@Ericerger2012 wrote:
I relocked the float are it is still out of position the build platform keeps coming down out sequence on top of the mixer/float arm pulling out of position. I have vat full of tough 1500 resin. I have rebooted the machine, Did I just have my first vat destroyed? I just got the thing running this would have been my fourth print!!! This print is for my first client! It is the weekend also. Is there an after hours tech support number?
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@rybu wrote:
I was having some print failures and having difficulty diagnosing the cause.
When cleaning the rollers (LPU cover) I noticed some of the rollers were binding.
In hind-sight, what I think happened is I must have got some resin on the bottom of a print tray, and future prints distributed the resin to the rollers, causing eventual binding.
So I took the rollers off, disassembled them and cleaned them with IPA + PECPADs. It looks like there was a very thin film of grey resin on the rollers, causing the binding.
It looks like the printer is printing successfully again.
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Participants: 1
@bschulte wrote:
Hi All,
I need to print attached gasket gasket-flexibleResin.stl (195.2 KB)
for a client but I am struggling to get good result. Flexible is more difficult with support but I was hoping this model could be printed. So far no luck (I’ve tried flat on the bed (with and without support) and with an angle with support but i’ts heard to remove support (cut not snap) without damaging the model.Of course I can say to the client it can’t be done but maybe there is way that I don’t know of yet… It would be a great help if I can have less big feet on the rafts so they wont merge with the model itself (when printed flat on the bed) or a different angle on the supports so I can keep them away form the part itself. I’ve been used to these options within other slicers
Tips are appreciated!
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Participants: 1
@rybu wrote:
Has anyone had trouble with their rollers squealing?
After cleaning them they’ve been making a squeaking noise when printing. Wondering if anyone has found a way to deal with it.
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Participants: 1
@JeffM wrote:
I’m new to the forum; looked around a bit and couldn’t find a definitive answer to the shelf life for the castable wax resin. I ordered and received a “fresh” cartridge of castable wax in October, 2020, and the manufacturing date on it was February 2020. Hence, 8 months old. Contacted the factory and eventually they said they’d generate a return authorization (as of last Thursday or Friday); still nothing. Haven’t opened the cartridge, so it’s just getting older…
Is this the degree of “freshness” I should expect from a cartridge direct from the factory? Thanks
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@Aeryn wrote:
Hello, well these printers are causing a lot of issues here GMU. The latest is that two separate printers with new tanks (< 2months old and used from 2 prints to 6 prints, NO damage to the window) are coming up with “missing tank” messages. Two separate printers, two new tanks, really, WTF!! I replaced one tank with a brand new tank and it is printing now, but I have NO faith that this will last. Anyone else run into this problem? The software is up to date. Thanks.
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Participants: 1
@rybu wrote:
It would be great if the roller holder were a bit more robust, or if it were possible to purchase one that is more robust.
The way the roller-holder is currently designed, a very small amount of contamination will result in the roller-holder effectively being destroyed before you have the opportunity to discover there is a problem.
The little v-shaped “nubs” that make contact with the rollers on the top, these appear to be the culprits. My impression is a small amount of resin on the rollers results in friction with the nubs, heating-up the nubs, after which they get worn-down. As the nubs flatten, it results in more friction, eventually causing a vibration to develop as the LPU moves along the rollers. The rollers begin the bind and you get vibration that eventually causes print failures.
Ideally there would be a way to either pre-emptively discover the resin contamination so that you could clean the roller-holder before damage is done, or there would be some way to rebuild the roller-holder after the damage has been done, i.e. have something like replaceable “nubs”.
Perhaps the design can’t be improved significantly. I certainly have to get better at avoiding resin contamination.
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@nateball wrote:
I just got a Form 3B today ordered from Formlabs and I plug it in, and after the loading screen with the Formlabs logo I get a screen saying “your printer appears to be counterfeit. contact Formlabs support.”. I have tried a couple of factory resets and nothing has worked. Does anyone know the issue? FYI I have contacted support and waiting for an answer.
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Participants: 4
@FormBeast wrote:
Hey all,
My Form 2 is currently in storage as I don’t have a spare room to print in. I was thinking of setting it up in the bedroom for the time being to print, though my wife who has asthma and my 2 year old sometimes venture into the bedroom during the day. I’m pretty much in there most of the day. How safe do you think it is to print in the room the whole day? I seem to recall there was a bit of a smell when printing. I’d probably need to open the window and have a fan blowing out towards the window or something.
