The Build Platform

After building the Moai 3D printer platform lowered onto the Vats and it was time to level it by adjusting the four knuts underneath it. This ensured that the build plate would be perfectly aligned, allowing for accurate and precise prints. The instructions provided were clear, but I did have to refer to them a few times as I worked through the process.

I also had to cut out a circle template provided by the manufacturer and place it inside the Vats. This was used to test the functionality of the laser system. To do this, I used the SD cards with the included Yuan test code. The results were impressive, and I was able to see that the laser system was functioning properly.

While working with such a laser, even though it only has a power of 150 M, it is always recommended to use laser safety glasses. This may seem unnecessary for a low-powered laser like this one, but it's still an important precaution to take. As I worked with the laser, I had to be careful not to look directly into its beam.

The First Test Print

Once I realized that I accidentally connected the X galvo to the Wi driver and vice versa, I knew that the printer was properly calibrated. It was now time to attach the remaining two side covers and install the QR software. This involved entering the machine set settings provided by the manufacturer and importing the printing profile.

I then imported a ring test STL file and saved it to slice g code on my SD card. With the QR software installed, I started the first test print. To my surprise, the printer produced a dry print, meaning without the resin in it. This was done to see whether the printer moves like it's supposed to. It did.

To further test the printer, I put on disposable gloves and opened the can of UV resin. The resin had a very neon green unnatural color, but I filled up the vat to 1/5 of its height with the resin. I then started the print. During the printing process, all the motors and lasers seemed to work as they should. However, no traces of solid resin were found.

I tried recalibrating the machine and started a couple more test prints with the Benchmark G-Code of the manufacturer. Unfortunately, this didn't change anything. The laser spots looked a bit unfocused, and changing the position of the laser itself did not fix this problem. Thankfully, however, the manufacturer sent me a new one, which I immediately secured in its rightful place.

Once again, I tried out the ring code without the build platform. This time, without any issues, I noticed that the laser was much brighter and also focused. Therefore, it was no surprise that finally something solid was created with the resin. After reinstalling the build platform and restarting the print, the machine finally worked like it was supposed to and produced the intended object without any problems.

The Final Print

To finalize the print, I got isopropanol, which I filled into one small container. I then brought in another container with plain water and removed the print from the build platform. After dropping it into the isopropanol, I moved it around, cleaned it in the water, and repeated this process three times before letting the print dry and cure for a couple more hours.

While that was happening, I downloaded a model of a whistle and a boat from FY Wars, sliced them, and printed them as well without any problems. Once I treated those objects with isoprenol buff, I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the print. The boat, in particular, which is like a benchmark for 3D printers, came out way better than I expected.

It's amazing how much detail this SLA 3D printing technique can capture. By comparing the noise level of my Delta printer to the noise level of the SL printer, it's clear which one can be used in a quiet work environment. While I printed the ring model on the Delta printer, which was not a good idea to begin with, it took around 17.5 minutes. In contrast, the SLA printer required around 22.5 minutes for the same task.

