Black is by far the most problematic. Because of the high levels of pigment it takes much longer to cure and thus can have more problems. In fact I was having so many problems with black on my Form 2, going through mirror cleanings, new tanks, etc., that Formlabs’ eventual response was “try grey resin”. Which I think is a bit silly because why have black available if it is problematic. But whatever… I did do grey and have had no problems since.
So i printed a couple new things for a project im working on.
One is an oval disc, sort of shaped like a lens, and the other is a hollow dome.
Both have exceptionally bad shifting… in the middle of the lens and near the top 1/3 of the dome. I know i could have more supports but we all know they wouldn’t make a difference. This continues to be extremely frustrating.
Tried the cups again on my Form 3 using the 1.4.4 firmware that released Wednesday:
Both of these are from the Form 3. The layer shift ripples are still present. Preform was version 3.2.2.
Have you up date to the new firmware yet?
Yep. I reprinted the lens and the dome using the new firmware and they look identical. Absolutely no improvement whatsoever.
I have similar problems and the firmware did not help.
I was told its a recognized problem now which is not a bad thing.
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I’ve also seen similar issues…strangely not on the few Black or Clear prints I’ve done (though I haven’t tested as extensively as others in this thread). Support also acknowledge this was an issue that they’re actively looking into and have some theories on - but unsure when/if there will be a fix.
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I’ve seen this problem on both White and Hight Temp. Hopefully support is more than just aware of the problem. In my opinion, this is an absolutely critical issue that must be fixed.
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Yep I totally agree… though even recognizing it is a good first step. What I DON’T like hearing is “… but unsure when/if there will be a fix.” IF? If is not an option here. For a printer of this cost and for the type of work many of us use it for, prints with these defects are unusable… which means the printer is unusable. Besides the test prints I have done this printer has sat idle next to my Form 2 for the past 2 months, while the Form 2 has been printing away like a champ… many times with identical models that show NONE of the flaws.
If is not an option with this issue.
I was told it is possibly “cure dynamics” and “how resin flows around the tank.”
As soon as I heard about the flow I did some test prints with sheilds around the part - I also forced the parts to print higher off the bed so the build platform is out of the resin when it starts to print the model - if it is flow problems the bed dipping in and out must be a big cause.
Obviously preform doesnt allow high supports so I cheated it with a small extra part to the model to raise the rest up.
My best print was with two sheilds and printing higher than the build platform.
The photo shows how the part typically looks - the one on the left was printed with sheilds. The ones on the right are standard prints.
It would be interesting to see if other users find this helps or if my couple tests so far are flukes.
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I ended up printing with 2 shields as I found the extra sheild helped. Ive printed maybe 20 of these models bare (no sheilds) - all of them are unuseable for my purpose due to the layer wobble.
There is still some signs of wobble though. Sad wobbly face.
Hey that’s actually some really good results with the double shield! What’s the rationale behind the shields for improving flow?
I wonder if the issue is simply caused by the ripples in the resin from the fan/blower used for heating the resin. This could explain why your shielded model helps…did you see ripples or wavey artifacts on the shield itself when you removed it?
Good question. Yes the sheild had the typical form3 wobble problems.
Raising the prints helps a bit but the sheild is what seems to help most.
The idea was just born from support mentioning the flow of resin being a possible cause. I thought reducing the flow and not allowing a complete tank of resin to shift around the model might help.
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I don’t think the height from the build plate really matters. I’ve seen tall prints have this artifact at layer heights in which the build plate would be out of the tank.
I’d be curious to do prints where the fan is either off, or the delays for resin flow is longer.
Hm, if it is indeed the resin flow, then it will be tough to resolve the problem without a printed shield, since the resin is flowing all the time as the LPU moves and flexes the tank bottom…
Wow that is interesting… and very ingenious!
Yeeeeeeah… this is what worries me. How do you fix this with a software update?
What do you mean “the delays for resin flow is longer”?
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Have you tried printing with only the outer shield?
I was meaning is, it reduces the resin disruption caused by the large build plate going in and out the resin - my theory was if it was only supports going in and out the resin the amount of fluid disrupted would be less than when the whole build platform lifts up and down. So if you have tall supports your model doesnt start printing till the build platform is above the resin level.
My tests with printing models at various heights showed some improvements but not always - so I think if it helps it doesnt help a lot - the larger improvements came when I added the sheild / sheilds.
Yes, Minimal improvement - best results were with two. Not sure why though. All of my tests were very unscientific 8)
If it turns out to be a resin flow problem that would seem hard to fix in software - slowing the print head down may help? But the prints are already pretty slow.
The thing is, in this thread, there are some customers who do NOT have the problem - If there are machines out there that dont have the wobbling layers problem then it must be a hardware issue. BUT… I dont think those customers posted photos of any succeful small prints? (I could be wrong about that).
If someone with a reliable machine can post photos of smaller models with no wobble then it would be helpful and a releif to know that at worst its a fixable hardware issue.