CureCan - The UV Resin Curing Station In a Coffee Can

thingiverse

I have a SLA printer on the way, and I didn't feel like paying almost as much for a curing station as I did for the printer, so I figured I'd make my own. There's plenty of plans for DIY curing stations, but I figured I could remove the tedious "cover the inside of a box with something reflective" step if I started out with an enclosure that was already reflective inside. Enter the kirkland 3lb coffee can from my recycling bin. At 140mm diameter by 190mm high, it's not huge. But it's bigger than the print volume of the Weistek W5501 I ordered, so good enough. I made a ring that fits on the top and screws into place with a pair of M3 bolts (basically just to hold the LED strip cable in place), a lid, and a convenient lid handle that attaches with an M4 bolt. The lid just sits on top and is intentionally loose because I originally intended to wrap some aluminum foil around it. But between the somewhat-reflective silver PLA I used and the overabundance of UV LEDs, I'm not even going to bother with the foil. The clearance is there if you want to though. I used this LED strip: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08CBBDYRV And this solar turntable: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085NFJYZN Honestly, I'm not sure the turntable is strictly necessary. Fancy curing stations use them because they usually only have a single column of LEDs. With UV coming at the print from every angle already, I think the turntable is probably superfluous. But I already bought it so I'm using it. Capricorn PTFE tubing sticker is definitely optional.