By the way, their shipping charge, what the actual f?! I’m chewing it because I’m curious, but whoa.
Going to attempt this mix this afternoon of 90% clear 10% flex going to run this at as a clear V2 laser setting hopefully it works 
Just to chime in on this thread, I contacted the distributor for the 3D Materials ABS (?) resin and they said it wasn’t compatible with the Form 1+. It needs a teflon-lined tank, apparently.
Oh well that is bad news… ha! I should have asked.
Well my initial test was a success adding 10% flex has made the part feel more ABS like I am working on getting some quantifiable numbers though our lab but till then I can at least confirm that it has worked for a clip that we mold in house.
Flexible requires way more laser power than any other FormLabs resin, even more than castable. I’m wondering if your part is fully cured. Which setting did you use?
Clear V2 i really had to mix the two well and that was a worry that I had about the power requirement of the flex but it sees like dimensionally it is similar to the older versions of this file that I did in just clear. I also did expose this to my post curing station for about double my usual time. (6 hrs) and it has still retained its flexibility. When my lab does the break testing I will check the cross section to see if the part fully cured.
You can buy sheets of PTFE film, RS sell it in the UK. Maybe you can just lay it on top of the silicone, might require some trials as to how you stick or clamp it down against the peel force though.
Andrew
Maybe get more details from them on if it’s the acrylic or the silicone that’s the problem. Silicone doesn’t react to hardly anything in this world, I bet the acrylic is the issue. If that’s the case, taking some silicone adhesive and wiping it on the inner walls of the tank would prevent the resin from damaging the acrylic.
What about using some of this stuff to line the vat with?
OK, I’ve had a few prints with the Vorex. The first print on the Grey 1 setting was at least as brittle as formulas clear1. I then retried with the clear 1 setting and had a much better result. I’ve had a few pints on the clear 1 setting without problem. I’m still testing it but it does appear to be stronger and more flexible then the formlabs clear 1. However, I do believe it gets more brittle with increased UV exposure; so I’m still experimenting with the appropriate amount of UV post curing time. I then plan to seal it with some Krylon spray.
In all my prints the bases are relatively brittle, which further supports the fact that increased UV exposure or laser exposure will eventually degrade its quality.
Otherwise, I haven’t had any printing issues and the detail looks great. Its also less viscous then formlabs clear 1.
Steve did some tests with the makerjuicesf and that also appeared to flex pretty well and hold up. He also exposed it for several hours under a UV lamp and it wasn’t brittle. However, he mentioned the support sides didn’t look that great.
@Joshua_Herskovic - I ordered a liter of the Vorex black, but unfortunately they are backordered 2 weeks. They called to offer the orange instead, which I accepted. I was asking about strength and detail capture, and the trade off between the two. He said that details should not be degraded, and the strength / elasticity should be significantly higher than FL. They are awaiting independent lab tests to verify their in-house findings.
He did say a quick comment that I didn’t catch at the time: “it all depends on printer settings.”
He said it quick and didn’t get into detail, but that supports what you are finding. Did you see higher resolution of details on Grey 1 and lower on Clear 1? I was surprised they don’t give a matrix of what setting to use depending on your needs… i.e. small details use Grey, durable end-use parts use Clear, or something along those lines.
In any case, I am eager to try the orange and will post my findings after I’ve messed around with it. It shouldn’t be here until next week though…
Honestly, I see no difference in detail between clear1 and grey1 but if you look on the charts its a very small increase in power. But I did notice an improvement in flex with the lower setting.
Ha, I ordered Vorex this week and got the same call. Waiting for my Orange to show up. There is a page on their website called “settings” where they say what setting to use for the resin. I think they specify grey and 0.1mm.
I also got some MakerJuice SF which sounds like a mix of hard and flexible resin.
If you print with too low a power, the print will be more flexible, but that’s only because the print isn’t fully cured. Over time, ambient UV will cure it out and it’ll get harder (or a minute exposure to sunlight). Lower power doesn’t really “improve” anything unless you paint the print with UV blocking paint, I think.
I think I am noticing a little less detail on the Vorex then formlabs clear 1 resin. I’m having trouble making tiny holes which weren’t a problem with the clear resin. Do you think the detail would improve with a higher laser setting or lower? I’m using gray 1 setting. I expected better deatil because it was less viscous.
I’m sort of thinking you may want less power not more. The small holes are closing because the laser is over-curing.
My Vorex just arrived today, so I’ll be giving it a shot this weekend…
Unfortunately, no dice on using a little less power. It seems that the resin is curing inside the holes. I’ve tried multiple orientations. Seems that the formlabs clear 1 resin is a little better for that application. Someone posted; however, on another thread that they got similar detail to black formlabs resin. Other, then those holes, I get great detail.
I’m curious to anyone esle feedback on Vorex toughness.
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