Part 2, Anycubic and Jewelry Casting!

Well, after the ifun castable review, see it here, I was lucky enough to get through this in only a few days! The difference between the two is amazing, and I think that I’ve found a new staple to my castable resin! Here, you’ll see that I did a couple of rings, and I’m going to go over what I found while printing and post printing these items. Hope you enjoy.

Watch the Video Here….

Anycubic Castable Resin for Jewelry!

If you order this product and are going to print it on your Elegoo Mars printer, then take note… Don’t follow the instructions on the bottle. I of course, always start out that way. I want to find out if there is a difference with any other resin manufacturer, and the Elegoo Mars. In this case, the difference with the Anycubic Photon printer.

Knowing that there is a slightly more powerful UV Display on the Photon, I expected that the layer exposure would have to be a bit longer, but I was surprised that I had to almost triple the settings to get it to work well. Overall, my first four items printed badly, as they did not have any adhesion to the print bed, and for the most part, didn’t even stick to the support material that I added to each item.

After gradually increasing the exposure rate, I have come up with the following settings to use the Anycubic Castable resin with your Elegoo Mars 3d printer. Your results may vary, but I imagine that they will be very close to mine…

Elegoo Mars Settings for Anycubic Castable Resin!

Layer height: .03 to .06

Bottom Layer Count: 5

Bottom Layer Exposure time: 90 seconds Each!

Support thickness: Thick!

Layer Exposure Time: 19 to 22 Seconds

These settings worked really well, and offered me the least shrinkage or warping!

Pros:

Easy to work with

Prints models very good

Low Shrinkage

Firm End Product after Curing

Good Burn-Out

Easy to Post Print Clean up the items.

Cons:

Lower Exposure Rates do not work, print time longer

Minor Warpage

Very Brittle. Items will crack easy of you are not careful

Resin develops crystals, and should be filtered before pouring into your VAT

Overall, my opinion!

So, I was excited to get this. Shipping was not bad, took about 7 days to get to me, I’m down is SW Florida. The price is good, and 500 ml at around 80 or 90 dollars for castable resin is very reasonable.

I’m not sure, but I received the bottle without issue, but when I opened the package, then the bottle, there was no seal on the bottle. I’m not sure if this was normal for the Anycubic Castable resin, as all other resins have been sealed. The resin was from the factory, not an open bottle from a random user, so here was what I found.

Inside the neck of the bottle and inside the cap, where crystalized pieces of resin. This made me a bit nervous as I didn’t think about the issues I would have after I poured it into my VAT the first time, and nothing printed. That was when I noticed that the resin was crystalized in the bottle.

After cleaning out my VAT, I then filtered out all the resin so that it was liquid, with NO debris in it. After doing this, I have had good prints since. This could just be a fluke, and hopefully you don’t have this same issue when you get yours, but if you do, just filter out the bottle using the strainers and you’ll be fine.

You’ll notice that the resin is extremely thin in nature. Most castable resins I’ve used are very slimy and thick, due to the addition of wax like material. The thin viscosity of Anycubic Castable Resin makes me believe that there is no wax added to this. I think the best part of this, because of the brittle nature of the printed item, I actually found it easier to sand down with some 800 grit paper and smooth out all the layer marks and support debris left. The finished item after sanding, turned out really good.

Recommendation!

I’m really happy with this. Anycubic has been around a long time, and they do make really good resin. The Anycubic Castable Resin is no different, and with the settings above, you should end up with good castable items to turn into the metal of your choice! I will keep using this until the next better resin comes along, and if you do the same type of work I do, you will not be disappointed! Go ahead, and add this to your shelf!

Happy Printing!

Peter