I have not yet spilled anything onto my mirrors but have read of some who have. It seems like it would be pretty easy to do.
So why not have a cleanable and replaceable protective glass over the mirror(s)? It would make spills much less problematic and it would also keep dust and other contaminants off the mirror which is probably much more sensitive to any attempts to clean both for causing surface and alignment problems.
The whole optical system could be put into an enclosure that would protect it from resin spills and reduce dust and other contaminants with a glass face plate under the resin tray.
Or is there no glass that could go in there that wouldn’t cause problems in the optical path?
Having any glass in the optical path can cause reflections and refractions. Might be possible to add a piece roughly perpendicular to the path without any ill effects, but maybe not.
Reflections, refractions, chromatic aberrations and all that sure. But as far as I know all of that should be solvable. But maybe not at a reasonable price? Or maybe it was already tried and caused to many problems to be implemented in the first printer? Or maybe it was thought it wouldn’t be needed?
Maybe instead of a clear plate there could be something that opens and closes during the print process. At least that would protect the optics the rest of the time so no accidental dropping resin while pulling things in and out as well as protecting from dust and other stuff. Still would be great if there was something that could be in place all the time to help avoid almost every accident.
Thanks for the thoughts – this is definitely something that we know would be useful in keeping the machine clean. We’re always looking at ways of making the Form 1 better!
Yes, l have to agree, lam now sending back my second printer and as it has the new improved laser the diagnosis is down to the third mirror which is impossible to clean from the open inside .The first being cleaned as to specific instructions and looked immaculate. My observation is that the tanks with resin and the laser reaction lets of a gas which leaves a residue on the glass after time and use which is sticky to the dust particles and also if in manufacture the mirrors are touched only with time show marks. No amount of compressed air removes dust and thus need ing to be cleaned. I am really concerned that with my third printer l will only get at month of use again. I am no slouch as l am a full time sculpture doing my phd in modern manufacturing.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
@siobhanRyan I agree, though I think it is simply any resin fumes. No printing necessary. They NEED to re-design the tank area to be air-tight from the optics area, at the very least just when the tank is level. Fumes need to be contained in the upper “hooded” area.
I am sending my printer back now for what has been guessed by form labs as dirty mirror, they have assured me that they will evaluate the reason for the poor printing which is great.
I am also waiting on the delivery of a FSL3d printer, SLA swell. Recently watched a webiner which went in to the ability to add a glass or plastic sheet to protect the mirrors. They had a few hands on ideas which were worthwhile. Anyway will look into it further. would like some imput from form labs on all this and have drawn their attention to this post but as yet no show.
my machine has a dirty mirror now 2 months into use. I think I will be able to exchange for another machine. What happens in a couple months when my machine is no longer under warranty, and the mirror gets dirty?