Hey there all - I would have to agree that the results seem blurry. As I am still yet to receive my Form1 I am unable to test this but it is quite evident in the images shown here. It is interesting how such a huge amount of varied quality in final print can come from one machine; Of course there will be differences based on print angle, layer settings, resin used etc; but, I am yet to really see the quality of print come from any of the luck users with their Form1 machines which has been displayed by the Formlabs team in their promotional material.
I think Monger Designs makes a good and interesting point. “Resin viscosity” could very well be a factor in the final print. From what I have seen from other products on the more commercial grade stereolithography machines the resins seem to be much more liquid. It doesn`t take much realise that if you had the same control of water that you did of say a hot glue gun when transposed to layers and detail the results would be cleaner (hopefully you see what I am saying).
Cant wait for my Form1
I think I’ve experienced the viscosity problem, the support side of the chips I’ve been printing is quite a bit softer than the opposing bottom side. I’m wondering if a air blower of some kind could blow the uncured resin off the support side of a build before it was unintentionally by the laser. I don’t see this being problem though on non transparent resins.
Can the resin be diluted or reduce the viscosity by heating up? just wondering 
Would be nice to get some feedback from the chemists at Formlabs regarding this. I think we can assume that if we as the users and soon to be users are finding issues or identifying areas where there needs to be adjustment then certainly the chemists themselves must have seen as well??
A couple of notes:
I really do think some of the softness in the photos is the difficulty of photographing the clear resin coupled with the fact that these chairs are tiny tiny tiny; once you spray paint the pieces, the details are much easier to see and do appear more refined.
I’ve wondered about the viscosity issue as well as my printing space is in an insulated part of my garage, but the first couple weeks I had my Form 1 it was getting down into the 50’s/60’s at night but in the 70’s during the day. The night prints failed more often than the day prints, but I don’t know if it was the temperature (which I suspected) or the print settings. Definitely something to look into and study.
I’m confused; what is the grey resin shown in all the Formlabs promotional images and videos? All I see for sale is the clear resin.
What is the polygon count of the chair in these photos, by the way?
I finally had some time to writeup my post about the comparison with more pics and details - http://wp.me/p2hTaI-lI
Forrest, the polygon count is around 11500 for the Windsor chair (the one with the spindles). The grey resin is coming later, according to Formlabs.
@Ling: thanks for taking the time to document the comparison between output on Shapeways and the Form1. By the way, I keep finding it funny that you are using FUD For the Frosted Ultra Detail (my mind keeps saying Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) when I read that.
Its difficult to photograph translucent objects, the volume of the object confuses the perspective and so the surface quality becomes uncertain. I look forward to the gray resin.
@ Monger & @Enberg: I think the resin has everything to do with the output quality and the laser is somewhat secondary, although crucial of course. But I don’t know much about how the photopolymer cross-links (bonds to other molecules?) due to the lasers energy and exposure duration. IIRC from my polymers course in college (almost 15 years ago), the molecules will connect as much as they can given some energy (laser light?) over some time, which leads to a hard plastic. From what others have posted regarding post curing suggests that the laser “bonded” resin is not fully cured as it seems to continue to react turning yellow from sunlight exposure.
One thing to keep in mind is that if we change the resin mixture in any way, then results will be different from what it was intended to do. It seems like the gray resin has a filler mixed into it. It seems like the filler gets in the way of cross linking, so exposure times must be increased to allow cross linking around the gray filler/pigment?
Hey guys,
Im conducting a little bit of a survey. After going trough plenty of posts im noticing a pattern here… it seems like the form1 is simply unable to print large models with any amount of consistency…
If you have been able to print large models consistently, say more than 5 without a fail, please let me know here:
https://support.formlabs.com/entries/34042718-Layers-Sticking-to-Tank-Failed-Prints-and-More-?page=1#post_24682383
For the purposes of this discussion, lets define large as a larger than 10cm sans supports on the longest axis… c’mon large, you know what I mean…