One of the main reasons I hollow prints is that it reduces the peel forces at play during the print as the layers are smaller. Less peel force translates to lower chance of print failure as well as print imperfections, i.e. print lines. Also, I like to use some infill (10%) as it provides strength and rigidity to the printed model. The infill also acts as internal supports, which again reduces chance of print failure. Downside is, will have to flush insides very well to ensure that there is no trapped resin. So far, I haven't found UV curing the internals to be necessary. So long as there is no trapped resin and the holes are not covered afterwards (so that any gases from de-gassing would not be trapped inside), the model will not explode or burst open.
I do like to use supports internally just to rule out the possibility of islands and failures... the good thing about our hobby is there's lots of ways to achieve the same result
See I tried to cure inside with little uv lights. Then I put a layer of super glue over the holes to seal any possible wet resin inside. Had a couple items burst
This is an extremely helpful video and I just want to say thank you so much 😊 The first week I got my printer, I hollowed out a model, unaware of the necessary drain holes. I actually dropped the model from a big height accidentally, and when it broke apart, uncured resin went everywhere ! A lesson learnt 😅
Drain holes should be made in best case scenario where the uncured resin will flow to. Like the lowest corner point. Also keep in mind the physics. There is pressure coming up when moving into the bath and outwards. This can lead to print failures. But drain holes make the pressure to excape. Gravity force.
I made a different process that i like a lot currently: Add a big hole at the bottom, add a small 2mm hole at the very top. So air/resin can go through the holes. Also print an extra cylinder that is 1,9mm at the top and 2,1mm at the bottom. After it finishes printing, wait 30 minutes so all resin can drip out of the the small hole. Clean everything with IPA, insert the cylinder into the small hole and glue it so it's airtight. Then add white alabaster plaster through the large hole at the bottom into the object. It makes it durable, gives it weight - which makes it feel more valuable, and protects you and others from uncured resin that's in the inside.
Hello! I tried filling my print with plaster and the model cracked, I'm guessing because of the humidity of the plaster for a prolongued time. I take it you never had any problems with that?
@@ArthurBandeira1 Normally this isn't a problem, but I also have a cracked print too where the material has expanded. The difference was that I used cement that I had lying around - that expanded, the paster did fine until now. So it could be the material.
I usually will put drain holes at the opposite ends of the model to allow air to enter on one end and allow the resin to drain out the other end. Once the print is finished, I'll submerge the print in a vat of IPA until the model if full of IPA and then shake the devil out of it to wash the resin out of the inside, of course, being careful to cover the drain holes with my fingers so IPA doesn't go flying everywhere! I will then use some canned air to blow the interior dry. Then I'll usually let the print set out overnight with one of the drain holes at the lowest point to allow any IPA (or resin) to drain out that I might have missed. However, with your portable LEDs, I might be able to forgo that last step!! Thanks for sharing!!
Something I would highly recommend for most people Is to use a Clear resin because the cure machine will then cure the Inside of the model, this way even If you had pockets of resin trapped Inside and doing the ELD method will likely not work, well If the model Is clear the cure machine will do It regardless. Ever since I have used Clear resin I have had 0 Issue, that plus If you want to be lazy and not paint the print you could always just get a grey wash or a spray can and wash/spray It for a couple seconds. Not to mention Clear resin as the benefits of you being able to do "Invisible" characters.
I hollow them out when possible, it makes the model lighter so it won't stress the supports. I also use hollow blockers for small areas so they don't fill with resin and explode later. Just have to wash it really well especially inside then use little UV leds to cure the inside. I also use 10mm & 5mm holes.
Great video. I have switched to using an infill of 5% instead of supports for the interior when hollowing. I haven't ran into any issues so far and I found that I clean clean the inside better and not worry about trapped resin. Great model choice btw. I love Wicked pieces. I'm working on their Juggernaut breaking through the wall right now.
