Through reading on the forum, it seems that a lot of problems are caused by dust on mirrors. has anyone made a small cleanroom that is dust free for the form 1+? If so does it prevent or reduce the need to clean the mirrors?
Thats a good question but wouldn’t you need some sort of pressured system to achieve that sort of dust free environment? I’d think thats well beyond what most are willing to go through when investing in a DIY SLA printer. I could be wrong though.
My printer is in a design office sitting on my desk so its pretty clean. I’d imagine people that have their printers in shops have a much bigger problem when it comes to dust. Or at least a more regular cleaning regiment.
I wonder if you could completely seal the bottom half of the machine with some sort of optic grade glass over the hole for the tray… then you would only need to clean the tray and the top sheet that just sealed the hole…
But even then… the machine would have to be assembled in a clean room, and the all of the moving components would need to be sealed to prevent them creating dust…
My concept for a clean room is: a storage shelf sealed of with thin painter’s plastic sheet and an air filter inside. You would still need to open a front flap to access the printer so it’s not air tight - more of a clean-ish room but it should help. At least that’s what I’m trying to get a read on from the Formlabs community. Anyone think this would work?
I get the feeling that when the Form 1 was designed, it wasn’t really apparent how much dust would collect on the mirrors and degrade performance. There is a ton of dust always in the air that you can’t see. If I were a bettin’ man, I would put money down on the Form 2 addressing the dust entry. maybe I just wait for the Form 2. Form 1 has been out for more than a year… Formlabs guys - care to comment? 
I wonder how much it would help to run one of those HEPA room filter things?
Along the lines of this?
This may be obvious but I really think this is almost entirely dependent on the environment the printer is in. In an office environment like the one I’m in, I am in the habit of cleaning the mirror whenever I change a resin tank. And even then its usually not necessary. I inspect the mirror during each tank change and its perfect. I clean it anyway because it takes 2 min and I’m OCD but it really isn’t an issue.
But like I said in my other post I’m sure people that have these in their shops have a completely different story to tell.
I do think a nice air purifier would help though for those having trouble. Thats a solid point.
Clean every print? Galvos too? Do you have many issues with failed prints, because it sounds like what you’re doing works.
Oh no definitely not. Sorry if you misunderstood. I only clean the main mirror when I change out a resin tank which is every couple months sometimes less depending how much I’m printing. I’ve never touched the galvo mirrors.
I’ve definitely had failed prints but they were basically all user error while I was learning how to use and set up the printer properly. Things like taking the time to mix the resin before each print so that the PDMS is clear, aligning parts properly in the build chamber (tallest supports on the hinge side, orientation, etc), changing the location of prints to get the most out of each resin tank, and periodically cleaning your main mirror go a long way towards successful prints.
@Travis_Tom
I’m using a flow bench that wasn’t being used - basically a bench with HEPA air filters, with the air flowing out over the bench. Haven’t seen much dust accumulation since I moved everything to this setup. Just one speck of dust over the last few weeks - possibly carried into the area on a new tank.
Nice. So air comes in through a HEPA air filter and flows out through the large front of the bench? Do you close it off when not in use?
@Travis_Tom
Sorry to take so long to reply.
You got it right - it’s about a 5 foot table, with the inlet underneath and the outlet behind the top of the table. There’s also a lighted hood that extends a few feet out.
I never turn it off; that way it minimizes the chance of stray dust getting into the babies.
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