I’d definitely be doing the IPA bathing outside as that is really smelly. Any thoughts opinions or similar experiences?
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Participants: 3
@Kelly_Sealey wrote:
Hi all, I’ve recently started having problems where anything I put on the mixer side of the build plate fails (rips off supports) - identical models anywhere else on the plate print ok* but anything too near to the mixer side edge fail, or have heavy print lines. I’ve raised this with my reseller who have escalated it to Formlabs so it’s all in hand at the moment, but when I asked my 3D printing friends about their experiences I’ve discovered this is very common, so thought I’d post here and see just how common it is and see if we can work out what the actual fault is that is causing this.
*ALL prints now have heavy layer lines, something is definitely wrong!Info on my machine - 4 months old, used almost constantly since I got it, fresh resin, fresh tank, resin filtered after any fail. Using PreForm, hundreds of successful prints of almost and exactly identical models until now. Models are miniature horses/unicorns/pegasus type things from 3-15cm in size.
I’ve always avoided the mixer side on the plate just as good practice as I printed fewer models at a time so it didn’t matter to me, I’ve had pretty much faultless results (I always print using standard grey at 25 or 50um), but I currently need to print a high volume of models and with the tank life dictated largely by layers printed I’m keen to be as efficient as possible with it by filling the build platform. It’s rather worrying that so many people just don’t use that side of the build platform - surely Formlabs can’t claim a print volume if you can’t use a chunk of it!
So far my resellers have been great and fingers crossed this will get sorted out ok, but hive mind always helps and I found very little in the forum on this problem when I searched, so am adding a post in case anyone else has trouble. I can’t see how to add photos but will add some if I can once this is a topic.
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@Chelsea wrote:
We have some aging trays. Some have been in operation for almost a year. We usually toss them when the silicone becomes cloudy and starts to impact print quality. But with materials we use less often, there may be no indication of wear, so we keep the tray.
But once we had an especially old tray, I think it was like a couple years old, it looked fine, but suddenly the bottom silicone completely fell out while in storage. Resin EVERYWHERE. Thank goodness it wasn’t in a printer!
Certainly got us thinking though. How long can trays last in storage after use? Should we pour resin back into the tanks if they’re expected to not be used for a while? Any tips on storage of tanks with resin in them?
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@rkagerer wrote:
Exclusive for the Form 2!
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(It’s a typo; pretty sure they meant 10K)
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@rybu wrote:
My warrantee is about to expire and it’s got me thinking: wouldn’t it be nice to have a printable roller holder?
I’ve gone through two already. Replacements from Formlabs cost $80. So perhaps it would be smart to create a printable one, and one could transfer the glass, rollers and retaining-plate to the print out.
What would be the best resin to use for the print? I imagine you would want something that it smooth and dark. So something like a dark “durable” resin, if it existed. I imagine you would want it to be dark to absorb as much stray UV light as possible, but perhaps durable (as it is, in white) would be fine. And you want it to be smooth to avoid damaging the resin tray.
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@leonhart88 wrote:
I’ve seen this question asked once in a while but there weren’t clear answers.
I’m attempting to print just a handful of really low volume parts. My tank is more or less full but I have no more resin left in the cartridge.
Does anyone know if it’s possible to force start the print without the tank sensing a “full” level? I’ve been waiting for an hour for the machine to throw an error to see if there is an option to skip.
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Participants: 2
@MarcoOfficinaP wrote:
Hi guys,
I’d like to ask you a really open heart advice and suggestion on a tough decision we’re going to make.Basically we bought a Form 2 in mid 2016 and since then we it used sporadically. We are a duo design studio with core business on cgi mainly, so prototyping is a really occasional, making some bottle models or packaging props. Really few a month or even none, with also long periods of inactivity (months).
For this reason we got recently the resin dispensing system clogged, but luckily we’ve been able to open it up, clean the little arm and motor and pull back in the machine. Surprisingly working again.
BUT, soon after the print starts, the form 2 shut down and restarted. Reset while printing problem.We contacted the support and they suggested the galvos cabling repositioning, reset, etc. which nothing didn’t work.
