As I’m watching the peel cycle go through the exact same tilt duration on every slice for my small, centered, first print…
Maybe this was already suggested, but how about analyzing the surface area and placement of the print for each slice and adjust the depth/duration of the peel as necessary for that slice? (ie, only peel/tilt for as far as necessary to release the printed/active area?)
For small parts, the peel step accounts for the bulk of the printing time. If, for example, the part was on the ‘right’ side of the platform and was small, the platform could tilt for maybe a second or two and fully release the part instead of the ~5 second cycle needed to get all the way to the ‘left’/hinge side.
It’s kinda ‘run length compression’ on the peel time.
-Clay
Just bumping my own suggestion. Once again, I’m watching a print that I placed in the corner, leading edge that is going through the full 5-6 second peel/reset every time even though the entire part is fully released after the first second. In this print job it looks like ~38% (1.5 hours of the 4 hour print time) is spent peeling (for small, simple parts that ratio gets even worse). Adaptively adjusting that peel time could yield some significant time savings for smaller parts.
-Clay
This should be addressed by Form Labs, because if you print on the 25 micron setting, sometimes that first 2 hours is just printing the base and the bottom support structures. This can be done using 100 microns and then switch to whatever the setting is once the printing reaches the first layer of the part.
Great point, Monger! 100 micron slices until reaching the actual object…
I agree as well this needs to be addressed with a software update. I’m thinking since my first printer’s laser went bad the less the laser is in use the better to extend its lifetime. I’ve been printing mostly at 100 microns with the new printer just because the average print time was 8 hours on the object I was printing at 50 microns. At 100 microns it’s been knocked down to over 3 hours. Hopefully more people post in this thread so we can keep it bumped up till Formlabs gives us acknowledgment this will be addressed.