Need help selecting an SLA printer

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Max-U52
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Need help selecting an SLA printer

Post by Max-U52 »

As most of you probably know, I recently purchased a Creality LD-001 DPL LCD printer. I can't get the damned thing to print. The customer service and tech support at creality is very, very poor to say the least. If i can't get this thing working (I'm giving it another week and then it goes back) I plan to send it back and get a different SLA printer. If I do that, the budget for a new printer will be $1,500 USD. I'm looking at the Wanhao D8 and the Peopoly. The Formlabs also looks good, but that's way out of my price range.

I would really love to hear from owners of peopoly or wanhao printers. They both have their advantages. The peopoly uses Gcode, so I could use Cura, a software I'm already familiar with, but the wanhao has built in slicing software so all you do is load your stl file and it slices automatically. i think that might be best for a computer moron like me, but I'd really love to hear from someone that has a wanhao, either the D7 or D8. How do you like it? Can is use any DPL resin or are you limited in brands of resin? Are there any major advantages to the peopoly as compared to the D8? I've noticed when searching for resin that a lot of them say "wanhao compatible" and there seems to be a good selection of resin for the D8.

And how about the peopoly? Anybody got one? How do you like it? Pros and cons?

Any tips or advice on this would be greatly appreciated. I really want to be able to put great tires on my trucks without having to pay $20 each for them! Tires and figures are my two main reasons for wanting an SLA printer, but I'll also be able to do high quailty small parts, like head and tail lights, hatches, and all the other little doo dads.
When FDR coined the phrase "The Arsenal of Democracy", he was talking about Detroit. Proud to live in the 2nd most violent city in America!!
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tomhugill
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Re: Need help selecting an SLA printer

Post by tomhugill »

Max-U52 wrote:As most of you probably know, I recently purchased a Creality LD-001 DPL LCD printer. I can't get the damned thing to print. The customer service and tech support at creality is very, very poor to say the least. If i can't get this thing working (I'm giving it another week and then it goes back) I plan to send it back and get a different SLA printer. If I do that, the budget for a new printer will be $1,500 USD. I'm looking at the Wanhao D8 and the Peopoly. The Formlabs also looks good, but that's way out of my price range.

I would really love to hear from owners of peopoly or wanhao printers. They both have their advantages. The peopoly uses Gcode, so I could use Cura, a software I'm already familiar with, but the wanhao has built in slicing software so all you do is load your stl file and it slices automatically. i think that might be best for a computer moron like me, but I'd really love to hear from someone that has a wanhao, either the D7 or D8. How do you like it? Can is use any DPL resin or are you limited in brands of resin? Are there any major advantages to the peopoly as compared to the D8? I've noticed when searching for resin that a lot of them say "wanhao compatible" and there seems to be a good selection of resin for the D8.

And how about the peopoly? Anybody got one? How do you like it? Pros and cons?

Any tips or advice on this would be greatly appreciated. I really want to be able to put great tires on my trucks without having to pay $20 each for them! Tires and figures are my two main reasons for wanting an SLA printer, but I'll also be able to do high quailty small parts, like head and tail lights, hatches, and all the other little doo dads.
I think woz would have some.good input here, I've just taken delivery of some of his parts done on the SLA printer and they're amazing
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Woz
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Re: Need help selecting an SLA printer

Post by Woz »

tomhugill wrote:
Max-U52 wrote:As most of you probably know, I recently purchased a Creality LD-001 DPL LCD printer. I can't get the damned thing to print. The customer service and tech support at creality is very, very poor to say the least. If i can't get this thing working (I'm giving it another week and then it goes back) I plan to send it back and get a different SLA printer. If I do that, the budget for a new printer will be $1,500 USD. I'm looking at the Wanhao D8 and the Peopoly. The Formlabs also looks good, but that's way out of my price range.

