Failed Prints - Hazy, blotchy marks on optical window

Well at least that’s some progress on the troubleshooting. I think to revert back to a previous firmware you have to manually select the older version when you select update firmware. There’s a thread a bout it here : How to ROLL BACK FIRMWARE?

You can clean the optical window yourself.

@billb The first optical window problem was due to a known fault in the manufacturing which caused it to stain from the inside which doesn’t come off with PEC PAD and IPA. The second mirror was supposed to be a ‘new’ one to replace, but it was really dirty and contaminated (possibly an used one that got mixed up with the new ones). I would rather just have received a clean window in the first place :expressionless:

Well, I extracted the window and cleaned it, looked like a film of oil or similar. It came off easily enough with IPA (99%) and the Pec pads in the kit of bits with the printer, and I was able to remove the dust on the mirror below. Assembled the printer and ran a test print, complete failure due to ‘Cartridge Removed’ errors, which were the cause of opening up the machine in the first place.

Awaiting further instructions from Support, but frankly getting pretty disillusioned wit the device now. £3500 for a device that can’t keep operational for more than a couple of months is galling, to say the least. FormLabs, I hope you are reading this.

Daniel at Support has been brilliant though. Give that man a raise…

Tim

I feel the same @wunwinglow. I’m seriously considering getting a refund. If someone told me I would be experiencing problems like this after 1 month of use I wouldn’t have bought the printer. I really appreciate all the help from support but I’m afraid the troubleshooting process is too slow and costly.

My second Optical Window did not work so I’m now in the Optics Test phase. If I have to send the printer in for repair and wait another 3 weeks for it to be returned I will be requesting a refund and getting my prints done by a service company instead as I cannot let my clients wait that long for my work and be this unreliable.

I really loved the printer when it worked in the first few weeks, I was so impressed, but now I hate the bloody thing! I hope @Formlabs @Frew are reading all these comments to pass on to whoever needs to know. Thanks.

This isn’t the customer experience we strive for, and I’m disappointed to hear that the replacement mirror you received wasn’t quite up to par. I’ve forwarded your post to our manufacturing and engineering teams so that we can identify what’s causing the fogging and work to get it corrected.

Hopefully we’re able to get this fixed for you quickly so that you can return to the print quality you were experiencing for the first few weeks. I ran a printing service bureau for a while, so I’m painfully familiar with how challenging it can be to have to delay deadlines because of hardware faults.

With this delay all the damage to your work formlabs should change your printer to a new one !!

I don’t care if they change my printer for a new one, or repair the one I am sending back. I just want a working printer. And having spent £3500 on it in the first place, I don’t think that is unreasonable. I wonder what their reaction would have been if it turned out my £3500 didn’t work when they tried to spend it? I suspect I’d be hearing from them instantly…

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