Great video as usual. I find using the medium supports works great and they’re much easier to get off than the heavy supports. I will do all mediums and then I’ll sprinkle in about ten heavies in critical areas. Thank you and keep up the great work
Great advice thank you for that I sometimes do exactly that too I think it depends on what print are you using on my gk2 I've had no problems using medium supports 👍
With the small LEDś inside the print, to cure it out, is a great Idea! Regarding to the safety of using the resin: Using gloves is important and good - but after reading an scientific paper about the breakthrough time of different gloves (the thick chemical ones) with different chemicals - and seeing that even the official tested and printed breakthrought times are sometimes off by a faktor of 2-3 or so (stretch and stretching, heat of the hand, etc.), i would rather put two pairs on and change them a few minutes after contact. The air ventilation in this room and right gas/ filtermask is another topic. There is a good video here at YT, about this.
I liked your vid a lot. I use Halotbox and wondered why it refused to make holes so many times. I’ll now try smaller holes. The syringe for washing out the inside of the model is also good. I’ll use water as I use water washable resins. I also bought some very small UV keychain LED:s for trying to harden the inside of the models through some bigger holes. Greetings from Finland!
Very interesting and informative video, thank you. The only thing I have to do is try and use my resin printer (had it for 2 years now, still in the box)! LOL! Thank you again for the video.
What would be a good rule of thumb , as far as when to hollow, and when to not bother ? I like the syringe , I thought of spraying IPA through the holes with an airbrush , syringe is much better.
I don't bother hollowing smaller things like arms,heads but bodies legs n bases deffo get hollowed..general rule for me is ask myself is it worth saving resin on this piece
So basically if it doesnt need to have some heft to it, and it is larger, then its worth hollowing out? I tend to print miniatures as many others do, but in my case I like to make amiibos. But it is good to know either way for when I do have to make bigger prints.
I use 5% infill. It creates just enough skeletal internal structure to properly support the inside of the model. Internal supports aren’t used. So you use even less resin. This is just with Chitubox. Lychee internal supports are garbage.
Sometimes its not practical to have drain holes top and bottom, so if you had one option, should yo add holes nearest the build plate or furthest away? Could you also to a vid on when to use a raft Please, I seem to have got into the habbit of always using them after initial failures when I first got the printer.
I would say doesn't really matter where the whole goes as long as when you finished with the print you clean and drain it properly as for a raft they are a choice thing you don't desperately need them but they do apparently allow adhesion to the bed a little better so if you are having problems then add a draft but it's probably down to just get in your base layer settings correct
new be question does an angled model need to have the holes positioned e.g head close to the build plate bottom of the model towards the resin vat to aid run off?
That LED UV trick is amazing! Does it matter if the drain holes are near the start of the models printing which is pretty much connected to the build plate? so would the model be filling while printing. Or does that not matter and just having drain holes so when complete the model is tipped up and can empty. thanks
AIUI, the washing is to get rid of uncured resin so it doesn't marr the surface finish of the model. Bearing this in mind, is there any reason for being so fastitious about cleaning the inside of the model if you're not going to see it, and you're going to cure it anyway?
Hi good question hi I would say any uncured resin inside maybe areas that you're curing lights don't get to overtime could cause the model to split that's why you need to clean it thoroughly and do your best to cure
I may do this in a forth coming video but it's really really easy I just use five LEDs a 9 volt battery and an on/off switch all wired together it's really simple to do just needs to be played with a little bit if you're not sure
Hey mate! Love your videos! I'm posting this comment a little in the wrong place, but wondered if I could ask your advice on something? (Maybe it'll give you an idea for a video!). So I've just got my first 3D printer, haven't even unboxed it yet. My question is regarding control the temperature during a print job. I live in the South West England, and outside temperatures have almost reached 20C. My indoor house temperature has been kept on 18C all winter. The bottle of resin I have suggests I operate at 22C to 25C range (maybe even towards 30!!). How important is temperature? How do you control for it? I will be using my printer in my garage, which essentially will only hit 20c naturally during the summer months... I'd like to be able to use it throughout the winter, but without heating my entire garage constantly (which will cost). I'd be interested to hear anyone else's comments too! Cheers!!
