Formlabs Website Store Support

Form 1 Maintenance

General Discussion
#1

Hey everyone,

We’ve got a Form1 here at work that I’ve been using for a while now. My question is 3d print related and specifically SLA related maintenance. Just fired it up after not using it for over a year and it’s printing great so just kind of curious what all you recommend for maintenance on this machine. I have always been good about using pec pads to clean the main mirror inside before large prints or when a lot of time has passed between prints, so I did that earlier today and my print came out very nice and is drying now. The only other thing I really see that could be serviced is the lead screw. I do have lube for that so I could relube but besides that, what else should I look for or should I just print as normal?

Oh and as I didn’t stock up on resin when Formlabs announced the end of support for this printer I got a bottle of ApplyLabWork gray modeling resin and damn. Wish I knew about this stuff sooner. First print came out great. And it’s like half the cost of the original Formlabs resin.

Thanks!

#2

You should only clean the mirrors when they are in need of cleaning. They’re most definitely not something you want to clean unless you absolutely need to. The reflective coating is on the front of the mirror and it is very easy to scuff it and even wear away completely. Pec pads minimize how much damage you can do each time you clean the mirrors, but you’re still doing harm by the simple act of touching them.

Besides that, there really aren’t any service items. The mechanism itself is pretty simple. The Z axis stepper and the tilt stepper and the galvos are the only moving parts. The galvos are not user serviceable. I replaced the tilt motor on my Form1+ once. That was it. Never touched the Z axis and the tilt motor lead screw doesn’t get lubricant, it’s dry.

2 Likes
#3

Thanks Randy. That’s great info. Yeah mechanically it seemed pretty minimal but I wanted to be sure.

#4

Back in the day when I had a FL1+. it developed a dry bearing screech on the screw each time it lifted.
I used a dab of white lithiium grease to good effect. FL agreed that it was the thing to do.

Otherwise, I agree about the mirrors. The front surface is very fragile, clean only when prints fail, and then only when you’ve eliminated other causes, like a worn out tank