Resin Printer for making embossing plates and stamps

[BDAZ]

I recently acquired a Creality LD002H resin printer. I have been looking at 3D printers for years, but the filament printers were too Rube Goldberg with poor results and the resin printers were too expensive and messy. Finally there is a perfect storm of inexpensive, high resolution printers, easy to use slicing software and most importantly, water washable resin with almost no odor.

I am in the process of bending Photoshop to my will, never having used the 3D functions but wondering what software folks are using to create stamps, etc. I have had the printer for a week and have attached a few pics of my first days prints and a few subsequent ones.

I am hoping to make custom stamps with text, SW and Celtic designs for belts and other items i make commercially.

The first pic is my first day's prints, then a pilot and seat for an RC plane I am working on, and then a stand for a Badger 105 airbrush. 

Thanks!

Bob

Edited February 12, 2021 by BDAZ

[chrisash]

Fusion 360 is a great 3D software with free access to hobby guys have a look at youtube for thousands of tutorials

[CastleLeatherWorks]

looks cool man cant wait to see what else you come up with

[BDAZ]

7 hours ago, chrisash said:

Fusion 360 is a great 3D software with free access to hobby guys have a look at youtube for thousands of tutorials

Thanks, I'll give it a go. I have been making some progress with Photoshop, got as far as creating a usable STL but the process is not intuitive and laborious, especially after spending years (since Photoshop Beta .07) with PS 2D.

Cheers!

Bob

[kgg]

Nice to see you getting into 3D printing. As far as design software two excellent platforms are Fusion 360 and Solid Works. Besides the quality of your 3D printer and consumable materials the slicing software will make or break your 3D print. I would try some free resin slicer software and do a print quality / speed comparison to see what works best for your machine and your needs. For my filament printers and designs I have found Ultimaker Cura to be excellant where as PrusaSlicer software to be lacking in comparison even through I have Prusa and Prusa hybrid (Bear Upgrade) printers.

Kept us updated on how your resin printed stamps work out.

Personally I like the filament printers but that largely has to with my personal wants and needs (printed part strength, size of print, choice of available filament from low cost/quality china stuff to excellent Canadian or American made, available printer upgrade / replacement parts cost and less steps to final prototype). Just like with sewing machines, no one machine does it all.

kgg

 

[BDAZ]

I have been looking at Fusion and will check out solid works. As for slicers, I started with the manufacturer recommended Chitubox  but shortly discovered Lychee which seems to be better, especially the Pro. I have been using the slightly more expensive Elegoo water washable. I will testing some less expensive Chinese resins soon.  In tests I have made with the Elegoo, it seems to have sufficient compressive strength to work well. It's not great with shear or elasticity, but there are traditional resins that can compete with ABS if I want to deal with the mess.

I did test filament printed stamps for a project 5 years ago or so, and the quality was not up to the job. even sanding and using a torch, I couldn't get the surface smooth enough. The resin printer is 100% if the model is properly oriented and supported.

I like your sewing  machine analogy and I turn down jobs that won't run on my Cowboy, because they are too thin. The only imitation at the moment is the build size, but I will invest in a larger one if I start running out of build space. 

Funny, your comment about filament origins...when I was a kid I used to spend my summers in Europe, I met a fellow English speaking  traveler, an adult,  and I asked him where he was from and he said America. I asked him what state Canada. Since then I never use America to refer to the United States, don't want to get Canadian nickers in a twist... I have spent delightful times in Montreal, Vancouver and most recently, Guelph. 

Bob

[toxo]

13 hours ago, BDAZ said:

I recently acquired a Creality LD002H resin printer. I have been looking at 3D printers for years, but the filament printers were too Rube Goldberg with poor results and the resin printers were too expensive and messy. Finally there is a perfect storm of inexpensive, high resolution printers, easy to use slicing software and most importantly, water washable resin with almost no odor.

I am in the process of bending Photoshop to my will, never having used the 3D functions but wondering what software folks are using to create stamps, etc. I have had the printer for a week and have attached a few pics of my first days prints and a few subsequent ones.

I am hoping to make custom stamps with text, SW and Celtic designs for belts and other items i make commercially.

The first pic is my first day's prints, then a pilot and seat for an RC plane I am working on, and then a stand for a Badger 105 airbrush. 

Thanks!

Bob

 

That's fantastic stuff but I can only look sideways at it cos I've got enough on my plate building my hot foil machine. Seems like you're only limited by your imagination. Well done.

[kgg]

No matter what 3D printer you use ABS is either messy and/or smelly. Hate the stuff.

26 minutes ago, BDAZ said:

Since then I never use America to refer to the United States, don't want to get Canadian nickers in a twist...

