Review on 🔧 Mastering Print Quality: Monoprice Resolution Printer Leveling & Curing Solution by James Pope

I'm new to SLA printing but am an electrical engineer so I thought I could solve all the different problems. Okay, just the facts: Setup was very easy and first prints went well, but after cleaning the vat and new Elegoo resin, things went downhill and I stopped having good prints. I have now sent the printer back but could go one step further. Details: This printer is cheap, so set your expectations accordingly. The user guide contains minimal information, so this is a problem-solving exercise. If you don't do well, spend more money and buy another printer. What they don't tell you in all the marketing descriptions for SLA printers is that SLA resin is toxic and how to protect yourself from exposure. So you should learn about all these things - gloves, processes, recycling - before using the printer. It's poorly explained and I watched a lot on YouTube to learn how to be safe. I did some test prints using the included "pigs" files with their 100ml resin. The pigs were doing very well so I went on with one of my exact prints. I needed a resolution of 100 microns, so the specifications of this printer said it could work with a resolution of less than fifty microns, so I needed to achieve that accuracy. My print was fine with standard resin, but measured with digital calipers it was off by 1.5mm. Very close but not good enough for my needs. That's when I learned how to clean. Proper cleaning of the prints after they leave the printer is an important step. You can pan the IPF in, but for precision you'll need a non-sonic cleaner to remove any loose resin. I bought it for about $30 but never used it. There is also a curing process - I just used the sun on mine, which worked well. After my last print with standard resin, I followed the tub cleaning instructions. It was excruciating because it takes practice to keep the resin out, filter out the particles, and clean the FEP to do it effectively. After cleaning the vat, adding new resin and printing again, all I had were failed prints. I still don't understand why. A possible cause could be particles in the vat preventing proper alignment (this is very important), but I've figured out why my recent prints have failed. There are 2 thumbscrews on the tub to attach it. Eventually the left screw was twisted and although tightened, it didn't tighten because it was against the tray, it was tightened because it is difficult to align the tray on the printer, there are no alignment pins or contour marks that you can easily has to fish until the screw hits the holes, and the holes in the screw case are large enough that they can twist just enough to warp the nut in the printer if it's misaligned. So my final prints failed because the vat was loose and I couldn't tell because both thumbscrews were tight, but due to the large amount of liquid in the holes in the jar, they can come loose. In conclusion, I believe this is a functional design but requires a lot of learning for a beginner and there is a lot of sloppiness in the mechanical implementation. This is a first hit for me but due to the initial success I might give it another try, I think with care it could work really well.