Platform height

Hi, I just opened my Form 1 this weekend. After several failed prints and the adjusting the bases from 2-3mm; I finally starting playing around with platform height. I ended up with a -0.4 height before I printed my first successful print of a small object (i.e. I raised it higher). Hopefully, it will continue working. -0.4 seems like a big gap to be off. How does this happen? Is it related to the amount of resin I put in? (note this is not a form1 + but the original).

Hi Joshua,

In general, increasing the base thickness and raising the build platform through Fine Tuning are two opposing actions. In some cases these two actions together might work if you were having non-adherence issues. Can you give me a little more information as to what kind of failures you were seeing?

I didn’t realize all the prints were adhering to the VAT. Somehow I got a couple prints by raising the platform; however, now it appears to be working with the platform lowered by 0.5mm. I’ve now had a few successful prints in a row with it lowered. I guess the build platform has to be pretty much touching the VAT? I was also able to print the test print.

Joshua - the build platform actually does touch the VAT. This compression allows for the print to adhere to the aluminum plate.

Received & started using our Form1+ a couple weeks ago. First 2 attempts, using clear resin & all default settings, part did not stick to build platform at all. After each attempt we emptied the tank, removed the blob from the silicone surface and strained the resin with a paint strainer before returning it to the tank and topping up with new resin. We inspected the exposed folding mirror and tank bottom each time & removed the occasional smudge and dust speck before reassembly of tank & platform.
On subsequent attempts we started getting a medium-sized part (~ 6cm x 7 cm; ~ 50% filled) to partially adhere to the build platform, then to finally completely adhere, by the following changes:

  1. Moved part to Back Hinge side (BH) corner
  2. Changed layer thickness to 100u
  3. Lowered platform to -.4, then -.6 and finally -1.0

With that combination we consistently got good adhesion of complete base face to platform, but started to get “blowouts” from segments of a layer starting to adhere to tank instead of peeling completely. We also experienced occasional delamination between layers.

We tried a large (~8.5cm x 11.0cm, ~ 25% of area filled) part a couple times; base adhered OK but blowouts started to show up after some dozens of layers, so we aborted the prints.

We then completely emptied the tank, placed the dry build platform into the tank outside of the machine, and measured the height of each top corner of the platform above the top corners of the tank; this represents a 0.0 spacing at the interface of interest. Then we put the tank & platform back into the Form1+ , started a small print, interrupted it by opening the cover, and again measured the platform-to-tank difference.

We found that the BH (Back, Hinge) platform corner was actually pushed into the silicone ~0.1 mm, the BP (Back, Peel) corner was just touching the silicone, the FH (Front, Hinge) corner cleared by ~0.04 mm, and the FP (Front, Peel) corner cleared by ~0.16 mm. Interrupting the “print” on subsequent layers such that no interference remained between platform & tank showed some improvement in parallelism, but significant taper remained.

During many of the prints there was considerable jerk during peel as platform moved and tilted with tank for most of the retraction then abruptly popped free. During one print this coincided with an offset of ~1.0 mm between adjacent layers.

It seems that at least some of the following factors beyond our control might be involved:

  1. Initial misalignment
  2. Laser power mismatch with resin
  3. Excessive peel speed
  4. Less than optimum rigidity of tank & platform positioning mechanisms.

We remain very impressed by software, the unit itself, and the potential for producing consistently excellent prints. We look forward to working together with you to realize that potential.