I can see some get their nickers in a bit of a twist but I am old school. When I am asked where I am from I say "Newfoundland". Funny during the Meach Lake US/ Canada talks back in the 90's we were crossing back from the US to Canada and asked by the Canadian border guards where we were from. I replied "Newfoundland". Their reply "OH, 3 Americans, have a nice day." We wondered what Canada had now done to Newfoundland.

kgg

[BDAZ]

7 minutes ago, kgg said:

No matter what 3D printer you use ABS is either messy and/or smelly. Hate the stuff.

I can see some get their nickers in a bit of a twist but I am old school. When I am asked where I am from I say "Newfoundland". Funny during the Meach Lake US/ Canada talks back in the 90's we were crossing back from the US to Canada and asked by the Canadian border guards where we were from. I replied "Newfoundland". Their reply "OH, 3 Americans, have a nice day." We wondered what Canada had now done to Newfoundland.

kgg

Too Funny! Flown over St. John's numerous times but never been there. Almost went to a Celtic festival a few years ago (I play Irish tenor banjo) and I played with some folks from the province also a few years ago. Most Statesiders don't realize Newfoundland became a part of Canada as recently as 1949. Of course there are some that think Canada is a US state!  I was once on a photographic field trip with my students and we were camped near Lubec, ME. I was taking some photos near the international bridge, and asked the US border guard if I could cross and he said "sure". I took a few pics on the bridge and lets just say, as a Photography professor in the 60s, I wasn't clean cut. When I passed him on my way back he yelled "Halt!" Then he asked me for my papers. I pointed to my car, only 30 meters away and he said, "I can't let you into the US without documents" Arguing was to no avail, so I walked back over to the Canadian side and explained my situation. They told me to wait, and a in a while, an old station wagon with a could of Mainers, known to the guards came by. They asked them to hide me under blankets in the back and was able to return to my homeland! 

Bob

[BDAZ]

24 minutes ago, toxo said:

That's fantastic stuff but I can only look sideways at it cos I've got enough on my plate building my hot foil machine. Seems like you're only limited by your imagination. Well done.

Well that's exactly why I avoided filament printing, but current resin printing is plug and play and with water based resins, a breeze to clean up. I literally unpacked the machine, loaded a model from Thingiverse and a couple of hours later I had a pilot curing in the sun! Easy Peasy.

Bob

[toxo]

14 minutes ago, BDAZ said:

Well that's exactly why I avoided filament printing, but current resin printing is plug and play and with water based resins, a breeze to clean up. I literally unpacked the machine, loaded a model from Thingiverse and a couple of hours later I had a pilot curing in the sun! Easy Peasy.

Bob

That's easy for you to say. I can only just do basic stuff on the little laser engraver. Fortunately my buddy is well up on that stuff and he's just upgraded to a fancy CAD thing that will do brass. Mind you he wasn't expecting it to come in so many pieces. He's had it months now and I'm not sure if he's finished building it yet. He is a busy boy though so Ill wait calmly for my makers stamp.

[BDAZ]

Too many other interests to get into something that's timer consuming with a learning curve. I am probably a week away from being able to print makers stamps.

 

Bob

[BDAZ]

8 hours ago, BDAZ said:

Too many other interests to get into something that's timer consuming with a learning curve. I am probably a week away from being able to print makers stamps.

 

Bob

Update: My first leather stamp is printing, a Celtic knot pattern. Looks better than anything I have seen on Thingiverse. made from 2D art, extruded in Photoshop.

 

Bob

[Retswerb]

Holy cow. The finish on your parts is night and day better than the filament stuff. What’s the downside? That looks great.

[BDAZ]

15 hours ago, BDAZ said:

Too many other interests to get into something that's timer consuming with a learning curve. I am probably a week away from being able to print makers stamps.

 

Bob

54 minutes ago, Retswerb said:

Holy cow. The finish on your parts is night and day better than the filament stuff. What’s the downside? That looks great.

That's pretty standard for a resin printer. After printing, you then have to wash off all excess resin, with water, and then cure in the sun for a few minutes or under a UV lamp. One trick I discovered on You Tube is to place the model in a jar of water for curing. The lack of O2 enhances the cure of the outer layer, making it harder, and produces an even smoother finish. As I mentioned, this is an absolute no brainer, plug and play as described. No assembly, no fiddley parts, just pour some resin in the vat, load your model on the provided thumb drive and push print. Time to print is based solely on height as it prints .05mm every 2 seconds So a 6" rod will take the same time as a plate full of 6" high models. So the trick is to angle tall objects so the will print faster and better. 

 

The down side is that currently there is less choice in water washable resins than in filaments but there are some resins that now approach ABS in strength and flexibility, but they are solvent based and require using IPA for clean up, and they apparently vary in odor. Your house may smell like a surfboard factory. Using water washable resins, run the printer on my Kitchen counter next to the sink. Absolutely no odor except a slight not unpleasant plastic/ new car smell. 

