Preparing a 3d print for the Mono X Resin Printer

Exporting your mesh

Be sure that your part fits within the bounds of the printer in a viable orientation. The print volume is 192mm x 120mm x 245mm or 7.56″ x 4.72″ x 9.65″. A viable orientation will be one that minimizes large flat areas when slicing.

Below you can see a box oriented to the XYZ coordinate system. When sliced, the slices through the top and bottom surfaces will be large flat areas, even if the box is hollowed.

During printing, this can create a strong adhesion of the part to the vat film and increases the chance that the part will be pulled off the bed and fail. Even partially pulling off the bed will cause the part to become misaligned and deform.

Additionally, it causes excess wear on the vat film. This can lead to tearing or cracking in the film, which will cause the part to fail and damage the printer.

A better, if counter intuitive, option is shown below. Slightly tilting the box through the X and Y axes creates a series of smaller triangular or trapezoidal slices through the object that will minimize strain on the vat film.

Export your mesh from whatever modeling software you use in millimeters to ensure it is scaled properly. You can also scale your mesh in the slicer if you know the precise size the object should be. Your mesh must be completely manifold and watertight.

NOTE: Although resin prints benefit from being hollowed, it’s typically easier and more accurate to hollow your parts in the slicer rather than in your modeler, so save that process for after exporting.

Open your model and generate support

Open Chitubox on your computer from the start menu. Drag your model into the window to load it. If you have separate objects going into a single print job, export them as separate meshes and drag each in on its own. Models exported together will only be repositionable as a group and be much harder to correctly orient. Use the tools on the left side of the screen to reposition or resize your objects.

Right-click and drag to reorient your camera and click and drag your scroll wheel to pan the camera.

When you are ready to place support, click on the Support tab in the top right of the window.

Delicate objects (cross sections of elements less than 1.5mm across) should use Light support.Most geometry will be printable with Medium support. Some especially large objects printed with thick walls or solid parts will want to use Heavy support to lessen chances of the part separating during the printing process.

NOTE: Parts requiring heavy support may be rejected by AT staff if they may damage the printer.

To run support only between your object and the build plate, click on the +Platform button. To also add support between parts of the model that overhang each other, click on the +All button.

NOTE: Overhanging objects requiring support are more difficult to remove support from. Be judicious with your selection.

To add extra supports in a more targeted way, use the add support button, then click on the model where extra support is needed. You’ll see a ghosted image of the extra support appear before clicking.

To remove problematic supports, click on the remove support button, then click on unwanted supports. The supports will turn red, then when you click on the remove support button a second time, the supports will be deleted. You can click on multiple support structures to remove several at once.

To reposition a support structure, click on the edit support button, then click and drag a support element to move it.

When you’re satisfied with your support, click back to the slicer tab next to the support tab in the top right corner.

Hollow your geometry

Select your geometry from the file list and click on the Hollow button. Choose your wall thickness. A thicker wall can produce a deeper refraction in a clear model, a more opaque white model, and a stronger part. It will also make your part heavier, more likely to fail (due to sticking to the vat film and being pulled from the buildplate), and more expensive.

Wall thicknesses below 1mm tend to create very fragile models and may produce small voids in models that aren’t perfectly watertight. Wall thicknesses above 2mm tend to stick noticeably more to the vat film. We recommend a thickness between 1 and 2mm.

If you need a part to be strong, but don’t want to use all the material that would be produced in a solid part, select an infill structure. The density is directly related to the proportion of void in any cross section of the model. Strength and cost will increase directly with that percentage.

A low precision shell will be calculated very quickly, even for complex models. In very sharply curving geometry though, that may lead to inversions where the inside surface crosses over the outside surface. Check for accidentally created voids or inversions using the slider after hollowing your object. If undesirable results occur, undo the hollowing then repeat the process and increase the precision of the shell.

When you are ready, click on the Start button and then watch the clipping plane show you the results so that you can check for problems.

Slice, preview, and export your model

Click on the Slice button in the right side of the window. Your model’s volume, price, and print time will be shown on the right side of the screen.

If you want to make no further changes to your file, click on the Back button. Click on the Save icon in the top left of the window (not the save button on the bottom right) to save out your *.chitubox file. This will be uploaded to SimplyPrint.

Follow this tutorial to upload your file for printing.