About 5 months ago, Patrick found this 3D printer on the free shelf, I knew exactly what it was, a Peopoly Moai. I heard that somebody wanted to donate some 3d printing stuff, Max and Stan passed on it so it ended up on the free shelf.
I know the company founder Mark Peng and some of their US based employees so its neat to have one of their printers. I ordered a new build platform and FEP vat for it since it was missing one.
Now that I have some time with the “stay in place” I finally had time to test it.
I watched some YouTube videos and followed their documents to make sure everything was in calibration. The power wires were badly spliced (twisted together with a zip tie, really?) I soldered the splice, I also resized the glass slide protector over the galvos to protect it better. Also all the acrylic panels still had the masking paper on them, I removed all the panels and checked if everything was good.
I forgot to tighten the build platform so these parts shifted, the platform leveling test print:
It has a tilt mechanism to peel each layer, it can be tricky I’m finding out with the way you orient the part and setup supports
First test print without supports
The test print I did tonight, turned out mostly well, the base didn’t have enough support and warped but recovered.
Peopoly doesn’t make the Moai anymore, they switched to LCD MSLA technology on their new printers, the Phenom.
Because of the virus stuff going on, I can not find isopropyl 91% in stores so I have a limited ammount of washing, I also FDM printed a UV curing box for the UV lamp I got.
Could we use one of these at DMS, after both Form 2 printers have been damaged due to people not cleaning up after themselves or handling the vats properly? Probably not. I’m realizing the worst part of SLA printing is the resin needs a lot of cleanup.