I’m running a 3L and using Tough 2000. Every now and then the mixer arm gets disconnected from the magnets during the setup before a print. According to Formlabs FAQ, this happens because of previously failed prints and residual cured resin in the tank that gets stuck between the mixer arm and the magnets. Every time this has happened to me I take out the tank and check for cured resin but I’ve never found any. Has anyone else had this problem and does anyone know if there is a fix? It’s very annoying because you can start the printer and go home, you need to baby sit the printer during the entire setup, which takes a long time with the 3L.
There are tank deformation problems with some of the V1 tanks, which could wrinkle enough to prevent the wiper from proceeding nominally. (see “Form 3L issues” thread) If tank wrinkles are not present, some heavier resins left for a while without use could get sticky near the film surface. If this is the case, manually wiping the bottom using the tank tool this should clear the problem.
Thanks! I think tough 2000 is one of those “sticky” resins because I’ve experienced that the viscosity of the resin differs from the top of the tank to the bottom of the tank. I’ll try to mix the resin before printing with said resin next time. A hassle but worth it. Too bad that a machine of that caliber should have issues like that though…
We had this problem before with our Form 3. The Tough resin is too thick to mix at room temperature, and our mixer would often disconnect at the start of a print. At some point in the last year Formlabs updated the Form 3 firmware to heat the tank before Tough resin mixing and that seemed to solve the problems for us.
I think everybody has likely had this. It’s all about the density of the material if it’s too cold. FL have changed the way the mixer functions in recent firmware updates, they have slowed down the initial acceleration rate (and overall action) of the mixer, so less material builds up in front of the mixer, this does seemed to have helped. Crap V1 tank design also doesn’t help. V2 tanks seem better but time will tell.
regards
Chris