Flashforge Foto 8.9 4K Mono LCD Resin 3D Printer (Orange) Expired

I bought the flashforge foto 6 during the last closeout sale and can kinda describe my workflow with it.

Pros :
-Much, Much better detail. For miniatures it can't be beat by an FDM printer, my ender 3 isn't even close.
- Resin comes in water washable which makes cleaning a smidge less annoying. You CAN NOT just wash your prints under the tap though, set aside a Tupperware of water to clean your minis then dispose of properly according to your city's hazardous materials guidelines.

Cons :
- Cost of Filament is cheaper than cost of resin. Last time I purchased 1kg of resin it was $35-40 whereas filament is $15-20 on average for PLA. (EDIT: Thanks all for the feedback on this, turns out resin is frequently on sale these days. It's been a bit since I've purchased some!)
- Can be messy, there are ways to cut down on this, but always wear gloves and eye protection.
- Need a respirator, I use a 3M half mask reusable that takes bayonet style cartridges. A room with ventilation is a good idea.
- Resin is not really for functional prints in my experience. Just doesn't have the strength of FDM filament when all cured, it's too brittle. (EDIT: I failed to acknowledge the different resin types here, as I've only messed around with simple water-washables. forgot ABS-like resin even exists lol).

Workflow :
Import STL, add supports if not already included (kinda tricky to learn but there's a bunch of videos on resin supports). Once done, export to thumb drive. My printer settings for DETAIL on my 4K foto 6 are : Layer height .05, bottom layer count 8, exposure time 2.8, bottom exposure 35 (results probably vary for a bigger printer like this, but might be a good starting point to run your own tests).

Plug in thumb drive, print. Wear PPE, take print out of printer, scrape uncured resin into the vat, pop print into your Tupperware of cleaner. I use water and a small brush to get in all the nooks and crannies. Let it dry in front of a fan, then put it under a nail curing station that I got off Amazon for like $12. This will finish the UV cure and make it less flexible, but more brittle. Unfortunately, this is a required step.

And you're done! You truly can't beat the detail on this type of printer, but you also have to plan accordingly with PPE. There are products like the Elegoo wash and cure station that streamlines this process, but I imagine there may be some Slickdealers like me who don't want to fork over even more cash if not needed.

Overall I'm very pleased, but it's not just a plug and play hobby, you kinda gotta work at it and watch a lot of how-to's.

I have the Elegoo Mars and can speak to this from my experience. The resin is a little stressful because it's not supposed to touch your skin. From my understanding, if it gets into your skin and is then exposed to sunlight (UV) it will cure in your skin and cause irritation / rash / infection possibly (been a while since I read up on it). Not sure how easy it is to cure but didn't sound fun.

Cleaning was annoying because it didn't wash out easily (perhaps easier with ethyl alcohol which I believe is the recommended solvent, but I bought the water washable resin) and you can't just leave it in the container longer than 48 hours.

Others probably have better experiences, but just sharing mine. I've also given up on my Ended 3 Pro because every time I tried to fix it it got worse.

Any questions, I should be able to answer.

Hint for folks that buy this; FlashForge has two variations of this machine that only accept a particular file-type each. FDG and SVGX. For sake of ease the FDG version is the easier to work with. It is the one I received and just loading the USB drive that came with it, I had all the files I needed to print.

Update edit:

You can download the newest firmware here: https://www.flashforge.com/download-center/92
HUGE INFO: There are two types of boards each with their own preferred file type they will print. The Self Design board uses SVGX files and the Chitu board uses FDG. The Chitu board icons when the machine is on will be blue and black icons mean Self Design.
Download the firmware for the machine you have!

To install, and make it easy, copy or delete everything off of the USB drive they provided and then copy all the files you downloaded onto the root directory. With the Foto 8.9 turned off plug in the drive and remove the vat if you have resin inside because the update will fire off the UV light. Once everything is cleared, turn the machine on.

From here the instructions differ based on the board:
For Self Design boards, you should have an update button in the options and it will start installing all the files it can after you press update. When done the machine may or may not reboot, either way turn it off manually and then turn it back on.

For Chitu boards, go to "print" and "print" all the files on that drive. Once the .bin file is "printed", meaning installed it will you tell you on reboot it will load. You can then turn the machine off and then turn it back on.

After everything returns to normal you are good to go.

Now, you can download Chitubox for free [chitubox.com]. You will have to sign-up, I believe. The newest version has a profile built-in labeled "Flashforge Foto 8.9" you can auto load by going to the settings tab > machine tab > upper-left is a page+ icon.

All confirmed to work perfectly.