I have a very strange and to me inexplicable phenomenon on our two Formlabs Form3 printers.
A part of the print object shows delamination and this only in the x-axis. The rest of the area looks fine.
Oddly enough, the problem occurred at the same time on our Formlabs Form3 and Form 3B. Independently, the print results show the same problem.
I have already reset the printers, cleaned them, performed all calibrations, etc. Still no improvement.
Today I deleted Preform from the PC and reinstalled it. Currently the Form 3B prints.
Would be great if this eliminated the problem.
Unfortunately, Formlabs Germany has not gotten back to me yet. This ticket process delays customer support immensely.
Too bad Formlabs, that worked better before ;-).
Thank you for getting touch about this. I agree that this is quite an odd occurrence in particular for both of your printers to experience at once.
Are there any shared factors between the two printers besides the .form file, such as resin tanks or cartridges?
Have you encountered similar types of print issues with other .form files, perhaps in the same part of the build area? If so, has this happened with both printers?
Ultimately, working with Support will yield the best path forward here. My apologies for the extended wait time on your ticket as you mentioned. I wanted to share my initial thoughts here to help start narrowing this down.
My problem is indeed very strange and I suspect also quite complex.
In fact, I use resin cartridge (Grey V.04) and resin tray for both printers, but I have already renewed both several times. So new resin tank and new cartridge. I have carried out the whole procedure 3 times to date.
I have also dismantled the LPU unit several times, and carefully cleaned the roller unit and the protective glass (polymer cleaning plastic from the USA).
Everything has led to no improvement and the defect remains.
Quite strange is the orientation of the pressure error.
The direction remains the same, no matter even if I use other components.
The defect “grain” always occurs in the same direction - towards the right side, i.e. towards the side where the tensioning mechanism is located. Ergo, on the x-axis to the right when standing in front of the printer.
Even a new build platform does not lead to any improvement with both devices.
I have added another picture that shows my test cross again, but as I mentioned before, the defect shows up on any component. Whether I place it directly on the print platform or with raft, etc.
Thank you for the added context. That is indeed very strange, and I don’t have any immediate suggestions for what should be tried next. Given that this is quite an unusual issue, I would encourage you to check back in with Support as their assistance will most likely be needed in this case.
still the same issue.
No matter how and/or where I place the component(s), the problem remains.
I now suspect a mechanical problem.
It is a pity that Formlabs does not respond to my inquiries and tickets. Although I have already uploaded the log files from both printers and thus triggered a request, no one from Formlabs reports back.
Except Jesse_K ;-).
Yes, but does the fault start at the same place relative to the build plate, or is it the same few millimetres of the print that’s affected?
If it’s the former, I would look at the lead screw and whether the LPU can move smoothly. If it’s the latter, then there is a problem with the form file.
No problem - glad to help here. Uploading log files from the printer will not automatically create a support ticket. If you have not done so already, please contact our Support Team directly via the linked instructions, or send an email to support@formlabs.com.
Thank you for your question.
Yes, I have checked my models with NETFABB Ultimate and everything is fine.
So far Formlabs has not been able to help me in any way and I have to say that the Form3 printers we have are the most unreliable devices we run in our fleet so far.
As of this morning, our Formlabs 3B is now throwing out error code 200 and no one at Formlabs knows this error code, which quite honestly, doesn’t really surprise me.
As a customer, I now feel taken for a ride by Formlabs. Unfortunately, I can’t even sell the printers in their current state.
