Pre-buy question, so please bare with me as I haven’t found an answer throughout these forums or elsewhere.
I’d like to use the Form 1+ as a prototype machine, while also a production machine once a product is finalized.
My parts are about 1.5"x1.5"x2" and roughly 15 cubic cm. I’ve played with the Form software and it seems that a lot of the parts can fit in the tank for a build, but a beam would need to be placed as a conjoining anchor so the parts could actually load in as stacked objects. I’m aware that the software will only place items on the surface of the build surface.
What I’m not sure about is how well the supports will come off and, above all else, can the printer in fact do a good job of printing a relatively full build volume?
NetFabb Pro has a pack n stack option (as an extra charge I found out) that fills the build area with many random items. After 1 month of owning my Form1, I think a pack n stack full volume is a bit ambitious. You would do better with shorter prints and more of them.
I agree, stacking would cause more supports and that’s a bigger deal than anyone knows before buying. The parts have a very delicate adhesive texture. They need to be very carefully cleaned well and then sun-baked to harden. If they survive all that with good texture, you proceed to break off the supports and use a variety of sandpaper to hide the break marks. Then if you care to, you sand the whole part in the same fashion. Then you spray with a sealer to hide the ugly sand marks. And like spray paint, you need to do it twice to get the part you were using as a handle the first time. Hopefully you don’t smudge or bump it on the second coat.
Consider making a silicone mold of a good print. That is far faster and way more reliable.