How To Make A UV Snake Light To Cure The Inside Of Hollow Resin 3D Prints

Resin Printing

It’s important to cure the resin inside of hollowed out 3D resin prints because if you don’t liquid resin will pool inside your model during printing and become trapped inside of it. Over time this resin can eat through your model and cause cracks, holes or leakage. Hollowing and curing the inside of larger diameter 3D resin printed models will prevent these unwanted problems to happen.

Here’s how to cure the inside of a hollow print using a DIY UV snake light that you make at home for under $10.

First you’ll need these components:

  1. 3mm UV LED Lights Emitting Diodes Pre Wired 7.9 inch DC 12v (get it here on Amazon)
  2. T Type 9 V Battery Clip Connector (get it here on Amazon)
  3. 9 Volt Battery (get it here on Amazon)
  4. Heat Shrink Tube Wire Shrink Wrap (get it here on Amazon)

Assembly Steps:

  1. Slide a piece of Heat Shrink Wire Tubing over one of each of the wires the LED light.
  2. Connect the wires of LED light to wires of the T Type 9 Volt battery clip connector. The wires should be labeled “+” and “-” to let you know which to connect to which. When it doubt, you can plug the battery in an you’ll see the LED light up when the wires are connected in the correct order.
  3. Twist the connected wires together several times (or, you can solder them if you’re extra fancy)
  4. Slide Heat Shrink Wire Tubing over the area where the two wires are connected.
  5. Shrink and secure the Slide Heat Shrink Wire Tubing over the connected wires using a heat gun or cigarette light

Usage instructions:

  1. Create a 3D resin print that is hollow and includes 2 drainage holes at least 5mm in diameter
  2. Clean the model thoroughly
  3. Drain model and let dry for 12 to 24 hours
  4. Cure the outside of your model using your preferred UV curing station or method
  5. Plug LED into 9 volt battery and insert LED bulb into one of your models drain holes
  6. Move the LED light back and forth along the interior of the model for 2 to 3 minutes

Free STL file of Miguel Zavala’s Roper creature model featuring in the video above: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2846943