Hey mate welcome to the club now printing in low temperatures is something that you might get away with I've certainly got away with it here in the Western Midlands printing in rooms of just a few degrees some people get a little bit tetchy about printing in low temperatures but if you to all you've got then have a goatie I would say if you can keep the room temperature around about 20 degrees you should be absolutely fine and it will print in temperatures lower I've also just used a hair dryer over the resin in the VAT just a warm it up enough to get the print started then it seems to work absolutely fine and I've been doing this for years👍👍
Can you please confirm how you wired your UV LEDs? I'm not an electrician, but I did get the parts needed and wanted to reproduce this, but I do not know which to connect. Thanks.
I onow know absolutely nothing about electronics but all I do know is you need to make it a complete circuit start by connecting the positive to the negative put one of the bulbs in between and then add the switch. If you just think that everything has to make a complete circuit negative to positive
I'm new to resin printing, just waiting for my printer to arrive. I'm confused about if it's possible to print a solid model for something that I need to be structurally very strong? For instance just a solid block like a brick. I assume the uv curing light could not penetrate the exterior to have any effect on the interior of the block?
Printing solid is fine but has a few issues.. Weight may pull it off supports, uses lots of resin too... If strength is an issue there are strong resins.. I'm doing a video review on strong resin soon... But to sum up printing solid is not an issue... We hollow to save resin in a nutshell 👍
If you use transparant resin, does the UV from normal curing reach the entire model? Or does the UV gets absorbed. If you will paint it anyway, you can use transparant resin and you don't have to do anything special in terms of curing with the hollow model?
The curing seems to work just fine and I don't do anything any different I Tend not to hollow out transparent resins although there are occasions when I do do it when I do hollow them I use a small LED inside no difference to my other resins
It just seems easier to print solid. Besides the usage of resin, and the peel force… would resin really get trapped inside the model if it’s completely solid inside?
If you print solid you mitigate the risk of Resin being trapped inside. If money is no issue for resin or if the weight of the model does not bother you and of course the risk you are quite right of the extra forces on your fep or supports then there's no point in Hollowing.... my approach is most definitely to hollow but of course do it correctly
@@greedy3d480 yeah i just had another print failure. I like the weight of a solid print for statues and figurines but i only got a solid print to work 3x. I guess I’ll have to try hollowing… Great vid. Thanks
ive been resin printing for years, watched a ton of videos on the subject as well. and i have to say....your workstation is the messiest i have ever seen.... :) thanks for the vid! keep it up!
One of the main reasons I hollow prints is that it reduces the peel forces at play during the print as the layers are smaller. Less peel force translates to lower chance of print failure as well as print imperfections, i.e. print lines. Also, I like to use some infill (10%) as it provides strength and rigidity to the printed model. The infill also acts as internal supports, which again reduces chance of print failure. Downside is, will have to flush insides very well to ensure that there is no trapped resin. So far, I haven't found UV curing the internals to be necessary. So long as there is no trapped resin and the holes are not covered afterwards (so that any gases from de-gassing would not be trapped inside), the model will not explode or burst open.
I do like to use supports internally just to rule out the possibility of islands and failures... the good thing about our hobby is there's lots of ways to achieve the same result
See I tried to cure inside with little uv lights. Then I put a layer of super glue over the holes to seal any possible wet resin inside. Had a couple items burst
@hoohaa559 I'd leave the holes open to allow any expansion...was it water washable resin
This is an extremely helpful video and I just want to say thank you so much 😊 The first week I got my printer, I hollowed out a model, unaware of the necessary drain holes. I actually dropped the model from a big height accidentally, and when it broke apart, uncured resin went everywhere ! A lesson learnt 😅
your welcome - the 3d printing game is a learning curve indeed :)
Drain holes should be made in best case scenario where the uncured resin will flow to. Like the lowest corner point. Also keep in mind the physics. There is pressure coming up when moving into the bath and outwards. This can lead to print failures. But drain holes make the pressure to excape. Gravity force.
I made a different process that i like a lot currently:
Add a big hole at the bottom,
add a small 2mm hole at the very top. So air/resin can go through the holes.
Also print an extra cylinder that is 1,9mm at the top and 2,1mm at the bottom.
After it finishes printing, wait 30 minutes so all resin can drip out of the the small hole.
Clean everything with IPA, insert the cylinder into the small hole and glue it so it's airtight.
Then add white alabaster plaster through the large hole at the bottom into the object. It makes it durable, gives it weight - which makes it feel more valuable, and protects you and others from uncured resin that's in the inside.
Thank you for sharing 👍
Hello! I tried filling my print with plaster and the model cracked, I'm guessing because of the humidity of the plaster for a prolongued time. I take it you never had any problems with that?
@@ArthurBandeira1 Normally this isn't a problem, but I also have a cracked print too where the material has expanded. The difference was that I used cement that I had lying around - that expanded, the paster did fine until now. So it could be the material.
@@Gromic2k I see. Could be the type of plaster I'm using then. Thanks for your answer!
I usually will put drain holes at the opposite ends of the model to allow air to enter on one end and allow the resin to drain out the other end. Once the print is finished, I'll submerge the print in a vat of IPA until the model if full of IPA and then shake the devil out of it to wash the resin out of the inside, of course, being careful to cover the drain holes with my fingers so IPA doesn't go flying everywhere! I will then use some canned air to blow the interior dry. Then I'll usually let the print set out overnight with one of the drain holes at the lowest point to allow any IPA (or resin) to drain out that I might have missed. However, with your portable LEDs, I might be able to forgo that last step!! Thanks for sharing!!
Thank you for your insight too 👍
Very clear and helpful. I don’t have plans yet for doing large models, but now I don’t have to be quite so afraid of them 😎
Love the LED idea for making sure the inside is cured, never seen that before👍
Something I would highly recommend for most people Is to use a Clear resin because the cure machine will then cure the Inside of the model, this way even If you had pockets of resin trapped Inside and doing the ELD method will likely not work, well If the model Is clear the cure machine will do It regardless.
Ever since I have used Clear resin I have had 0 Issue, that plus If you want to be lazy and not paint the print you could always just get a grey wash or a spray can and wash/spray It for a couple seconds.
Not to mention Clear resin as the benefits of you being able to do "Invisible" characters.
Thank you..interesting idea
Ya no problem glad I was able to provide some assistance :D.
I hollow them out when possible, it makes the model lighter so it won't stress the supports. I also use hollow blockers for small areas so they don't fill with resin and explode later.
Just have to wash it really well especially inside then use little UV leds to cure the inside.
I also use 10mm & 5mm holes.
👍 Yeah heavy models pull off the supports much easier
Never thought of curing the inside. AWESOME. Thanks.
Everyday is a school day in 3d printing lol 😆
Great video. I have switched to using an infill of 5% instead of supports for the interior when hollowing. I haven't ran into any issues so far and I found that I clean clean the inside better and not worry about trapped resin. Great model choice btw. I love Wicked pieces. I'm working on their Juggernaut breaking through the wall right now.
Thank you I have considered using infill instead of supports but I always find I'm on a bit of a winning Formula and then I don't want to break it lol
Great video as usual. I find using the medium supports works great and they’re much easier to get off than the heavy supports. I will do all mediums and then I’ll sprinkle in about ten heavies in critical areas. Thank you and keep up the great work
Great advice thank you for that I sometimes do exactly that too I think it depends on what print are you using on my gk2 I've had no problems using medium supports 👍
With the small LEDś inside the print, to cure it out, is a great Idea! Regarding to the safety of using the resin: Using gloves is important and good - but after reading an scientific paper about the breakthrough time of different gloves (the thick chemical ones) with different chemicals - and seeing that even the official tested and printed breakthrought times are sometimes off by a faktor of 2-3 or so (stretch and stretching, heat of the hand, etc.), i would rather put two pairs on and change them a few minutes after contact. The air ventilation in this room and right gas/ filtermask is another topic. There is a good video here at YT, about this.