The shear strength is less than filament but it's still plenty strong. Those little parts in the firs picture are prop adapters. One end is screwed onto a motor and the other has a prop pushed on the end and held in place with a screw. The OEM adapter costs $3.99 plus shipping. Mine cost $.05 and are identical. They may not survive a serious prop strike but still flying with the first one I made. They are around 1/2" tall.

There are 2 types of UV LCDs color and monochrome, and I was lucky and bought the monochrome version for $50 more and it prints in 1/4 of the time. The printer cost $250 delivered. I have had it about two weeks. I have been printing mostly accessories for RC Planes, Airbrush stands (BTW I have been airbrushing resolene, absolutely the best finish I have ever achieved!) and even some medical tools for my son's urology practice. I won't go into details but they can't get the device they use due to the virus and they factory has changed to making PPDs. They were paying $30 each, and my cost for the identical device is around $.10

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HLFZNWN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Bob

 

Edited February 13, 2021 by BDAZ

[BDAZ]

The Celtic stamp was a success. I did some tests on another piece of leather and used my ton press  cranked all the way and thee was no issue with cracking or crumbling.

 

Bob

[Retswerb]

Thanks for the info! You’ve got me thinking about my tax return...

[BDAZ]

Four days progress!

 

Bob

[BDAZ]

Four days progress!

 

Bob

[HaloJones]

That is impressive, I have the Prusa SL1, my only attempt at a thing for the leather hobby,  on it so far is for a logo / name plate - which snapped as I took it off of the build plate - my fault for laying it flat for a quicker print, but i was able to repair & use it.

And yes the water based resins are so much better to work with

[maxdaddy]

Bob, thanks for sharing your progress with this. All I can say is WOW. I remember watching a show on PBS back in the '80s that showed a 3-second long clip of a car manufacturer prototyping parts using a 'new technique called stereo lithography'. As the finished piece was raised out of the liquid my head nearly exploded with the possibilities. I even recorded the show on VHS when it aired again so I could show it to friends and re-watch that seconds-long clip in amazement.  I had no idea that this had been brought to the desktop for under $300!

What's the size of that latest stamp? The 4-day project?

[BDAZ]

On 2/20/2021 at 7:28 AM, maxdaddy said:

Bob, thanks for sharing your progress with this. All I can say is WOW. I remember watching a show on PBS back in the '80s that showed a 3-second long clip of a car manufacturer prototyping parts using a 'new technique called stereo lithography'. As the finished piece was raised out of the liquid my head nearly exploded with the possibilities. I even recorded the show on VHS when it aired again so I could show it to friends and re-watch that seconds-long clip in amazement.  I had no idea that this had been brought to the desktop for under $300!

What's the size of that latest stamp? The 4-day project?

Around 3" and a total of 3/4" deep. I have had 5 projects using resin printed stamps to date which would have been impossible and unprofitable if I had to have the stamps made out of house. Best toy I have purchased in a long time!

[BDAZ]

A customer needed "Hand Made in Arizona printed small on the FLESH side of a large run of decorated coasters. Wet stamping didn't work, print through, a branding Iron was really expensive with long lead times and a rubber stamp would look crappy. So I bought a small laser engraver for $158, which arrived today, and I am as impressed as I was with the resin printer.. The Hand Made in AZ was maybe the 3rd print and a bit over exposed. But it's fine for the flesh side. The Celtic print is the same size as the stamp pictured above, on the grain side.

 

 

Edited April 5, 2021 by BDAZ

[BDAZ]

On 2/20/2021 at 2:00 AM, HaloJones said:

That is impressive, I have the Prusa SL1, my only attempt at a thing for the leather hobby,  on it so far is for a logo / name plate - which snapped as I took it off of the build plate - my fault for laying it flat for a quicker print, but i was able to repair & use it.

And yes the water based resins are so much better to work with

I just installed a flexible built plate and it's BRILLIANT! I print w/o supports whenever possible. 

Cheers!

Bob

[RBELLO]

Bob,

Thank you for this information, it has convinced me that I need to go the Resin path and not the filament for my 3D Printing leather stamp needs.

I have a few suggestions if you don't mind on the laser engraving which I have been doing for a couple of years now.

I see that there is some over smoky burn edges during the engraving.

A simple solution is to place a piece of low tack masking tape over the area that you will engrave on, so when the engraving is done you lift away the tape and you will have crisp engraving edges.

Some people also like to wet the leather, actually more like damping it before engraving it. I haven't gone that route because the tape works for me but just an FYI.

And if your laser engraver has the ability to do so you can add an air assist that will blow unto the area being engraved and that will also prevent the smokey over burn.

Hope this makes sense, thanks again for your info on the resin printer, I can't wait to get one.

Roger