Elegoo Mars 3 resin-tight VAT Lid

cults3d

The Mars 3 VAT shape looks good but is not always functional. Draining resin out of it is a small mess since it has no good corner to drain from. And the standard lid designs are not sealing properly, so storing resin long term in the VAT is also not a good option. So I designed a lid for the Mars 3 that seals quite good. The standard version follows the curvature of the inside of the Vat precisely so it has quite some sealing capabilities and you can store resin longer in the VAT. The advanced sealing version is split into two parts. A rigid lid and a flexible sealing out of TPU or flexible resin. The TPU sealing is squeezed between the lid and the VAT. With dialed-in settings the sealing lid makes the VAT actual resin-tight. How to print: Can be printed on FDM printer or larger SLA Printers, e.g. Elegoo Saturn. The lid part should be printed out of filament/resin that does not have material creep under higher load, i.e., can withstand some force from the screws pressing down without deforming. Some PLA filament is prone to slowly bend and flow under load. Thus, I recommend PETG or ABS which stay in shape under load at room temperature. PLA filament also works but there are some cheap versions that yre not really mechanically stable. All tough and ABS-like resins should be fine. The TPU sealing of the advanced sealing version is likely the hardest to print for most people. Without dialed-in settings for TPU filament (or flexible resin), the sealing will be annoying to print and to fit to the lid. I designed the sealing such that it requires 2 or 3 perimeters with a 0.4 nozzle in order to reduce the amount of retractions required (retractions are often messing up TPU prints). Some tips for printing the sealing with FDM: If you have printed TPU in the past and have dialed-in settings, then you can simply print the sealing and remove blobs and burrs from the TPU with a sharp knive afterwards. The sealing should then fit on the lid with a little tension. the tension is dependend on the flexibility of the TPU/resin. If the tension feels to floppy (various filaments and resins have different shrinkage factors), then reprint the sealing and scale down the sealing in X and Y by 1 - 3 %. If you are not an expert in TPU printing and have troubles: 1. Check your extrusion width and make sure that your printer is not making unecessary travels and retractions. Deactive to fill out tiny gaps in your print. 2. Check your E-steps or flow multiplyier when switching to TPU. Usually soft TPU requires significant change here compared to PLA/PETG/ABS. 3. If the sealing does not fit into the cross-shaped gap, then check your extrusion multiplier (see 2.) or compensate with (negative) "horizontal expansion" and "horizontal hole expansion" in your slicer of choice. Some tips for printing the sealing with SLA: I never printed any flexible on my Mars 3 or Saturn. I cannot help you here. I would appreciate some feedback on how to print flexibles and the sealing on SLA :-) ** How to use:** Simply place the lid on top of your VAT. Plug in the Bolts and carefully tighten them evenly so that the lid isnot squished onto the VAT in a wrong angle. Overtightening the bolts will more likely damage the threads of the bolts than damage the lid.