You can tell my 3D printing influence is slowly taking over at NAG HQ. One delivery at a time, I’m slowly turning the office into a baby print farm, and I love it.
Just recently, we secured a sexy Halot Mage-S, a 14K super-fast resin printer that will pour out figurines like we’re Iron Studios.
While the printer itself is stunning, it had some of the staff asking, “What else would one need to make sure their printing experience all goes to plan?” Which made me think, some of you may be asking the same question.
So, here are a few 3D printing gadgets, gizmos, and accessories that I’d highly recommend you pick up to make everything go as smoothly as your first resin print.
Washing and Curing Station
When it comes to resin printing, there are two steps that you absolutely cannot skip to ensure you have the finest print, and those are washing and curing.
Some brands sell separate washing and curing stations, while other enthusiasts have gone so far as to build their own rigs with a bit of tin foil and a cardboard box. However, here at NAG, we use the Creality UW-02, a combination wash and cure station that does everything in one large box and prevents Len from shouting at me for using the sink in the bathroom.
The Creality UW-02 is great because it has a large washing and curing space, so you can shove many resin-printed little goodies into it at once. It also uses magnets to drive the spinning mechanism, meaning your hardware lasts much longer, too.
If you’re just starting out, you can pick up the smaller UW-01, with similar features, or if you want to go all out, the UW-03 is Creality’s top-of-the-line combination station, which actually sells for a little bit cheaper as of writing this piece.
Creality Wash and Cure Station UW-02
Price: R3,999.95
Get it here
A Bucket
A bucket? Like, some kind of special, tech-enhanced bucket that does some super crazy thing? No. A simple plastic bucket that holds water is all you need here.
Why? Well, after my years of fiddling with resin prints, the easiest method I’ve found for removing those pesky supports is to soak your print in hot water once you’re done with the alcohol wash.
I’ve commandeered an old dustbin at the NAG offices to soak the prints in, but you could very easily get away with a good old Addis 9L bucket that you can pick up from your local Checkers.
Addis 9L Bucket
Price: R44.99
Get it here
Nitrile Gloves
The fact is, resin is toxic. If you touch uncured resin with your hands, you’ll likely get a nasty itch that’ll make you feel like you’re going through withdrawal.
A pair of nitrile gloves is the easiest and most recommended way to prevent this. You can easily pick up a box from your local Dischem or Clicks. A box is a good start, but you do goes through these gloves relatively quickly if you’re printing often.
Nitrile Gloves
Price: R149
Get it here
Some Resin
Of course, you probably are going to need some resin to begin your printing journey. Funniliy, it’s last on this list, but should probably be first on yours, after picking up the printer, that is.
Resin is a bit of a tough one to gauge, because there are many different kinds that are used for different situations. Over the years, I’ve found a mixture of two different resins that suit my purposes fairly well, but for this article we’ll keep things simple.
For your first time printing, avoid all the fancy names and the extra features, you’ll get there eventually. You don’t need 4K resin, you don’t need it to be water washable (although, your ethical inner being might tell you to get this one), and you don’t need any fast-curing what what.
Go basic and affordable, and grow from there.
The most accessible brand we seem to have in South Africa is Creality. Grab yourself a litre of the stuff, in any colour you think works well, my favourite base colour is grey, and start there.
Trust me, you’ll be ok.
Creality LCD UV Curing Resin
Price: R589
Get it here
With these things standing next to your brand-new resin printer, you can’t go wrong. Well, you can, but you’ll go less wrong at the very least.
