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So, Kyrre Aalerud (aka: KreAture) on the freenode #reprap IRC and I were talking about ways to make a better non-stick vat coating that is cheap.


He came up with a method using saltwater:
*Pour 1mm of saltwater (table salt) into your vat
*Pour resin on top of the saltwater layer, it should float
*Adjust starting layer height to account for the saltwater

I have not tested this method yet (don't have a droplit), but I am very eager to hear people's feedback and results.

This is how the Peachy Printer does it. I personally don't recommend it, as there are certain components a resin formulator can use in a resin that might be more water soluble than soluble in the resin and it could leech out. Plus I think this would also cause a problem of the layer moving in a wave-like pattern every time the build platform came down into the resin. Try it and see what happens though!

I've tried this, and there are two really tricky parts that made me give up on it. First, the whole system is extremely vulnerable to vibration, so if someone slams a door nearby you could end up with an uneven layer cure. Second, when you raise the buildplate up after a completed layer, you need to give it a really long chunk of time for the water+resin to settle and stop rippling.

That not to say it can't work, but that's just what made me decide against it.

Glacian22 wrote:I've tried this, and there are two really tricky parts that made me give up on it. First, the whole system is extremely vulnerable to vibration, so if someone slams a door nearby you could end up with an uneven layer cure. Second, when you raise the buildplate up after a completed layer, you need to give it a really long chunk of time for the water+resin to settle and stop rippling.

That not to say it can't work, but that's just what made me decide against it.

Thank you for your thoughts, I'm glad someone has tried this and has an answer.