The Moai 3D Printer

The Moai 3D printer does work and produces amazing prints that I will definitely use in the future. With that being said, I hope you like this video. If so, don't forget to like, share, and subscribe. Stay creative, and I will see you next time.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ena couple of weeks ago I received this big parcel which contained the individual parts of a prototype moai s 3D printer that is currently on Kickstarter in comparison to traditional 3D printers that basically use Molen plastic to construct an object an SL 3D printer uses a UV laser that hardens a UV sensitive resin to do the same now of course the kickstarter campaign presents all the amazing features the why 3D printer has to offer but the question is how easy is it to build does it print without any problems and what do I think could be enhanced let's find out first off I have to say that all the printer parts inside the parcel were nicely packaged sometimes even a bit too well after unpacking and inspecting every single component I did not notice any kind of recognizable damage either so it was time to print out the building instructions which consisted of clear pictures and a short description which always mentions the necessary screw type since the screw bags were all nicely labeled it was quick and easy to find the right ones I started the building process by connecting the eight pieces of Meer slides to to create the main cubid structure of the printer afterwards I secured the Z AIS with steeper motor to the back of the structure mounted the metal piece for holding the resin vet along with an additional lifting motor in the middle of the cuboids and attached the bottom plate next I inserted and mounted the front plates which brings me to my first small complaint some screws were missing but since M3 screws are not rare nowadays it was not a problem to find a suitable replacement so I continued by mounting the X and Y G theom drivers and the laser with mirror reflection system to the bottom plates and the rotary encoder for controlling the printer to the front plate through the help of the wiring schematic I then connected all the electronics boards to one another added the complimentary metal sheet to the bat holder and already started mounting the black acrylic cover to the front side of the printer I sat already here because I was almost done with the building process after only 3 hours which is by far the shortest amount of time that are required to assemble a 3D printer kit but as a compensation for this positivity I have to say that for example the standoffs for the front door of the printer were not mentioned in the instructions but nevertheless after securing the main power switch the back plate and the DC jack I finished the power wiring plugged in the power brake inserted the vets and build plug platform and finally turned on the machine after changing the Z reset position of the printer the build platform lowered onto the Vats and it was time to level it by adjusting the four knuts underneath it then I cut out a circle template provided by the manufacturer placed it inside the vets and used the SD cards with the included Yuan test code to check the functionality of the laser system and while working with such a laser even though it only has a power of 150 M it is always recommended to use laser safety glasses now as you can see the circle created by the laser look pretty accurate at least after I realized that I accidentally connected the X galvo to the Wi driver and vice versa so that means that the printer was properly calibrated and it was time to attach the remaining two side covers and installed the QR software there I entered the machine set settings provided by the manufacturer and imported theoi printing profile after importing the ring test STL file I saved it slice g code to the SD card and started the first test print with it as you can see it was a dry print meaning without the resin in order to see whether the printer moves like it's supposed to since that was apparently the case I put on disposable gloves and opened the can of the resin which has a very neon green unnatural color but nevertheless I filled up the vat to 1/5 of its height with the resin and started the print and even though all the motors and the lasers seem to work during the printing process no traces of solid resin were found so I tried recalibrating the machine and started a couple more test prints with the Benchmark G-Code of the manufacturer only to find out that this didn't change anything but what stood out to me was that the laser spots looked a bit unfocused and changing the position of the laser itself did not fix this problem thankfully though the manufacturer sent me a new one which I immediately secured in its rightful place after trying out the ring code once again this time without the build platform I immediately noticed that the laser was much brighter and also focused therefore it was no surprise that finally something solid was created with the resin and after reinstalling the build platform and restarting the print the machine finally worked like it was supposed to and created the intended object without any problems to finalize the print though I got myself isopropanol which I filled into one small container and brought in another container with plain water after removing the print from the build platform I dropped it into the isopropanol moved it around cleaned it in the water and repeated this process three times before letting the print dry and cure for a couple more hours and while that was happening I downloaded a model of a whistle and a boat from FY Wars sliced them and printed them as well without any problems once I treated those objects with the isoprenol buff I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the prince I mean the boat which is like a benchmark for 3D printers came out way better than I expected and it is quite amazing how much detail this SLA 3D printing technique can capture but not only that if we compare the noise level of my Delta printer to the noise level of the SL printer then it is clear which one can be used in a quiet work environment and while I printed the ring model on the Delta printer which was not a good idea to begin with with it took around 17.5 minutes while the SLA printer required around 22.5 minutes for the same task seems like the molten plastic is faster but the pla version actually used a layer height of 0.2 mm and the resin version a layer height of 0.1 mm which means that the SLA machine is definitely quicker the only big negative aspect for me is that the UV resin is a more brittle material in comparison to abs and Pla and working with it as well as the isopropanol requires a bit of extra care and the well ventilated room since it all smells a bit funny but all in all I do like the moai 3D printer while I do think that they could have improved the door and that the equil glass attracts dust way too much the product does work and produces amazing prints that I will definitely