Welcome to the SeeMeCNC Community

I've been looking through the forum for any notes on what people are using for vats with their printers.
The only thing I've read is petri dishes but no specs, brands or sources.

One of my fears is the bottom surface isn't optically clear or the surface is distorted scattering the image.
Maybe I'm over thinking it...

What are you using or have seen? Any resources for purchase?

Seems like one of the images I've seen from a build was a homemade vat with glass bottom (re square) and clear sides (re PVC?).

Thanks,
Robin

I have a set of cheap Petri dishes I picked up to experiment with resin, and the bottoms are not even close to flat, not to say there couldn't be brands out there with flat bottoms.
I was thinking if milling the walls out of a piece of aluminum then clamping a glass plate underneath with an O Ring to seal the edges.
EDIT -- I guess when the release agent is added to the vat, the fact the bottom isn't flat is somewhat moot unless it results in optical distortion.

I can confirm... even the el cheapo dishes on ebay work just fine despite the optical distortions. I've applied the non stick surface tape from Muve 3D to mine which made it significantly worse, however, the parts come out just fine. You can tell they will when you get the projector focused in and the edges are crystal clear. I'm actually amazed that I'm able to print at such small layer heights... under the microscope you can see the layering, but without it you can't! (I've even gone down to 5 microns!)

Bill