My company runs a production job on our Fuse 1+ that we purchased last year. We noticed an improvement in dimensional accuracy when we started running Speed Optimized Beta (v5.2, now v5.3), since we stack this part taking advantage of the full height of the build chamber.
Our Fuse1+ has 800+ hours on it now. About 500 hours in, the printer was making acceptable parts, but we noticed the surface finish / feature resolution wasn’t quite as sharp as when it was new. Of course, taking into account powder management, humidity changes, etc, we weren’t too concerned with the exact cause of this slight degradation. At 750+ hours in, we encountered a series of builds that left a “rash” across every part in the stack, in approximately the same location. This adversely effected dimensional tolerances, so I opened a support ticket. Formlabs jumped on it, and of course I checked a number of things on their list…one of which was the Upper Laser Window.
Since the maintenance protocol calls for the Upper Laser Window to be cleaned at 1000 hours, we had not touched that yet. But I took pictures of the Window, and noticed what appeared to be some type of film / particles on a narrow section of the Window.
I cleaned the Window per Formlabs prescribed method and printed another series of parts. They turned out beautifully, and look very much in-line with the quality of parts we were making when we first received the printer.
So my question is, are users cleaning the Upper Laser Window more frequently than the recommended 1000 hour mark? And anyone running the Speed Optimized Beta noticing more laurolactam build-up or other artifacts compared to Default / prior settings? We love this profile, and definitely plan on deeper, more frequent cleaning if that’s what it takes to get the part quality we are getting now. I was just curious if others had encountered anything similar.
There was an issue where the upper laser window seal would degrade and seep a clear liquid onto the glass, which defects the laser beam and causes issues like what you describe. I had this happen on my first Fuse 1, and in my case replacement of the entire window assembly was required.
To ensure consistent quality, the fuse should always be as clean as possible. All optical components in particular, as even slight contamination can interfere with the laser.
Now to a completely different topic:
I’ll be back in 10 minutes, definitely not to clean the top laser cover as I regularly clean it after all.
Well, thats not what i´ve been told. I used to clean the uppe laser window after each print. After i got a scolding from a Formlabs Field tech. Cleaning that too much will damage it. So no, i don´t recommend that. Once a month is good enough for us.
Interesting. With the upper laser window, we have actually always followed the recommended time period. It seemed sufficient to us, as the optical cassette protects the upper laser window additionally.
During the installation, however, the technician recommended that we clean the optical cassette after every print. A technician from our dealer, mind you, not from Formlabs directly.
We clean the optical cassette every 50-80 hours of printing. With an additional replacement cassette, this works very well so far and we have never had an error message due to dirty optics in the last 2 years.
I think it won’t hurt if we inspect and clean the upper laser window a little more regularly now.
Thanks for the tip.
Hey @greasemonkie thanks for reaching out.
Because you did see issues happening at 500 and 750 hours, it could be an issue with your window. Could you make a support ticket and include a few pictures showing the entire thing with the chip showing.
As far as cleaning intervals are concerned, we totally hear that customer experiences will vary and want to emphasize that 1,000 hours is a general average number and some customers will need to clean it sooner, and some later. Cleaning intervals are very dependent on a number of factors and can unfortunately vary wildly from customer to customer. Print frequency, print length, powder type, environment, cleanliness of filters etc. can play a big role
@Andreasemilsson, you sound set with your cadence. Thanks for sharing your experience and what works for you. For others who experience significant differences in the 1000 hours, I’d suggest getting in touch with support for this one too in case there are other things going on (an underperforming fan not circulating air enough, clogged exhaust lines…).
Thanks, @verdugod . I have a support ticket open with Eric B, and uploaded photos of the Upper Laser Window before and after cleaning, including the PCB area. I only cropped the photo for my post to show the debris on the window. Look forward to Support’s response.
I also clean my optical cassette after every print (and wipe down the IR sensor channel but that is a different discussion). I have a conservative approach on the upper laser window and will only clean it if I notice contamination on the glass. I check for this every 300-400 hours or so.
Once a month is good enough for us.