“I decided to venture into the world of 3D resin printing after years of immersion using FDM (fused deposition modeling) printing. For those who are unfamiliar with this, it’s like squeezing toothpaste onto a surface. I have a Lulzbot Mini 2 and love it, but at times I want a very high quality print that I just cannot get out of FDM printing. Nor do I want to spend hours post processing. As a result, I jumped on the newly-release Elegoo Mars 3 Ultra printer (Nov 2021). It had some reviews, and apparently 4k resolution is the bomb this month (given 6/8k are just around the corner!). It also diverges from the common RGB LCD screens toward a black an white LCD. As I understand it, the direction is to move away from most costly RGB screens as B/W will do – which makes sense given the way these things work and the newer ones last longer.
I’m currently in discovery mode having not even used my new Elegoo Mars yet. As I research all the tools and bits I need, there’s a good argument for a UV resin curing station vs curing by hand. I don’t really want to be exposed to UV light and want to limit the mess & handling of resin. Seeing these things are $100+ and are quite simple in design, I figured why not!? Easy peasy right! Timing would have it that SEEED recently sent me a new Wio Terminal to try out. I had most of the electronic bits to make this an easy build. So this is a review of sorts as well. Just needed to order a UV LED strip, a solar powered turntable, and a garbage tin. Read on for how I pulled it together, and you can also watch the video where I share my thoughts on the build and more specifically the plusses and minuses of the Wio Terminal. Check out the video for more info on this build as well as my experience with the Wio
Approach:
Below are the current features:
- 15 minute countdown timer for curing duration (can be changed via code, or the joystick)
- States on the HMI: Ready, Curing, Pause and Complete
- Displays temperature and humidity inside the chamber. Temperature histogram at bottom
- WIO joystick to add or reduce minutes & start / stop the curing
- The turntable has solar panels that are powered when the UV lights are on, so no need for any control there”