Creality UW-03 3D Resin Wash & Cure Station

Creality has upped the quality of their 3D resin printers to exciting new levels for producing fantastic detail with every print. But without proper washing and curing, your prints could be riddled with artefacts no matter how amazing your 3D printer resolution. A well-known aspect of resin is the learning curve and post-processing required for DLP printing, with print cleaning and curing being both time-consuming and potentially problematic for print quality. This has led to a demand for a product that will simplify the cleaning and curing process, and where there is demand, there are clever brands to take advantage. The new Creality UW-03 3D Resin Wash & Cure Station is their latest iteration of a dual-purpose machine designed to make post-processing easier.

Improved Convenience of the Creality UW-03 3D Resin Wash & Cure Station 

Resin making can be a messy hobby due to the precautions you need to follow when handling, cleaning, and curing resin, as contact with the skin needs to be avoided during the whole process. When Creality released the UW-01 & UW-02 3D resin Washing & Curing Stations, a simpler way was widely available to all Makers. This new UW-03 version is similar in many ways to our beloved wash and cure stations, but with a few key additions that make post-processing even easier:

• Anti-Roll Square Turntable – The UW-03 does away with the round turntables and gives us as much curing space as possible with a square tray. A small lip stops your models from rolling off while the curing table spins to cure your models 360°.

• 18 UV LEDs Array – An increase in UV LEDs gives this station a 405nm curing wavelength for strong UV exposure. Your models solidify quickly and evenly.

• Multi-Positions for Washing and Curing Various Model Types – You can now wash your 3D resin prints in the basket or in a hanging state for prints still attached to a build plate. These two methods allow you to determine your process for the best results. Similarly, curing can be done with the basket or without. A basket while curing can be handy for oddly shaped prints that might fall off the curing plate.

Just like previous stations, the cleaning cycle uses a large sealable container, basket, and your cleaning solution, IPA or ResinAway solution, to clean the print of any excess resin in preparation for curing. Once cleaning is complete, the curing can begin. The square 360° rotating platform ensures that the UV LED array is able to cover the entire print in a consistent light for a great cure. The UW-03 turns arduous and messy post-processing into a few extra steps. 

Although the UW-02 is designed to be natively compatible with all of the different Creality DLP printers, it can accommodate prints from various DLP printers. Not every DLP printer print platform will natively be compatible with the adapter; however, be sure to check Thingiverse as members of the Maker community have started designing adapters for various DLP printers. If you want to avoid the hassle of 3D printing a bracket or can’t find a pre-designed bracket, you can remove the print from the build plate, place it in the included basket, and give it a thorough wash. Both the print platform and basket method should offer near-identical results no matter what DLP printer you use.

Additional Resources:

• As a final Pro Tip, if your print platform isn’t compatible with the UW-03, and you want to avoid printer downtime, consider purchasing a secondary print platform and equipping both the primary and secondary with  Flexible Build Systems like those from Creality or Wham Bam. Then, once a print is finished, you can pull the build plate off of the primary magnetic base and switch it with the build plate on the secondary magnetic base. This means each print platform has a semi-permanent bed allowing you to maintain that perfect bed level that you’ve worked so hard to get and making the entire process easier, faster, and more streamlined.

• If you’re eager for a quick look at the major features of the Creality UW-03, check out this review video of their new wash & curing station in action: