is from 2022??? I have known about CAL for a while, but this glass stuff is new to me.)

3DPN video: https://youtu.be/pkBP_eO-Pug?si=l4__tZwrNDB4qNlU

CAL: computed axial lithography

Researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a new way to 3D-print glass microstructures that is faster and produces objects with higher optical quality, design flexibility and strength, according to a new study published in the April 15 issue of Science.

I am fed up with resin slicers.

Chitubox is about as stable as a drunk on a tightrope, Lychee is bad for engineering models and over-priced if you just want some basic support functions and PrusaSlicer is under-developed. All of these solutions work for different things based on the goals of the user. (For some, Lychee is an excellent value so my distaste is likely not universal.)

What really pissed me off is that support painting shouldn't be a paid feature. You hold the mouse button down and drop a support at specific distance from the last. It doesn't take massive cloud computational clusters or huge storage requirements but yet, money. Fuck. That.

I want a completely FOSS tool that is stable and includes functionality for auto-positioning models and has a full set of knobs and levers for support generation, support painting included.

So, I spent the morning getting a dev environment setup for PrusaSlicer to use as a base for resin-only tools. Over the next month or so, I'll take some time to strip out all the FDM support and get the slicer into a bare-bones state with only the existing resin features. Of course, it'll be on GitHub.

Back to the main subject. I was hoping that y'all had references in regards to anything resin printing: Support placement methods, model rotation optimization, resin strength data, FEP peel force data or anything that could be coded and implemented into a slicer. Hell, even discovering different methods for hollowing an STL would be nice.

Data and strategies for various tools would be nice to have at this point to at least start forming a roadmap for development. (One of the first goals is to integrate UVTools as a snap-in, somehow.)

FDM tools are plentiful because of wide spread adoption. Resin printers still seem niche so printer manufacturers naturally gravitate to writing their own tools for their own hardware in their race to the bottom.

With all of that said, I am actually curious if others would even want to see a project like this kicked off.

A few hours later, I just discovered how long this cheesy noodle trend has been going on for.

Also, this idea was already taken by a previous poster who likely started this trend quite a few days ago, I see.

My mistake!

I am simply on a quest to find an effective non-distillation method for purifying isopropyl alcohol used for rinsing resin 3D prints.

I have seen some elaborate systems for curing and then filtering resin that is suspended in the isopropyl by running it through standard carbon water filters. That just seems a bit over-complex and does a poor job of removing dyes. In some cases, the filters are not fine enough and the isopropyl will eventually get "sticky".

It seems to me that a finer filtration system would work much better. Carbon and celite should catch most of the monomers and oligomers, but I am not sure about the photoinitiators and other additives.

Distillation is obviously the best method for purity, but there may be a worse cleanup and a higher fire hazard risk.

Are there better materials that I could use for filtering besides celite and carbon? IPA is tiny compared to the rest of the molecules I am dealing with so filtration seems viable.

(I should note that I would bulk develop the used IPA in clear plastic containers in the sun for a day or two first.)

Edit: Just copy the original filename, Chinese and all, to a custom RERF file. It tested fine with the factory tests and also custom test parts I made. I didn't test with only "R_E_R_F.px6s" as the filename as I proved the original filename works fine with custom models.

Edit2: I had the motivation to check the file today without that Chinese and it works fine as well.

Just got a new Anycubic Photon Mono X 6Ks and the RERF file on the included USB has Chinese characters in the name. ("R_E_R_Fchch.px6s" / ch being Chinese characters...) Does the printer require those characters for custom RERF test prints, or is it actually just "R_E_R_F.px6s"?

The documentation is unclear and online searching is jumbled with several issues regarding this filename across different printer models.

I am business dumb, but I have a very unique mix of skills I would like to turn into a side hustle. Needless to say, there is going to be a huge learning curve for me.

Sure, I could just sell 3D prints on Etsy, but I would rather focus on B2B type work with a more hands on approach than the Chinese print farms/PCB manufacturers. (I'll start an Etsy shop for practice, but that particular market seems extremely saturated.)

So, if you have started a business before, what are some basic things that you wish someone had told you before you did? Are there good books or other references I could use?

Fenn and Sudo. (Yes. I am nerd and Sudo is "my" kitty.)

I am fairly sure that I am being laid off with other Sr. Engineers tomorrow and need some ideas. Basically, I saw a calendar mistake by HR, so oops!

Meh. It's gonna suck for a bit, but whatevers. Life is more important than a shit job. :)