Elegoo XS Bundle Wash and Cure station review — Scrub Scrub! — GAMINGTREND

There are numerous methods to clean your prints as soon as they’re full. I’ve seen individuals fill a twig bottle with IPA, douse the print, after which towel them off with a microfiber material. Other people use an ultrasonic bathtub you’d usually use for jewellery. It’s additionally potential to make use of a dunk and wash methodology, utilizing a 5 gallon bucket and IPA. The issue with all of those choices is that they’re messy. Wash and Treatment combo stations have gotten the norm, and though Elegoo sells a mixture the place you possibly can take away the spinning treatment plate and swap in a wash bucket, they’ve additionally separated them out for this product. Why would someone need two separate stations? Properly, let’s check out the Elegoo XS Bundle and discover out.

I’ll be up entrance – I already personal a wash/treatment station, and from Elegoo’s competitor, Anycubic. I picked it up after I first began printing, and it’s served me fairly effectively, albeit with some drawbacks that I’ve discovered over time. However I’m getting forward of myself. Let’s unbox this pair from Elegoo and see what’s happening with the Elegoo XS.

Contained in the field you’ll discover the bottom for the 2 stations, the cleansing container for the wash station, the wash basket (in two components), the anti-UV lid, the curing lights that you just’ll connect to the curing station (naturally), a wrench and screws you’ll use to connect mentioned lights, a handheld UV lamp, a set of UV protecting glasses, the guide, and eventually the facility adapter. We’ll get again to the latter once we discuss setup. As I discussed, the stations are separated – one for cleansing, and one other for curing, so let’s begin with the previous after which try the latter.

The wash station measures 255mm (10.03″) huge by 155mm (6.1″) deep, with a peak of 385.5mm (15.17″). There are two phases to the bucket, with a barely bigger portion close to the highest. The basket that goes contained in the bucket is break up into two components — a small basket and a bigger one with handles on it. The smaller basket can relaxation within the internal lip of the wash bucket, with the bigger of the 2 falling all the way in which to the underside. Why? Properly, you’ve a brand new approach of washing your prints — on the plate itself. Utilizing this basket adapter, you possibly can go away the print on the plate, washing it in place. Usually I wouldn’t go away an object nonetheless connected to the plate, however for bigger prints that maybe have a separate base, it is a nice characteristic. You’ll be able to go away the merchandise on the plate, making certain it stays safe and doesn’t bounce round within the vortex of the liquid spinning, retaining delicate components protected.

Talking of the vortex, the cleansing operate spins the IPA in each instructions. It’ll run for a minute in a single path, cycles down, after which spins again within the different path. It does this for each minute you spend washing. This helps clear the print, but additionally helps hit a few of the more durable to achieve nooks and crannies in your print. The basin can maintain as much as 7000ml, although chances are you’ll or could not use that a lot IPA without delay, relying on the dimensions of your prints. 7000ml is sufficient to deal with a print over a foot tall as a single piece, although it’s simply as probably that you just’ll be printing a variety of smaller components and washing them as a batch. If you happen to did take away the gadgets from the plate, you’ll use the basket to elevate them out of the IPA. If you’re setting the plate immediately on the secondary basket, you then’ll pull the plate after which take away the print – simply be sure you clear the contact floor when you do because it’ll nonetheless have resin on it. If you’re curious, sure – it would match plates from different producers, so long as they’re roughly the identical dimension as a Saturn 3.

I didn’t count on to be impressed with the cleansing capabilities of a wash and treatment station, however I do really see a distinction between my Anycubic and this Elegoo XS mannequin. Maybe the magnetic wheel beneath is creating extra turbidity with quicker spins, I can’t ensure, however I’ve discovered that I’m getting far much less shiny or sticky prints after a two minute wash. Proof is within the pudding, I suppose.

In observe, you’ll wish to choose up a second bucket. The primary wash on a print is often an enormous cloud of shed resin. The 2 bucket methodology lets you have one which’s going to clean away the majority of the floor coat, after which you possibly can switch it to your second wash the place the final little bit of washing happens. You wash till the primary bucket is just too contaminated, you then make bucket two into bucket one. You then cycle out that first bucket’s IPA, curing it and optionally permitting it to settle out for re-use.

