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I've been wondering this for a while, and have searched for hours and have found nothing except undetailed explanations and projects.

How does a UV LCD 3D resin printer cure resin exactly? I understand there is an LCD screen, but where does the UV light come from? Where is it placed?

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  • $\begingroup$ You should clarify your question. Do you want to know how the light is directed where it's wanted, or do you want to know how resins change state under the influence of photons? $\endgroup$
    – Carl Witthoft
    Apr 8, 2019 at 15:22
  • $\begingroup$ Carl, It's a year later, but I think that my question is pretty simple, especially since I clarified it in the second part of the question. $\endgroup$
    – 1Ghasthunter1
    Apr 21, 2020 at 2:17

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I'm surprised your research hasn't answered your question, as the concept is relatively simple. You have most of the answer in the question. The missing item is a light source. Usually the source is an array of ultraviolet LED modules. There are resin printers that would not be called LCD printers, as they use computer display projectors to generate both the image and the UV to cure the resin.

A rather extensive list of various resin printers can be found at aniwaa.com along with a clear explanation of the technologies.

The image below is courtesy of the link in the previous paragraph.

printer diagram

The light source that answers your question is visible in the third picture. As noted, the LCD panel blocks the light based on the image to be cured. I think the "uses its own light" is somewhat misleading, unless the builder has found a high-UV output LED LCD panel or is using daylight resins and has configured for long burn-in times.

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  • $\begingroup$ Ah yes that seems to clarify things. I recently learned LCD displays are transparent until a certain pixel is turned on, in which it blocks out light. If I am correct, an image is generated, and the actual layer is the negative space on the LCD. Then the UV LED array cures the resin via the open pixels on the LCD $\endgroup$
    – 1Ghasthunter1
    Apr 9, 2019 at 13:53
  • $\begingroup$ University of Michigan has the ability to do something where they use different kinds of UV light + lasers to better control exactly when hardening happens and to penetrate into the material and cure multiple layers (up to about a millimeter) at once. Prints come out in a matter of minutes. $\endgroup$
    – Joel Coehoorn
    Apr 9, 2019 at 14:10

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