B9 Creations 3D Printer - First Test Print

[Bexley]

B9 Creations Website

First print off of the 3D printer, printed at 50 microns X/Y resolution and 50 microns Z (layer) resolution.

[eTraxx]

Certainly very nice print. At 50 microns that is about half the resolution of Shapeways' FUD at 28 microns (build layer) - but if I understand the specs - the minimum detail for FUD is .1mm or 100 microns - so twice the resolution on the X-Y plane of FUD. The big problem people have with FUD from Shapeways is that you can't specify orientation - and you get roughness where the wax support material meets the resin. That means that depending on the orientation of the print that sometimes it is beautiful and sometimes needs to find the trash basket.

[Bexley]

That was not the minimum, my coworker just used it as a test. This one was about twenty minutes. The minimum resolution of the printer is 16 microns, though I don't recall off hand what the minimum "good" resolution of the resin is, so he may not be able to get as low as 16.

Also, the slight offset bit is as of yet a mystery. It almost looks like the part slid during printing, but he knows that wasn't what happened. Still hasn't tracked down whether or not it was a file problem or a software glitch.

[finescalerr]

Are my eyes getting bad or is that basically a very good print? Yes, I can see a glitch. But the unaffected parts look really promising. -- Russ

[Bexley]

Heh. I was pretty surprised too. Given that it was a printer you had to assemble and calibrate yourself, and was available initially as part of a Kickstarter, I was skeptical of how good the prints would be. Fortunately, my coworker was more trusting than I was. He came across it while researching getting a machine for work. Our employer has since offered to purchase the machine if it turns out decent quality. I certainly intend to get one myself with next year's annual bonus, if the company is still offering them at this price. He bought his through the Kickstarter for $2500, now they are retailing at $2990. (You can get one assembled and ready to go for $5000.) Still not "cheap" overall, but certainly cheap comparatively. I'm certain I could make the cash back though, either by creating masters to produce resin kits, or by renting out print time to other modellers.

[marc_reusser]

That is some fantastic resolution/quality. Thanks for sharing this.

[Chuck Doan]

That looks very promising!

[Hauk]

It looks very promising, indeed.

But I have seen some samples of actual scale modelling parts made on the B9 Creator that were less than awesome.
So I eagerly look forward to some "real" parts printed on that machine.

[SandiaPaul]

It does look good, but the link and the website for actually ordering it are not so hot, like I looked around but could find any specs.

Will the material burn out for investment casting?

Paul

[Bexley]

The resin he used would not burn out, but there are ones that will.

Yeah, the website isn't so hot. My coworker bought the machine via the original Kickstarter. I believe there are also resellers now, so you can but through a dealer rather than the website.

[Hauk]

I looked around for more pictures of B9 sample parts, and it seems that the choice of resin is very important for the quality of the prints.

Most common is a bright red resin. But B9 have just developed a new resin labeled "cherry" that gives much better quality.

And it seems that Bexley uses an entirely different resin that also gives very good parts.

By the way, it is amazing that the central part of this 3D printer is an off-the shelf video projector!

[Bexley]

B9 was out of resin, so he got his from a different supplier.

[Bexley]

After many many delays (Mainly, the resin worked the first time (more or less) flawlessly, but the next print burned the silicone liner of the build tray. He messed with the settings a ton, but wasn't able to get the resin to work a second time. So my coworker replaced the build tray (took forever to get parts) and he ordered a different resin, and got this:





Still need to dial in the focus; this was at 50 microns, but isn't as clean a print as he got previously. Once tweaked in, he should get decent prints again.

[finescalerr]

Still showing a lot of promise. -- Russ