Sci-Fi modeling on Elegoo Mars -- Community support/tips

My man cave is in the basement, so light won't be an issue. I also have the exhaust fan from my paint booth and I'll have to jury-rig up a length of exhaust hose to reach over to the new 3D print station for the fumes. Then I'll only need some Erlenmeyer flasks, a jacob's ladder or two, and an Igor and I'll be ready to bring things to life! :p
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My man cave is in the basement, so light won't be an issue. I also have the exhaust fan from my paint booth and I'll have to jury-rig up a length of exhaust hose to reach over to the new 3D print station for the fumes. Then I'll only need some Erlenmeyer flasks, a jacob's ladder or two, and an Igor and I'll be ready to bring things to life! :p

You won't regret it. If you design your own greeblies and objects in 3D (or download them) you can let the printer do the tedious work and make enough for plenty of projects. Go on YouTube and search for a few reviews on the particular printer you are interested in and see what others have to say. Turn on antialiasing for more detail and smother layers.
When I first got my Mars, I tried printing the Rooks. I leveled the bed perfectly by continuously my Rooks were disbonding from the print surface. Elegoo, like most models, paints their print surface. Cleaning with alcohol for me had little effect. I had to sand it down to bare metal. After that, there were little issues.

TazMan2000
 
That's a great tip Taz - thanks! I'd advise sanding it on a totally flat surface - a sheet of glass maybe.


Interesting. How careful do you need to be when sanding? I would worry about making the surface uneven.

The print surface is quite solid and made of good steel. I just sanded mine down by hand. with 400 grit progressing to 600. Do not use mechanical means of sanding and you'll be fine.

TazMan2000
 
The print surface is quite solid and made of good steel. I just sanded mine down by hand. with 400 grit progressing to 600. Do not use mechanical means of sanding and you'll be fine.

TazMan2000

I'll give it a try when mine arrives. Think I'll play it safe and lay the sandpaper on a perfectly smooth surface to keep things nice and level.
 
I'm a subscriber to this channel....Crafsman....WARNING!!!....You'll be addicted to his videos, he covers everything to do with modelling techniques & crafts



Keep steady craftin

J

What you should not do like the TheCrafsMan, when taking of the part from the build plate, is to put the whole build plate in a bucket of IPA, this can cause uncured resin thinned with IPA to creep into all the nooks and crannies of the ball joint, that holds the build plate, this will make the build plate unstable and can move while printing,
unless you want to take the whole build plate apart every time you finish a print, (trust me you don't) do this on some paper towels and then throw the part into IPA.

You only need to wipe the edges and the bottom of the build plate with a paper towel and resume printing.
Only if you are changing resins do you have to clean the build plate and vat with IPA :)

For new users it might be good practice to empty your vat after each print, I know it is a drag, but when you don't have much experience with good support for models, you run the risk of having small unsported bits floating in the vat, and that can ruin your costly screen.
no need for cleaning just filter it into the bottle and look if you see parts on the fep or in the filter, then pour it back in the vat.
 
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I had a go at replicating a Terrell P34 part that was used on the 32” Falcon ...I’ll be putting parts into the “32inch Parts” folder on my OneDrive....link: Attachments v

John
 
Thanks for making that folder, John. It's going to be invaluable when I make my Hasbro Falcon -- and hopefully I'll be able to contribute some details. What's your experience been printing really tiny greeblies on the Mars? I can't imagine being able to do something as small or delicate as the Tiger I wirecutters from the 5-footer's starboard mandible, for example.

My Mars is literally in my house and sitting in a closet, but I can't open it for another couple of weeks until my birthday. It. Is. Killing. Me.
 
Thanks for making that folder, John. It's going to be invaluable when I make my Hasbro Falcon -- and hopefully I'll be able to contribute some details. What's your experience been printing really tiny greeblies on the Mars? I can't imagine being able to do something as small or delicate as the Tiger I wirecutters from the 5-footer's starboard mandible, for example.

My Mars is literally in my house and sitting in a closet, but I can't open it for another couple of weeks until my birthday. It. Is. Killing. Me.

you will be amazed what resin printers can do :)
 

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you will be amazed what resin printers can do :)
Yes! You've basically got the full pixel resolution of whatever LCD screen is in your machine, plus anti-aliasing, plus whatever your minimum layer height is. Tiny amounts compared to the 0.4mm x 0.2mm (or thereabouts) for FDM printing.
 
I agree a 3D printing section would be useful to many but please don't narrow it to resin printers. Small resin printers are nice but they are, after all, small. Many of us are using FDM for larger parts combined with resin details. I recently bought a large format Peopoly Phenom resin printer but man, washing, cleaning and curing large pieces will not be fun (or cheap). Anyone priced IPA recently?? The best deal I could find was 4 gallons for $150 (shipped in 3 days).
 
I agree a 3D printing section would be useful to many but please don't narrow it to resin printers.

No harm adding discussion about FDM printing. I only started the thread about the Elegoo Mars since several RPFers were getting it or already had it. I will likely get something like a Ender-3 at some point in the near future for larger builds, but am starting with the Mars because it's cheap and can produce finer levels of details (as Jaitea illustrates above -- HOLY CRAP!) for the kinds of sci-fi kits many of us are building. Any information anyone wants to add about FDM printers is only a bonus. If people don't have a resin printer, consider this a resource for things people are doing with theirs. Modeling involves using a lot of different tools and this is just one of them. (y)
 
Ha....not long to wait...plenty of time to collect files!!!
Yes I’m really happy with the printer in regards to printing out really fine small details
Heres some comparisons

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John

Sweet baby cheesus! That is amazing! This is such a game changer. The time and money this will save on finding donor kit parts -- and just making multiple copies when needed -- is a revolution.
 
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