I knew i recognized the sculpt, I just love wicked their models.
Oh they truly are fab 👍
I liked your vid a lot. I use Halotbox and wondered why it refused to make holes so many times. I’ll now try smaller holes. The syringe for washing out the inside of the model is also good. I’ll use water as I use water washable resins. I also bought some very small UV keychain LED:s for trying to harden the inside of the models through some bigger holes. Greetings from Finland!
Thank you for your comments greetings from the UK its amazing a hobby Bridges the gaps across the world 👍😁
Very interesting and informative video, thank you. The only thing I have to do is try and use my resin printer (had it for 2 years now, still in the box)! LOL! Thank you again for the video.
You are most welcome
What would be a good rule of thumb , as far as when to hollow, and when to not bother ?
I like the syringe , I thought of spraying IPA through the holes with an airbrush , syringe is much better.
I don't bother hollowing smaller things like arms,heads but bodies legs n bases deffo get hollowed..general rule for me is ask myself is it worth saving resin on this piece
Very helpful. Exactly the same thing I do. If you have an air compressor I use an air nozzle to blow out the hollowed parts. :)
That is really really brilliant idea thank you
@@greedy3d480 I use an airbrush
So basically if it doesnt need to have some heft to it, and it is larger, then its worth hollowing out? I tend to print miniatures as many others do, but in my case I like to make amiibos. But it is good to know either way for when I do have to make bigger prints.
I wonder if you can make a super thin wall and then fill the model with plaster ? that way save more money on resin
I use 5% infill. It creates just enough skeletal internal structure to properly support the inside of the model. Internal supports aren’t used. So you use even less resin. This is just with Chitubox. Lychee internal supports are garbage.
Sometimes its not practical to have drain holes top and bottom, so if you had one option, should yo add holes nearest the build plate or furthest away? Could you also to a vid on when to use a raft Please, I seem to have got into the habbit of always using them after initial failures when I first got the printer.
I would say doesn't really matter where the whole goes as long as when you finished with the print you clean and drain it properly as for a raft they are a choice thing you don't desperately need them but they do apparently allow adhesion to the bed a little better so if you are having problems then add a draft but it's probably down to just get in your base layer settings correct
new be question does an angled model need to have the holes positioned e.g head close to the build plate bottom of the model towards the resin vat to aid run off?
It's not completely necessary but does indeed help with drainage if you can orientated at least done hole downwards to help draining
That LED UV trick is amazing! Does it matter if the drain holes are near the start of the models printing which is pretty much connected to the build plate? so would the model be filling while printing. Or does that not matter and just having drain holes so when complete the model is tipped up and can empty. thanks
Doesn't matter at all 👍👍👍
@@greedy3d480 awesome. Thanks for the swift reply
What does your LEDs go to ? Like a little black switch type setup. Could you link us to that ? I'm looking to have a similar hollow led setup
Mine go to one of these amzn.to/4iayJai
AIUI, the washing is to get rid of uncured resin so it doesn't marr the surface finish of the model. Bearing this in mind, is there any reason for being so fastitious about cleaning the inside of the model if you're not going to see it, and you're going to cure it anyway?
Hi good question hi I would say any uncured resin inside maybe areas that you're curing lights don't get to overtime could cause the model to split that's why you need to clean it thoroughly and do your best to cure
Can you link how you made the UV diodes? How many do you need per battery pack, etc?
I may do this in a forth coming video but it's really really easy I just use five LEDs a 9 volt battery and an on/off switch all wired together it's really simple to do just needs to be played with a little bit if you're not sure
Hey mate! Love your videos! I'm posting this comment a little in the wrong place, but wondered if I could ask your advice on something? (Maybe it'll give you an idea for a video!). So I've just got my first 3D printer, haven't even unboxed it yet. My question is regarding control the temperature during a print job. I live in the South West England, and outside temperatures have almost reached 20C. My indoor house temperature has been kept on 18C all winter. The bottle of resin I have suggests I operate at 22C to 25C range (maybe even towards 30!!). How important is temperature? How do you control for it? I will be using my printer in my garage, which essentially will only hit 20c naturally during the summer months... I'd like to be able to use it throughout the winter, but without heating my entire garage constantly (which will cost). I'd be interested to hear anyone else's comments too! Cheers!!