So now, at the end, we have two options: spend €799 to get a repair with 90 days of warranty or a deal with a Form 3 at €3299 with one year PSP included.What would you do if you were in our shoes?
Honestly I’d go with the repair because, as said above, we don’t use it too much and prototyping is not our core business. So, while we could easily pay €3299, i don’t see it too justifiable, while being the most safe and secure option of the two.
Unless we try to push and sell more this service along our cgi animation and visualisation business. Which didn’t happen in all these years with form 2 because too busy with cgi to spend time on it and that’s why we are at this point.On the other side, I know the form 2 going to be dead in 2023 (which is fine for us) but I’m scared as hell that after those 3 months, if another issue come out (and we know our “reliable” is the printer) we threw €800 and that’s it.
If runs ok, would be great as it could push us to try and do more mock-ups for clients before establishing a more solid business and jump later on form 3/4.So what to do?
Don’t know what to do and who to talk to, a bit frustrating situation.
Thanks a lot guys for any suggestion, help and idea you could share.
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Participants: 2
@PaperLab wrote:
Can someone explain to me why one channel in my part is shown as cups. As you can see from the top view these are see trough 6 holes. I wanted to print this part sitting directly on the platform but preform ( 3.10 ) won’t let me…
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Participants: 2
@rkagerer wrote:
In case it helps anyone, here’s an example of an identical print on a Form 2 before and after cleaning the optics (galvos, large mirror, window).
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The printer had been working just fine a few days ago. After about 3 days straight of printing (mostly in Tough v5) I started getting a sloppy mess on the floor of my part. I tested in both Grey and Black, with different tanks. I think I caught the schlop as soon as it began to manifest, and interestingly, the vertical surfaces in all those prints still looked pretty good. On inspection, I noticed the main mirror and the optical window both had a thin layer of “haze” on them.
If you’re interested, here’s what the failure looked like in Black:
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Fortunately a cleaning fixed everything right up.
I’ve also noticed an early sign of dirty optics can be larger “bleed” where your part (or raft) meets the build platform. One user once referred to the effect as “elephants foot”. You can see it as a thin crust at the bottom of the left part in the first two pictures above.
Here’s a more extreme example, contrasted to what it’s supposed to look like in Preform. You can see a thin pancake of resin where the rafts for the two models on the left bled right into each other.
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@rkagerer wrote:
I did a small print today using an empty cartridge but with plenty of resin in the tank (way more than enough for this print).
As expected, Preform prompted me that my cartridge was almost empty before it began, and I told it to Ignore.
However toward the end of the print, I noticed after each layer, the printer paused for a while with the message “Sensing Resin”. Why would it bother trying to measure the resin level when it knows there’s no more left in the cartridge? It’s not like it can do anything about it. It just seems to needlessly delay the print.
Also, has anyone ever been prompted about low resin twice in the same job? I’m pretty sure that happened to me, as partway through the print (after the first layer had completed) the printer paused and wanted me to hit ignore again on a similar message. I think perhaps the first warning was along the lines of “I think this cartridge is almost empty” and the second one was “this cartridge is empty”.
They’re both really annoying. I wish Formlabs gave us a reliable way to ignore low resin warnings for the duration of the job, so you don’t wake up the next day only to find the printer sitting at the halfway mark waiting.
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Participants: 1
@jwhite wrote:
Has anyone experienced the sudden death of a Form Cure? After using the Form Cure about 25 times there is no display, no LED’s, but the table rotates constantly. When plugging in the power cord on the rear of the unit, after a 5 min. unplugged time for reset, there is a small spark that leaps out of the female jack.
After an email to tech support it’s clear that there is now no 3V3 LED on the PCB, visible through the vent holes on the bottom of the machine. Unfortunately, I now I have a $700 gigantic paper weight as FormLabs does not repair or provide parts. I’m hoping someone out there has found a solution.
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Participants: 1
@GarrisonWahl wrote:
Has anybody experimented with using a different scraper or using a release film on their tray to aid in removing parts or extending the life of their build platform?
We also have a Carbon M2 and I find it really slick when using the release film with certain resins. Also the scraper for the M2 more closely resembles a blade which I find to be helpful in removing parts.
Would love to hear your thoughts!
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Participants: 4
