I haven’t used my Form 3 in almost a year, and my Build Platform 2 has been sitting in the box. I just got an order from a customer today so I went to fire up the printer, and thought it would be a nice time to try the BP2.
I tossed out the nearly empty resin cartridge and tank, replacing them with brand new materials. I initially had trouble with the Rigid 4K cartridge because the valve was clogged. But eventually, I did get my print going.
Fast forward many hours later, I go to check on my print status, and nothing is on the plate. Normally, I’m used to seeing maybe a few layers on the platform before no more layers adhere, but this is a brand new tank, cartridge, and build platform, and nothing stuck.
Can anyone tell me what I might be doing wrong? I read the instructions for the BP2 and didn’t see anything about special Z height calibration, or anything like that.
Thank you for your question on print non-adherence this morning. We have some basic steps for non-adherence on our webpage but if this doesn’t work, then I would reach out to Support about your issue for further help on this.
I had the same issue during my first print with BP2!
I then cleaned the platform from the resin, then cleaned with a paper with a bit of IPA, let it dry, then try again. (As I was always doing with BP1)
The second time it worked fine. (I’ve done about 5-6 prints since then, all is nice!)
Maybe there was an invisible layer or something on the BP2 and prints would not adhear on it.
Thanks, agiorgitis! I’m glad I’m not the only one that experienced this. When I cleaned the BP2, there was kinda goopy resin in the corners, not where I was printing my part. I didn’t see that there when I opened the box. So I’m wondering if my resin (which is brand new), is actually no good. I’m extra suspicious since the nipple was completely clogged before I even started to use it. But hopefully, it was just a fluke and the next print will work! Waiting extra long for the IPA to dry…
It looks like it’s printing. Unfortunately, only part of the print is adhering, but at least 2 of the 3 copies are still printing, which means I’ll be able to fulfill this order. I guess I’ll just have to print the cleaning mesh and give it another go after this round is complete.
Great! Clean it again after the print is over, paper+IPA seem to do the work!
I wonder if they’re using any oils during the metal sheet manufacturing process…
Well, I’ve cleaned it multiple times, and the prints fail to adhere in the exact same spot on the BP2 every time. Is there some sort of leveling feature, not for the Form 3 itself, but for the BP relative to the tank?
Yeah. Adjust the Z-Axis. Only about half of my first print (multiple models on the same run) on the BP2 adhered. I think I bumped Z by 100µ and it’s worked great on every print since.
@agiorgitis@Randy_Cohen thank you for that suggestion! I’ll give that a try today on my reprint.
If adjusting Z makes it work, this means one side of the BP2 is pressing harder against the bottom of the tank than the other side, but I suppose this small amount is okay?
I don’t have that feature. My firmware must be super old! updating now. Of course, now I’m out of resin, but I’ll change my print to only print on the “bad” side of the BP2 and we’ll see what happens.
I’d like to echo the suggestion of adjusting the printer’s Z-axis. A slight amount of overcompression would be preferred to not having the print adhere at all in certain regions. If issues persist after the calibration, getting in touch Support would be the best way to troubleshoot further.
That being said, the over compression is going to be “absorbed” in the first few layers of the print. So unless you’re printing on the build plate, it can do no harm to the model itself. All it does it make the print stick to the base harder.
