Yea, I'm disappointed with the lacking feedback regarding 3D printing on DLN and on FB groups.
I printed a test surgical guide this morning. And learned why we need so many struts on the object in an SLA printer.
I decided to leave the ridiculous amount of struts on the next test run and well see how it looks in the morning.
How do you guys position your objects? Standing up or lying down?
I have been running multiple tests with our Formlabs 2 and I hope I can aid in anyway I can. For positioning and sprues, for surgical guides i rotate them to be flat with the occlusal side, or "Top" of the guide facing the tray so no spues go into the side that goes on the teeth. Manually sprueing gives you so much more freedom so you can add less of the sprues, it gives you a guide on where to place them and red shade appears wherever you need more supports. Doing it this way I have not had a print fail because of sprues.
Also I wish I knew this before I started printing but make sure to move your objects around the tray, do not print always in the same area as this can cause "Ghosting" which leaves marks on the actual tray because of repetitive laser blasts through it, this can cause objects to not cure properly and fail, leading to you having to buy a new tray. Keep the printing areas on a rotation to extend the life of the tray and if you notice any ghosting simply replace the tray.
Post printing is quite simple, once the object is taken off the tray, dip it into one side of your IPA bath for 10 min, switch to the second bath for another 10 min (This will extend the life of the alcohol so you do not have to replace as often, the first bath will start to get full of material run off and discolor.). After the soaking is done take it out and let it air dry, this will remove the excess alcohol and remove the sticky feel of any extra material stuck behind. From here you can cure the SG material (If that's what you are using) on or off the model (For flexible structures I found curing with all the sprues on and on the model for a bit, then removing the sprues and curing again still on the model helps retain its structural integrity.) then trim off the sprues with the clippers or a disk if the structure is flexible. and your done. You can pumice and high shine the rough areas where the sprues attached to the model to give a nice smooth feel and shiny look.
If you have any other questions please feel free to ask and I will try to answer them as best I can.