Deepchheda, what versions give you good results?
Preform 2.12.2 worked perfect for me.
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Exactly. Everyone is facing the same issue since the start of this year and formlabs instead of looking into software issues is asking everyone to repair their optics. This surely means that their optics units in older form 2s are faulty which they are trying to hide.
Formlabs tells us to return the machines. When requesting a repair log, they stated they replaced the whole galvo and laser assembly. Luckily european warranty is 2 years. It would be so much cheaper for formlabs to do a software fix. Yet this seems not to be possible.
If software is the difference then it is impossible for a hardware issue to be the problem. Good chance the updated firmware doesnât match up to the resin settings sent from Pre-Form. I still have my Form1+ that runs great and I refuse to update anything on it and still use OpenFL. I canât tell you how many times I had to redo prints because the software was updated.
If it ainât broke, donât fix it. I hate when people micromanage settings and constantly tweak things and dump it out as âfinalâ product. There should be a solid beta test team that does this before it is released to the general market. A good beta team would result in very few issues on the consumer side and drastically reduce service calls.
I have the same problem!!! New firmware new preform bad prints
I am having failed prints as well. I just opened a case with support so I donât expect a reply until tomorrow.
This is my third machine since buying it in January. The first two had catastrophic hardware failures in the rails, so much so that bearings popped out of the channel.
Now I am getting obstruction errors when I donât have an obstruction. The platform doesnât even raise high enough to see the resin unless I cancel the print.
Iâm thinking Iâm due a warranty extension given I canât go 2 months without a major failure.
My printer sits in my office, this is not a dusty room and the air is climate controlled to a steady 73 degrees.
If I have to keep farming out to MakeXYZ, Formlabs can buy this printer back.
The material settings are Pre-Form only. There is nothing on the firmware side except cartridge detection and icons / text on the display. So there is nothing to match up either.
So what does the firmware update, no tweaks to laser power?
With the new firmware, our printers behave as if the laser power is decreased when the beam reaches a zone around the center of the build plate. It could be a complex power draw issue where the increased galvo activity drains too much power from the supply rail, reducing the laser LED output. Accuracy and thin details/ thin walls are good.
how can you downgrade the firmware!! thxlot
You can download older version of firmware from the website and upload manually to the printer through preform.
The problem of using the previous programs and that the resins are updating along with the program Preform I had great results with the gray V2 when it happened to V3 I had a fall of quality of the impression, now they are not going to sell more to V3 and what me it seems and that V4 is not having good results unfortunately Formlabs says nothing to its customers.
So what does the firmware update, no tweaks to laser power?
Per material? No.
Thatâs in the material definitions in PreForm, AFAIK.
But every Form has a global laser calibration table that can be tweaked, or at least used to, back in the Form1 days.
Same Problem here!
Just spoke to Formlabs Germany/Berlin.
Though our printers are 2 years old, the optics shlaa be degraded and we need to send in the printers for service.
850.- ⏠per unit!!
Are they barmy??
I am pretty sure that Formlabs is keeping something from their customers.
It canât be a coincidence that so many customers around the globe have the same issues with their 2 year old or younger machines or am i wrong?
Best regards from Germany
Peter from 3Dimensionen
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âThe optics are degradedâ can be code for âyou have never cleaned the optical surfacesâ
See this video, clean your machines, then decide if you should send them back for replacement parts.
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Hi Bill,
thank you for your advice.
Forgot to mention that we cleaned everything except the mirrors right in front of the laser.
This must be done by Formlabs due to recalibration issues.
Best
Peter
Hey Everyone,
Thanks so much for taking the time to contribute.
To return to the original issue at hand, the new firmware releases have had absolutely zero impact on laser power.
As far as optical degradation is concerned, we really do appreciate anyone who has chimed into this thread. We are aware of these kinds of issues and are 100% committed to our users to help them prolong the life of their Form 2 as much as possible.
Iâd also like to thank @billb above me for posting that cleaning video. That said, we have some internal processes that are significantly less risky than the steps outlined in the video, as long as we have information about the specific issue youâre dealing with.
If you do find yourselves seeing these sorts of optical issues, please reach out to our support team at the link below and we will be happy to investigate the specific issues youâre seeing as efficiently as possible.
I think it would be useful if you could share some of the diagnostic information so people could tell exactly which part of the optical path was causing the problems. I spent a long time trying to get the window and large mirror clean enough before I realised it was galvo mirrors that were the problem. The video showed me that, with care, cleaning the galvo mirrors was not as difficult as Iâd feared.
The major problem for me was realising the the plastic base to the machine could hold an awful lot of spilled resinâŠ
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Can you please explain why so many people are having degraded optics? And if it is common then thereâs no point in investing in a printer that fails before even gaining returns from it. Atleast in my case I have hardly finished 4 litres of resin.