Does anyone in this group have experience with the Moai by Peopoly printers?

Does anyone in this group have experience with the @Moai_by_Peopoly printers?

The Moai 200 was just announced and I am specifically wondering if people see a need for that much larger a build envelope?

130mm x 130mm x 185mm for $1400

compared to

200mm by 200mm by 250mm for $3200

…in my own prototyping, I have not needed anything resin printed that is larger than what the smaller version offers…and there is a considerable price jump. Also, dong anything “larger” can introduce unwanted effects of consistency at the edges, etc.

Thoughts, anyone?

That’s pretty large for an SLA; but I’ve heard people who’ve had much more experience than I in the subject say that at those dimensions you have to deal with warping much like you’d deal with warping in FDM printers. Since resin is essentially a glue, you’re gluing a lot larger area to the vat, and I suspect that comes with some tradeoffs.

Big things like this, resin also gets stupid expensive.

@ThantiK you make some great points. Even FDM - size increase - means it became a total PITA to print ABS. I started on a CupCake - built my 4.5 foot long Dragon - and was able to print all those pieces and MANY More things - ALL in ABS. But, when CupCake died & my buddy JetGuy swapped for me a bigger unit - he called SuperCupCake (he took the electronics & some of the parts to put into a double sized unit he had - which was like a Type-A Series design) - then printing ABS became a PITA when printing Large! And - I LOVE to print BIG!

I have also heard Andy on the 3DP Today podcast discussing a LOT about hobby level resin printers. And, I think he mentioned same thing - increasing size begins to reveal more issues with this tech.! However, your note about increased resin usage and increased cost is also a BIG Deterrent! That being said - from what I saw on the Moai website - at least you are NOT locked into buying more expensive resins from them. Still - resins in general are Pricey. So - something to seriously contemplate with a unit like this!

I have the 200 in for testing.

It has a chamber heater, which definitely helps with a large volume for SLA printers.

If you don’t need the larger volume, definitely no need to get the 200. The regular Moai is great if it’s large enough for you.

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@Taylor_Landry1 I want to hear you talk more :slight_smile:

Why is a chamber heater needed for resin?

@raykholo Resin, being a liquid, is affected by temperature in that the resin becomes more or less viscous. The resin needs to be within a certain range of temperature which affects how quickly it flows back under the build plate, and probably how well it allows light through for curing.

What @Nick_Kloski1 said is accurate. You can also get issues due to differential cooling similar to FDM.

I believe the main issue is the rate of curing. Remember, this is a chemical reaction taking place. Generally, the rate of a reaction basically doubles every 10 degrees C (or halves every -10C). The 200 takes more than 1L to just fill the vat. There’s a lot more thermal mass, and there’s a lot more sensitivity to temps in the process.

I think I’d side with you @Nick_Kloski1 , I’m not convinced the technology is suited to larger print sizes. If you think of SLA as being primarily known for high detail, you’ve got to ask how often there are requirements for that level of detail and a larger model. Those requirements will exist, for sure, but great enough to sell reasonable numbers? I’m not so sure. I’d personally be terrified of the cost of a failed print using large volumes of resin.

I was on the list for one. I was hoping it would be 1800 or even 2200. But at 3200 im out. I cant see the value in over double the cost for that small of a size increase. Wheres the extra cost going??