Comparing Print Time Estimates

General Discussion
1

I’m looking at print time estimates of a simple part in Preform. I know it can be notoriously inaccurate, but I’m just trying to get a relative sense of how the different printers and resins compare.

A few outliers stuck out:

  1. Is Tough 1500 really 50% faster on the 3L than the 3? Can someone with experience using it on both comment?

  2. @Formlabs: Will the 3L eventually receive the Tough 2000 speed improvements currently in Beta on the 3?

  3. How is Draft faster (or similar) at 100um than 200um on the 3L? I tried a couple different parts with similar results. Is something amiss in the parameters used to generate estimates for that printer & resin? I also noticed the Choosing the right material page needs to be updated to show Draft Resin on the 3L/3BL supports 100um (since February).

Resin Form 2 Form 3 Form 3 (Beta) Form 3L Form 3L (Beta)
Durable 7.5 9.75 7.5 10.5
Tough 1500 4.25 8.5 8.25 5.75 6
Tough 2000 5 8.5 3.75 5.75
Rigid 4000 7 6.75 5 5
Black V4 6.25 6.25 3.5 5.5
Clear V4 5.5 5.75 3.75 5
Grey 5.5 6.5 4 5 3.5
Grey (160um) 3 3.75 4.5
Draft V2 (100um) 2.25 4.25 4.25 2.5
Draft V2 (200um) 1.25 3.75 2.75

Note times are rounded to the nearest quarter hour. Layer height 100um except where indicated. On 3L, part is entirely within one LPU zone. Preform version 3.19.1.

2

Hey, thanks for sharing. So these are all calculated values in Preform? Did you actually press the “calculate print time”. I noticed the indicated print time is not always the same as when you upload or press “calculate print time”. Probably as its a simpler faster estimation.

3L still need some tuning on the times so not sure you’re getting the right numbers. FL should really do this faster as its such an important factor in cost estimation and planing.

3

Yes, those are the calculated values.

4

My latest print, using Tough2000 and the full platform and height of my 3L, showed 59 ½ hours in Preform. The actual time was just over 80 hours.

Latest Preform and firmware.

5

I’ve noticed on a F3 the estimated time in Preform is closer to the actual printing time than the calculated time.

6

Incidentally a couple users over here reported 3L print times (for Clear) that weren’t too far off the calculated ones:

7

Was the printer recently rebooted? Please see my post regarding slowdowns after 3 weeks continuous printing.

8

Also note that the pre-heat and fill times are counted as part of the print time on the printer/dashboard but not by Preform.

At least for me, Preform is consistently an hour or more more optimistic than reality because the print time clock starts when the job is started but printing (the part that Preform has estimated) doesn’t actually start until pre-heat and fill are done…

The warmer your printer and the more full the resin tray, the more accurate Preform’s estimates tend to be.

9

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