I would really love to hear from owners of peopoly or wanhao printers. They both have their advantages. The peopoly uses Gcode, so I could use Cura, a software I'm already familiar with, but the wanhao has built in slicing software so all you do is load your stl file and it slices automatically. i think that might be best for a computer moron like me, but I'd really love to hear from someone that has a wanhao, either the D7 or D8. How do you like it? Can is use any DPL resin or are you limited in brands of resin? Are there any major advantages to the peopoly as compared to the D8? I've noticed when searching for resin that a lot of them say "wanhao compatible" and there seems to be a good selection of resin for the D8.

And how about the peopoly? Anybody got one? How do you like it? Pros and cons?

Any tips or advice on this would be greatly appreciated. I really want to be able to put great tires on my trucks without having to pay $20 each for them! Tires and figures are my two main reasons for wanting an SLA printer, but I'll also be able to do high quailty small parts, like head and tail lights, hatches, and all the other little doo dads.
I think woz would have some.good input here, I've just taken delivery of some of his parts done on the SLA printer and they're amazing
@Tom Forgot to tell you to stick the warped parts in hot water then clamp the flat to straighten them out.

I have the old D7 V4 and I love it. My D7 didn't have the built in control board so I run it through a Raspberry Pi. It took a bit of faffing about but the results are amazing.

Here's a D7 FB group that I found very helpful - https://www.facebook.com/groups/287910088208745

The D8 is still in Beta so they're still ironing out a few issues. https://www.facebook.com/groups/WanhaoUniversityD8/. I'm getting one when they get it sorted.

It can use lots of different resins as long as it's UV resin. The resins are getting better and better, faster cure times, more detail.
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Max-U52
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Re: Need help selecting an SLA printer

Post by Max-U52 »

Thanks, Woz, I took a good look at the link and I see what you mean. I didn't see anyone that said everything worked great right out of the box. Any idea how long before they get it right? They offer them for sale, you would think they would work properly, but I guess a fully functioning product is no longer a prerequisite to marketing, eh? I think that's the problem I now have with the LD-001. It's so new they don't have all the bugs out. They should have done much more beta testing before marketing them.

So what about the peopoly? They've been out for a bit and I know at least one guy that says he love his. I'll have to check the print bed size. The D8 is huge, compared to most home SLA printers. In the D8 I'll bet you can print 1/6 kubel tires two or three at a time! I could probably print 100 tail light buckets on that, all at once.

So I guess I'll do more research on the peopoly. With tech like this the word "kit" always gets a bit scary, can ya dig it?
When FDR coined the phrase "The Arsenal of Democracy", he was talking about Detroit. Proud to live in the 2nd most violent city in America!!
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Woz
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Re: Need help selecting an SLA printer

Post by Woz »

Max-U52 wrote:Thanks, Woz, I took a good look at the link and I see what you mean. I didn't see anyone that said everything worked great right out of the box. Any idea how long before they get it right? They offer them for sale, you would think they would work properly, but I guess a fully functioning product is no longer a prerequisite to marketing, eh? I think that's the problem I now have with the LD-001. It's so new they don't have all the bugs out. They should have done much more beta testing before marketing them.

So what about the peopoly? They've been out for a bit and I know at least one guy that says he love his. I'll have to check the print bed size. The D8 is huge, compared to most home SLA printers. In the D8 I'll bet you can print 1/6 kubel tires two or three at a time! I could probably print 100 tail light buckets on that, all at once.

So I guess I'll do more research on the peopoly. With tech like this the word "kit" always gets a bit scary, can ya dig it?

I think it's good when they sell Beta versions as it lets the end users design the end product. As long as the buyer is aware it's Beta and not a finished product.

The thing I like about this tech is that it's using already available parts and combining them to make something else -Stepper motor + cell phone/tablet screen = 3D printer.

Hope Wanhao see this -https://sla3dprinter.com/pages/resin-3d ... al-maximus

Then we can print entire tanks in one go.
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