This is a basic walkthrough of how to print something on the resin printer. You still need a resin printing certification to use the printer at the makerspace.

<aside> ⚠️ Please review Resin Printing Safety before starting.

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Preparing your file

  1. Drag your file into your slicer software (I use Chitubox and Lychee). Note: If using Chitubox, use version 1.8.1, not 1.9.0

    <aside> ⚠️ There is a bug in the current version of Chitubox that will cause it to complain that STLs with intersecting shells have cavities when they actually don’t. If you’re confident your STL doesn’t have cavities, try slicing in Lychee instead. Alternatively or additionally run your slice file through UVtools.

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  2. Open the slicer settings.

  3. Double check you have the correct printer profile selected (we have an Elegoo Saturn S).

  4. Navigate to the print settings. We will be changing “Exposure Time” and “Bottom Exposure Time”. The other settings can usually be left alone.

    <aside> ℹ️ If your print fails by sticking to the FEP film, you can try increasing the bottom exposure time, or the number of bottom layers.

    </aside>

  5. Go to the Elegoo resin setting sheet and find the type of resin you are using. Make sure you are looking at the settings for the Elegoo Saturn S printer.

  6. Copy the settings to your slicer and close the settings menu.

<aside> ℹ️ If your model needs supports and does not have them, now is the time to add them. When adding supports, angle your model at a 15-45 degree angle, instead of straight up and down.

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<aside> ℹ️ Auto-Orient, Auto-Support, and Auto-Layout Slicer software is now very capable of auto-orienting your model and automatically adding supports. For the majority of basic unsupported STLs, and unless you know what you’re doing, I highly recommend both auto-orienting and auto-supporting with default settings (and then hitting auto-layout if you have multiple STLs).

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<aside> ℹ️ When orienting your models, remember that print time is directly related to print height. The lower you can reasonably get the very top of your models, the quicker they’ll print (I usually click auto-orient a few times until it gives me a low-height orientation).

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  1. Click the slice button.