use in the future and with that being said I hope you like this video If so don't forget to like share and subscribe stay creative and I will see you next timea couple of weeks ago I received this big parcel which contained the individual parts of a prototype moai s 3D printer that is currently on Kickstarter in comparison to traditional 3D printers that basically use Molen plastic to construct an object an SL 3D printer uses a UV laser that hardens a UV sensitive resin to do the same now of course the kickstarter campaign presents all the amazing features the why 3D printer has to offer but the question is how easy is it to build does it print without any problems and what do I think could be enhanced let's find out first off I have to say that all the printer parts inside the parcel were nicely packaged sometimes even a bit too well after unpacking and inspecting every single component I did not notice any kind of recognizable damage either so it was time to print out the building instructions which consisted of clear pictures and a short description which always mentions the necessary screw type since the screw bags were all nicely labeled it was quick and easy to find the right ones I started the building process by connecting the eight pieces of Meer slides to to create the main cubid structure of the printer afterwards I secured the Z AIS with steeper motor to the back of the structure mounted the metal piece for holding the resin vet along with an additional lifting motor in the middle of the cuboids and attached the bottom plate next I inserted and mounted the front plates which brings me to my first small complaint some screws were missing but since M3 screws are not rare nowadays it was not a problem to find a suitable replacement so I continued by mounting the X and Y G theom drivers and the laser with mirror reflection system to the bottom plates and the rotary encoder for controlling the printer to the front plate through the help of the wiring schematic I then connected all the electronics boards to one another added the complimentary metal sheet to the bat holder and already started mounting the black acrylic cover to the front side of the printer I sat already here because I was almost done with the building process after only 3 hours which is by far the shortest amount of time that are required to assemble a 3D printer kit but as a compensation for this positivity I have to say that for example the standoffs for the front door of the printer were not mentioned in the instructions but nevertheless after securing the main power switch the back plate and the DC jack I finished the power wiring plugged in the power brake inserted the vets and build plug platform and finally turned on the machine after changing the Z reset position of the printer the build platform lowered onto the Vats and it was time to level it by adjusting the four knuts underneath it then I cut out a circle template provided by the manufacturer placed it inside the vets and used the SD cards with the included Yuan test code to check the functionality of the laser system and while working with such a laser even though it only has a power of 150 M it is always recommended to use laser safety glasses now as you can see the circle created by the laser look pretty accurate at least after I realized that I accidentally connected the X galvo to the Wi driver and vice versa so that means that the printer was properly calibrated and it was time to attach the remaining two side covers and installed the QR software there I entered the machine set settings provided by the manufacturer and imported theoi printing profile after importing the ring test STL file I saved it slice g code to the SD card and started the first test print with it as you can see it was a dry print meaning without the resin in order to see whether the printer moves like it's supposed to since that was apparently the case I put on disposable gloves and opened the can of the resin which has a very neon green unnatural color but nevertheless I filled up the vat to 1/5 of its height with the resin and started the print and even though all the motors and the lasers seem to work during the printing process no traces of solid resin were found so I tried recalibrating the machine and started a couple more test prints with the Benchmark G-Code of the manufacturer only to find out that this didn't change anything but what stood out to me was that the laser spots looked a bit unfocused and changing the position of the laser itself did not fix this problem thankfully though the manufacturer sent me a new one which I immediately secured in its rightful place after trying out the ring code once again this time without the build platform I immediately noticed that the laser was much brighter and also focused therefore it was no surprise that finally something solid was created with the resin and after reinstalling the build platform and restarting the print the machine finally worked like it was supposed to and created the intended object without any problems to finalize the print though I got myself isopropanol which I filled into one small container and brought in another container with plain water after removing the print from the build platform I dropped it into the isopropanol moved it around cleaned it in the water and repeated this process three times before letting the print dry and cure for a couple more hours and while that was happening I downloaded a model of a whistle and a boat from FY Wars sliced them and printed them as well without any problems once I treated those objects with the isoprenol buff I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the prince I mean the boat which is like a benchmark for 3D printers came out way better than I expected and it is quite amazing how much detail this SLA 3D printing technique can capture but not only that if we compare the noise level of my Delta printer to the noise level of the SL printer then it is clear which one can be used in a quiet work environment and while I printed the ring model on the Delta printer which was not a good idea to begin with with it took around 17.5 minutes while the SLA printer required around 22.5 minutes for the same task seems like the molten plastic is faster but the pla version actually used a layer height of 0.2 mm and the resin version a layer height of 0.1 mm which means that the SLA machine is definitely quicker the only big negative aspect for me is that the UV resin is a more brittle material in comparison to abs and Pla and working with it as well as the isopropanol requires a bit of extra care and the well ventilated room since it all smells a bit funny but all in all I do like the moai 3D printer while I do think that they could have improved the door and that the equil glass attracts dust way too much the product does work and produces amazing prints that I will definitely use in the future and with that being said I hope you like this video If so don't forget to like share and subscribe stay creative and I will see you next time