Cheap UV Curing Chamber for Resin 3D Printers

As a mechanical engineering PhD student I love to find cheaper and better ways to solve problems! If you're like me, you've just jumped headfirst into 3D resin printing. If you're also like me, you may be surprised at all the "extras" that are involved - messy printing process, solvent developers, and (the topic of this Instructable) a UV curing chamber for your resin 3D printer!

If you look online, there's lots of options. Thanks to my time working as a research assistant at the University of Arkansas, I've had the opportunity to do lots of this type of printing in our well-equipped lab space. A top-of-the-line UV source, which may practically burn a hole straight through prints as fast as your wallet, actually doesn't matter for this application. UV resin polymers crosslink based on an energy threshold. You can thank physics later, but light energy is dependent on two things: intensity, and time. So, the higher powered (and more expensive) systems can cure your parts faster because they have a high intensity, but the lower powered solutions will work just as good if you cure for a little longer. The caveat is that the intensity of your light source dissipates with distance squared. So the bottom line: you can use a cheap lamp if you cure a longer time at a closer distance.

In this project, I made a cheap resin curing station for my Anycubic Photon Mono2 3D printer. The resin cure station is designed to be a cheaper solution compared to the curing stations offered online. After printing and cleaning your resin 3D prints, this chamber can be used to fully crosslink the outside of your model. Post curing is important for providing a clean, ready-to-handle surface on the outside of your parts (that tackiness you feel on your developed parts is due to uncrosslinked monomers). This chamber can also be used to solidify UV-cured glues for various applications. It also just looks cool!

For this build, you will need four orange acrylic panels (5" x 7"), 16 screws (M3 x 4mm), a UV lamp, some acrylic mirrors and a 3D printer to 3D print the bottom, side, and top braces. I purchased a cheap lamp that included a small rotating solar-powered turntable. It works great for this application! Additionally, you'll want to ensure the acrylic panels are orange. UV light is harmful to your eyes, whether you feel it doing damage or not. The orange color of the acrylic will attenuate out that blue wavelength, making it possible for your to view your prints, and also not to accidentally crosslink anything nearby too!

Here are the links for the supplies I used:

1. UV Lamp
2. Orange Acrylic Sheets (5" x 7")
3. Acrylic Mirror (4" x 6")
4. M3 screws (4mm long)

The first step is to 3D print the parts. The provided .STL files will work and print well without support. Print 4 total copies of the side bar file, one for each side. I've included an example picture of how to arrange them on your build plate. I used a Creality Ender 3 to print the parts.

Next, attach the UV lamp to the top plate, which you 3D printed. To do this, remove the 4 screws holding the metal face plate on the lamp, take the metal face plate off, and then reapply the screws through the pre-existing holes of the lamp.

Now put on the acrylic panels! Easy and simple. Just insert the orange acrylic panels into the base and top slots, and assemble each side bar one at a time. The M3 screws self thread into the 3D printed holes. No drilling or nuts required. Lastly, put on the adhesive mirrors, which will help ensure all sides of your parts are fully cured. I left one mirror off the "front" panel, to enable you to still get a view of what's happening inside. Happy resin printing and post exposing!