The treatment station has a pair of towers you’ll connect to the rear corners of the treatment base with the included wrench and screws. These towers have a prismatic lens on them to assist unfold the sunshine from the 14 UV LEDs on either side evenly throughout the print, working at 405nm. On the underside of the bottom is one other set of 4 UV LEDs shining upwards into the underside of your print to treatment inside. The clear plastic plate rotates round to offer a 360 diploma spin by way of the UV mild to make sure the whole mannequin is cured and protected.

Each of those units function off of a single energy brick, with a Y pigtail sending energy to each base stations. They each function with a single knob within the entrance of every base. Holding the middle in for a second activates the machine, after which spinning the outer wheel units the time for cleansing or curing in 30 second increments. Every mannequin would require longer or shorter wash and treatment occasions, so that you’ll should experiment with these occasions to determine how a lot time is required for every kind of resin.

On the facet of the treatment station is a small port. The included UV pen plugs in right here, offering a handheld treatment mild. The attention on it cures at 405nm – the suitable wavelength to treatment resin shortly. Supplied you punch a gap massive sufficient for it to suit, you possibly can press this eye within a cleaned print, utilizing the system to treatment the within. That is necessary as uncured resin can proceed to “drool” out of the print, or worse crack and even explode. Positive, you possibly can attempt to make your individual model if this pen, however regardless of my greatest efforts I used to be by no means capable of dial in an LED vivid sufficient or on the proper wavelength to do what this one can do – it’s a improbable shock, and one which I hope continues into future wash/treatment stations Elegoo and different distributors promote.

Included within the field is a set of UV protecting glasses. If you’re prepared to tinker to disable the security mechanism (and I don’t advocate this), you may theoretically put on these glasses with the hood off the treatment station to look at the system do its work. There’s probably not a cause to take action, but it surely does present a tacit warning about trying immediately at high-powered LEDs. It’s good to see an included security equipment like this included.

One of many issues I used to be making an attempt to unravel was the flexibility to treatment bigger prints like those that come off my Jupiter SE. I nonetheless have that downside. The treatment station can deal with prints 14.3” tall, although the towers finish about an inch shorter than that. Bigger prints just like the Minthara from Baldur’s Gate 3 that I showcased with the Jupiter SE would nonetheless require two passes (one proper facet up, and one other the wrong way up) to make sure even curing. Simply know that if you happen to scale past that 14” peak, you’ll run into points with the vertical limits of the sunshine towers. It’s time for Elegoo to make a Jupiter-sized wash and treatment station, or it’s time for me to begin splitting up my prints.

The Elegoo workforce has been nice to work with after I’ve wanted assist, and so they stand behind their merchandise. To that finish they’ve a 14 day satisfaction assure to make sure you just like the system. In addition they supply lifetime assist and a 1 12 months guarantee. On the time of writing, you’ll choose up the pair of those for $179, although I’ve seen them on sale for as little as $120 every now and then.

So why would you need two separate units? The largest benefit is which you could run each units on the similar time. If you happen to personal a number of 3D printers, you may end up having a must treatment and wash concurrently. Tougher resins could require longer time curing, so with the ability to proceed to clean different prints is perhaps a boon. For me it’s easier than that – I’m retaining liquids away from my resin curing. Taking a look at my Anycubic after roughly two years of use, the reflective plate is beginning to look somewhat tough. A bit of splash right here and there and all of the sudden I’m needing to interchange the spinning plate and mentioned reflector. Positive, the Elegoo XS fixes the reflector downside by changing it with 4 LED pearls within the base, which is a stable enchancment over a shiny piece of plastic, however retaining each actions very separate has already improved my workflow. It’s minimize my post-work cleanup, and the set-it-and-forget-it nature of a wash and treatment station permits me to multitask.

Until in any other case said, the product on this article was supplied for evaluation functions.