Hi Team
We feel lucky to have our Form 3 up and running in our studio. We have come across some problems however. I hope this one is easy to solve! What we’re finding is the covers on either side of the build plate keep popping open during printing. This is rather annoying as then the cavity of the build plate fills up with resin… Here’s a picture to illustrate what I mean. Am I missing something obvious here? Seems like I might be…?
Please help!!
tvg
can’t open the picture??
Best
3Dimensionen
Peter Figge
This is a known problem of some (IMHO just plain defective) build plates, although it seems to happen more often when washing with the form cure rather than during printing. I’d recommend opening a ticket with the FormLabs Support.
Like @P3D said, some build platforms have been known to leak. eg:
I’ve seen it myself a couple times. If you send pictures to Support they’ll probably replace it for you.
If you’re using a Form Wash, make sure the fill level is correct and the platform doesn’t submerge past its lip. I recall (but can’t find) a post some time back where someone fixed a leaky platform by drilling a hole in the top side and filling the cavity with self-expanding foam. Silicone caulk may have been tried as well.
Hey there @tvg,
You definitely did the right thing by talking to support. I suspect they’ll send you a replacement. While this doesn’t prevent anyone from printing, we absolutely understand it’s not something you want to be worrying about while you use the printer.
Ok, I just got my first printer, the Form 3, noticed that plate was a little loose BUT after my first grow I saw that the resin was leaking out of that area AFTER the print. I am not familiar with the internal workings on the plate, so I didnt want to just pull it off. WOW, so there are problems with this. Do you guys suggest popping the plate out and cleaning underneath before every grow? Or not use cause it might fall off into the resin tray? Any chance of that? I guess at the least I need to submit a ticket for this also.
Thanks! Jake
That plate should be sealed(it’s a piece of plastic with a rubber seal).
Formlabs suggests to contact support to sort it out, you usually get a new one.
That being said, we had so many issues with these(flaking of black particles in the resin, popping out, leaking) on our form 2 that we popped the original plastic out and filled it up with epoxy. Since then we didn’t have any failures.
If you’re comfortable sealing it closed yourself, like @fantasy2 mentioned above, that shouldn’t be a problem at all. Just make sure it dries completely before it gets anywhere near liquid resin.
This is some generic local brand casting epoxy, probably as cheap as you can get it. It’s a tiny bit flexible.
I removed the plastic, put a sheet of plastic and some tape on one side, then filled it 2cm with epoxy. Waited till it cured, then do the same at the other side(and close a small hole you have to drill to be able to fill the other side). We have used some casting PU as well, I did not expect it to hold very long but has been working for like 4 months already with daily use.
You can probably also just use some silicone to seal off the plastic sides but in our case the plastic started to flake as well.
Cool. Sounds like you placed the platform on-edge, vertically on a table, in order to fill a side? And discarded the original plastic sides? If you do it again, I’d love to see some pics.
Yes, that is exactly what I did. I could solve a bad rubber seal easily. But there seems to be some kind of coating or paint layer on the plastic that released. It ruined several tanks of resin as parts would print with these flakes.
I ordered 3 new platforms for our Form 3. I really hope I don’t have to do this extra work again. 
I went through a bunch of replacements with support on my Form 2.
To the best of my knowledge, what happens is the platform cools and IPA ends up inside during washing, then expands when exposed to warm resin and air. Then the plug pops out.
I sealed most of my Form 2 platforms with silicone and they’ve been fine since.
I wanted to post/followup on this thread because I thought it might help others.
I found a comment from another user who recommended drilling a small hole at the top of the build plate. This made sense because every time I tried to push the gasket back in, it popped back out because I was compressing the air inside and it had nowhere to go.
I’ve done this on all my new build plates and ever since adding the vent holes I have not had this issue anymore…whereas before it was happening all the time. Thread is linked below.