Hey mate welcome to the club now printing in low temperatures is something that you might get away with I've certainly got away with it here in the Western Midlands printing in rooms of just a few degrees some people get a little bit tetchy about printing in low temperatures but if you to all you've got then have a goatie I would say if you can keep the room temperature around about 20 degrees you should be absolutely fine and it will print in temperatures lower I've also just used a hair dryer over the resin in the VAT just a warm it up enough to get the print started then it seems to work absolutely fine and I've been doing this for years👍👍
Thanks for taking the time to reply! I appreciate the advice and will take it on board. Thanks!
Do I really need to support the Inside ? I just printed my first hollowed print without supports inside and it was fine
Either supports or the internal grid structure
..you may be lucky with some models but luck runs out eventually if you have nothing lol
Can you please confirm how you wired your UV LEDs? I'm not an electrician, but I did get the parts needed and wanted to reproduce this, but I do not know which to connect. Thanks.
I onow know absolutely nothing about electronics but all I do know is you need to make it a complete circuit start by connecting the positive to the negative put one of the bulbs in between and then add the switch. If you just think that everything has to make a complete circuit negative to positive
I'm new to resin printing, just waiting for my printer to arrive. I'm confused about if it's possible to print a solid model for something that I need to be structurally very strong?
For instance just a solid block like a brick. I assume the uv curing light could not penetrate the exterior to have any effect on the interior of the block?
Printing solid is fine but has a few issues.. Weight may pull it off supports, uses lots of resin too... If strength is an issue there are strong resins.. I'm doing a video review on strong resin soon... But to sum up printing solid is not an issue... We hollow to save resin in a nutshell 👍
If you use transparant resin, does the UV from normal curing reach the entire model? Or does the UV gets absorbed.
If you will paint it anyway, you can use transparant resin and you don't have to do anything special in terms of curing with the hollow model?
The curing seems to work just fine and I don't do anything any different I Tend not to hollow out transparent resins although there are occasions when I do do it when I do hollow them I use a small LED inside no difference to my other resins
Where did you get the UV lights you used for the inside?
Amazon 👍
@@greedy3d480 Apologies, I'm rather new to it all. Could you point me to the item or give what to search for to get them?
@@bradsmith9867 No worries - amzn.to/3ynjCYI
cool!!! what software do you use when putting those holes in the model?
It's in Cura.... Hole option
Is it absolutely necessary? I'm planning on using a resin printer to print rather small things like velociraptor teeth. I'd prefer solid parts
No it's not at all necessary to hollow... Leave them solid if it's right for you and your models
I never get bad prints hollow the models without internal supports
I won't risk that 👍😁
May as well make it solid with all those supports inside😂😂😂😂😂
Lol..
It just seems easier to print solid. Besides the usage of resin, and the peel force… would resin really get trapped inside the model if it’s completely solid inside?
If you print solid you mitigate the risk of Resin being trapped inside. If money is no issue for resin or if the weight of the model does not bother you and of course the risk you are quite right of the extra forces on your fep or supports then there's no point in Hollowing.... my approach is most definitely to hollow but of course do it correctly
@@greedy3d480 yeah i just had another print failure. I like the weight of a solid print for statues and figurines but i only got a solid print to work 3x. I guess I’ll have to try hollowing… Great vid. Thanks
ive been resin printing for years, watched a ton of videos on the subject as well. and i have to say....your workstation is the messiest i have ever seen.... :) thanks for the vid! keep it up!
Ah damn it no sleep for me tonight with worry lol.... Thanks.... I think 👍🤣🤣🤣
@@greedy3d480 hahaha no insult intended by the way! ;)
@@MrRuan2022 lol deffo none taken 😎😁👍
Alcohol and resin dripping down your arms :'D
I was young then lol
A very good and informative video. 😊
Cheers Steve 👍😁