Form 3L Issues

Apparently it’s for hanging your tank and draining excess resin off? I never use it though.

That’s what I thought but being just one it doesn’t provide stability to do that.

I do use it sometime. It does work well, if you center correctly the build plate. Hanging build plate, not the tank… Lol.
But before removing the build plate from this position, I use a plastic spatula for the resin left.

Speaking of letting the build plate drip dry… I just had a a part fail very early, while the build plate was still submerged in resin. The build plate promptly lifted, and began dripping from height. The inside of the machine is now splattered with resin; what a mess! It would be better to halt the build plate just above the resin, pause for a few minutes, and allow the drips to subside.

Can I clean the plexi with alcohol, or is this too strong?

Well, if it works for you then I definately have to try it again.
The first time I tried it did seemed kind of out of balance but then again I wasn’t sure if it was for that so I didn’t try any further.
Thank you!

On a side note, the seamline is almost imperceptible on Rigid 10K. I can only see it because I know where it is and even so I really have to look very hard for it in a certain angle with a certain light.

Could you share to us pictures of your 10k prints? I am curious about the results. Or what kind of parts are you using for?

You should not use Ipa on the orange plexi. Use Novus or maybe a paper towel only will do the job.

Im still doing tests (finish, accuracy, etc). I don’t want to go all crazy when it might fail.
So far so good (except for the evil white resin).

Here’s an example of a quick design for a fitting accuracy test with Rigid 10K:

And another one using Grey Pro and Rigid 10K:

So far all has been accurate even across different resins. Note that I still haven’t tried the tall prints most complain about.

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I use that hook all the time, works great, one of my favorite features of the 3L. Yes, you want to hang it roughly centered.

Hey did anyone else notice their 3L get a lot quieter while printing, after the more recent firmware updates? Or am I just imagining that?

I have not noticed the printer getting quieter.

I have a question. Does anyone know if you have a larger print and the machine tells you that you may not have enough resin. Will it be fine to just install one new cartridge or do you need to install 2 new at the same time?

Thank you very much Eks for showing your tests. I appreciate. I can see on your photos, but can you confirm how’s the finish quality? Good enough for making an insert for injection mold? Because the bottle opener sample from FL has a really good finish. One of the best I’ve seen yet.

I have not noticed that either, but I will pay attention during the next printing. It would be a good thing; Because my printers are located in my basement and I can ear the 3L on the first floor if there’s no noise around me. Especially the up movement of the Z axis. " UPDATE " There is no difference for me.

Here an answer from a question I’ve asked to the support team;

" You can print with only one cartridge inserted, though we recommend always having two inserted, just in case. Right now we’re working on resolving the bug that you’re experiencing that makes it seem like the tank isn’t detected when there is only one cartridge, so if you’re not seeing the error with two cartridges inserted, I would continue to keep two in until we fix that. "

Please note if you are experiencing this with only one cartridge inserted;
Each time the build platform goes up, it’s beeping a sound, and we see on touch screen it’s indicated " tank removed", then " tank inserted".

Thanks guys. I will more than likely still have 2 cartridges inserted I was just concerned if one is half empty and another is full.

Ok, thanks. I could have sworn the fans ran a lot louder when I first got it. It could be the room temperature is warmer here now that summer’s come so they don’t need to run as hard and throttled back. Or I’m imagining it.

So my first Black print succeeded and the quality is fairly good. I wouldn’t say I am 100% happy with it because I’m a perfectionist, but it’s a good start.

Ignore the ugly quality on some internal features, I manually removed too many supports in an effort to facilitate post-processing, so that was entirely my fault.

The seam line is quite faint which is really nice.

Overall the part is good. There are some weird artifacts near the holes under the logo, and also above each hole there are some streaky artifacts. Other than that, this part was a great success.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/FGNGyyrPkUyPZisn6

Well, I tried but I don’t feel it… it literally hangs almost vertically and I think that some resin may spill to the left of the tank to its outside. Maybe I’m doing it wrong although I don’t see any other way.

I also confirm that it sounds the same to me.

The finish quality of Rigid 10K is the best one of all FormLabs’ resins (at least to me), super smooth (to the eye and touch). It delivers a really perfect white (and not washed / yellowish as the White resin) and details are shown perfectly, even those very tiny ones.

The only downfalls it has is that you get powder everywhere by handling it but it goes away after some handling and also that if the IPA doesn’t dry all at the almost the same time you’ll get yellow stains (as you can see in my photos) which is basically the color you get if you sand it or scratch it. Getting a 100% white piece is something of an adventure but amazing when that happens.
Removing supports also leaves an inevitable yellow mark where the touchpoints are.
Probably there’s some magic potion to get it all white again but nothing that I’m aware of.

All those downfalls don’t exist on Rigid 4000 (no support marks, all the same color) but it lacks the perfect white, the touch is more plastic (although still great) and the white is even a little less white than the White resin. Also the details are lacking mostly due to the color contrast which is a bit dull.

One thing about the 10K (and a bit on the 4000) is that it breaks easily on thinner features. On the other hand it’s so hard that you can make a working knife out of it.

Regarding my build platform falling apart:
Support confirms it’s a sealing rubber and that not only it shouldn’t happen but if it did it wouldn’t be with so very few usage.
They’re sending me a new one.

One of these days they have to send me a new printer with all these issues :slight_smile:

Ouch!

I keep getting the “we can send you a new tank” option every time i open a ticket! While that’s great how about sending me one that works! Grrr!

Out of 5 tanks not one has read correctly. Still have not heard back from support as to how much of sag the film should or should not have on the bottom of a new tank. Should it be tight against the tank initially then sag after a print?

Anyway i started another larger test print going across the seamline last night. See how it fairs in 10 hours!

Good! Thank you for sharing us your success!

Thank you, that’s what I did.
Are you sure it doesn’t drip outside the tank?

Yes, from my side, I have used it many times and there was no drip outside the tank. Maybe it’s happening with a larger print?

By the way, thank you for sharing us your experiences with Rigid resins. This is really kind.