I am having similar problem. It seems that the time is either approximately correct, or wildly incorrect. It is never moderately incorrect. In other words, if I were to plot a histogram of actual/projected time, it would be a strongly bimodal distribution. It is either close to 1x, or close to 3-4x, and there are not cases around 1.5-2x.
having the same issue. Iām running production pieces and these wildly inaccurate time estimates are throwing off my whole schedule for the week. An hour ago my form3 said there was five minutes left on a print and it currently says thereās 2 minutes left. The print was supposed to be something like a 29 hour print, currently on hour 37. The same piece run on my form 2 only took 17 hours or so.
The machineās time estimates are terrible. Not even worthy of consideration. Iāve yet to see a print come anywhere close. Ignoring the fact that the preheat time can be as much as 30 minutes and thatās not accounted for, itās still terribly inaccurate. What I do is wait for the printer to print 10 layers. Most of which are base layers which take longer to print. Then I divide the total number of layers by 10 and multiply by however long the 10 layers took to print. This seems to provide a more accurate estimate for when the job will finish. But of course, you have to wait for it to start, first, to figure it outā¦
I think the laser effectively moves faster than the stepper drive moves, so the printer can cure in the Y direction faster than X (because the laserās not running when the stepper is stepping, X motion is ādead timeā). So if the print has an overall rectangular footprint, I think I get faster prints if I orient the longest dimension front to back vs. left to right. Fewer X steps makes for a faster print time.
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I didnāt notice this problem before, but for the last week, I see the wrong estimation times for each of my prints. For example, when I start to print I see an estimated time of 8-9 hours, but as a result, I got in 11-12 hours.
I use Clear Resin, 100nm.
App version 3.15.3
All three of our Form 3ās have terrible estimations. Some of our printers even say there is only 8 mins left when it is on layer 8/300. The layer count is accurate but the time left is embarrassingly off and makes it impossible to schedule things. I will start a print thinking I have time for that one to finish and start another by EOD only to be extremely disappointed.
We are also having this problem. Itās very frustrating to not be able to plan around the printer and schedule prints. It completely throws off work flow when a print that as estimated to take 13 hours is now taking 20+ hours.
I can see this thread was started in November '19, itās shocking that FormLabs have done so little to address this clearly significant issue since that time,
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On the flip side, the last print I did said it would take about 13.5 hours and it took 14.
Youāre getting there 
One of mine, for some odd reason, is always projecting more than it takes but only with Rigid 4000 in beta settings. Iām used to āit says 13 hours so it will be 15ā and in this scenario Iām always getting on average 30~45 less printing time than it was projected. Itās like being in the last layer and saying it will still take 33 minutes so I guess that on that particular resin theyāre over estimating in contrast to the others. Even today I set a Gray Pro print that would take around 6 hours (which would be the perfect timing for me) and it slipped to around 8 and a half hours.
I honestly donāt get why such a difference (above or below) because each layer has a set time that differs on the amount of laser being used per movement and the resin itself. Then the lifting and lowering of the build platform. That should be enough to be semi accurate but, the more layers you have, the more it slips.
The only thing that could make it slip would be the tank filling (for numerous reasons) but thatās a pre-print process.
Even if every printer is different (for whatever reason) and a tank may slow down more than others, getting the last printās result in terms of speed should be considered for the next print. Like āusually takes xxx but this printer sucks and takes 1.32 times more so letās reflect thatā or something.
Hey everyone,
Thank you for your thoughts on this issue, and Iām sorry for the frustration!
Print time estimates are something weāre always looking to improve and that we are continuing to work on. That being said, if your estimates are extremely off, I would recommend reaching out to our support team. Theyāll be happy to investigate your specific case further!
Well I hate it when people just add to post saying I am having the same problem so I wonāt go into details other than I have the same issue. I also see the only reply from a Support Member is a generic āwe are looking to get better.ā Not sure I will be purchasing from Formlabs on the next printer. Too many issues.
Weāre having this issue, but only sometimes. So it may be better, but itās still an issue 2.5 years later. I definitely believe it has to do with the long periods the printer spends carefully pealing the print away from the tank surface. It only seems to happen on prints with lots of surface area (and thus, higher risk of print failure).
So, itās a bit of a trade off. On our Form 2, those print jobs might have failures. And they definitely would require a hell of a lot more support touch points, messying up the print. And that would translate into hours and hours of extra sanding time. So I donāt want the printer to do anything different, but I do wish the printer was a little better at estimating.
I understand that this light-touch lifting is a huge advantage and quite literally puts the Form 3 in a class of its own, but yeah. Iām hoping the preform engineers can crack the code soon and figure out the estimates.
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I didnāt even notice that the printer spends time pealing the print from the tank surface.
In my case it happened with Durable resin and quite a small surface area.
A 6:30 hour print ended up taking 12hours. Taking into account that I use the printer for work, it just messes with my timeline estimates.
Interesting. I imagine that could be because Durable is an inherently finicky resin, and requires more care than most others (aka, most likely to have prints fail). I always print durable with 1.2 density supports for that reason.
But I havenāt tried durable on our Form 3 yet, just on our Form 2. I wonder if increasing/decreasing the density of supports makes a difference on the Form 3ās peal time.
Many of the SLA printers I have used in the past had this problem. My guess is, it takes too much time to properly R&D and the business minded solution is to go with something āgood enoughā.