Build Platform Thoughts

Just out of curiosity would a build platform that had a footprint of only 4 square inches be able to print the first 100 plus layers much faster? It seems like the platform could make its way through the viscous resin much faster. It would limit you to one spot in the tank but it would be good for printing small parts in a one off fashion. Of course the software would have to know about the small BP. Not recommending this, just thinking out loud.

Do you guys always clean off your build platform with alcohol when switching to another resin? If I wipe it with paper towels I am afraid the towels would leave lots of lint behind. The other day I switched from flexible to clear resin and only wiped the BP off with paper towels, the result was odd partially cured resin stuck all over the BP! The part came out fine but cleaning the BP was lots of work and on a micro scale I wonder if it is still covered with partially cured resin.

I wonder as the build platform gets scraped does it loos its ability to hold the parts securely? Would it be good to bead blast it after several prints?

How many of you guys keep separate BP for each type of resin?

No, a smaller platform will not affect the speed of a stepper motor. I wouldn’t worry about small amounts of lint in the resin. It won’t affect anything. It does seem true that a thin layer of cured resin sits between the textured scratches on the platform and makes it smoother. You can rejuvenate it by sanding it with some moderate grain sand-paper.

The speed of the form 2 build platform is reduced on purpose via programming to very slow speeds as it plunges into the resin and as it comes out.

Its speed is reduced because it takes time for the viscus resin to work its way around the BP as it goes down. The strength of the structure and power of the system are the limiting factors the engineers had to consider. When it pulls up it goes slow again because it takes time for the resin to flow back under the BP.

That happens up until enough layers are built tall enough for the BP itself to no longer have to go into the resin. From there on the relatively low surface area of the part being made does not present much of a drag in the resin.

I wonder if the software calculates the part surface area and then uses it for programming the BP speed of very large parts?

1 Like

you can use paper towels just fine to clean the platform, I wipe off the resin after the print and then put some IPA on there and wipe it off until it doesn’t look like there’s anything coming off anymore and it always works fine. Scratches from removing prints haven’t affected its ability to have prints stick

This topic was automatically closed 14 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.