Got my Form 2 a few weeks ago, been printing Black and Tough with great success. Really amazed at how easy the parts pop off the build platform after a print. I just wedge the little removal tool under an edge and POP off they fly.
Until this morning, that is. It took me nearly 10 minutes of hacking and scraping and swearing and scraping and hacking to get every little bit of stuck plastic off the build platform. The bases came off in many fragments instead of one large piece, as before.
I’m at a loss to explain why it would be different this time. I’m using the same black resin I’ve always used, and the same cleanup procedure as before. (I clean the build platform with 91% IPA using a paper towel, then allow to air dry before placing back into the printer)
Full disclosure, I had printed something in Tough resin before this batch. But I’ve gone from Tough to black and back before with no issue.
Thanks for letting us know about this issue. This sounds very frustrating. I’ve actually experienced this a couple times myself, and it usually stems from over compression of the build platform into the tank. A quick fix for this is to change the fine tuning under settings, and change the z axis offset. I would suggest making it higher by .5mm and seeing what happens. Just be careful, if you make it too high, your prints won’t adhere properly to the build platform.
Good luck and please let me know how things turn out.
Also, the removal tool isn’t really that great, it helps if you get a thinner edge like an Xacto blade which can get underneath more easily. The larger the part the more difficult it is to remove from the surface, what I do for large parts is work around the edges which will get it loose enough that you can more easily get it off. Also, it can help if you lower the thickness of the base—I use 1.5mm which will make it more flexible and easier to remove.
Is this tank new? If so, the PDMS layer may be thicker than the prior tank’s layer. If it’s a tank that you’ve been using without issue, and suddenly, out of the blue, the Z compression is out of adjustment, that might be a symptom of a larger problem.
No, my Form2 is the same. I’ve only been printing Tough, but parts were hard enough to get off the platform I went searching for alternatives to the FL supplied tool. I have two replacements, both of which work great.
One is a 10" “Insulation Knife”. It’s 10" so it reaches all the way across the build plate so you can get at a print from any angle. The blade is thin but hardened. The only problem with it is my fear of slicing an artery open by mistake if I slip with the thing. It’s not at all hard to control, but I’ve told myself that before with a knife and learned the hard way how wrong i can be…
The second tool is a 2" “Buck Bros.” Wood Chisel. This is actually the perfect tool. I don’t feel like I’m likely to kill myself with it when I use it. But also the edge is very, very sharp and the back side is perfectly flat, so it slides along the platform and gets under the print no matter how well adhered it is. And it doesn’t have to get far under before you can pry up to lever the part off the platform. It’s actually a more-controllable tool than the FL tool.
Though the chisel is thick, so you can’t push it too far under a stubborn print without seriously deforming the print in the process. In cases like this, I’ll work all the way around the print with the chisel and then work the insulation knife (which has a very thin blade) under the already loosened area to pry off the area that’s still stuck.
I have noticed that where the print is on the build platform dictates how hard it is to remove, so I know it’s something to do with how close the platform is to the bottom of the tank. The build platform cannot be perfectly square to the bottom of the resin tray. But otherwise my prints have been basically perfect. I haven’t had a single failure so I’m not inclined to mess with the fine tuning. Which is why I went to Home Depot looking for a solution to prying off sticky prints.