Has anyone seen their printer arrive with a non-functioning laser?

Support & Troubleshooting
1

Just filed a support ticket, but I figured I might as well ask here.  I suspect my laser might not be working.  Ordered my printer back in May, it showed up last Tuesday right before I left for a business trip, and I only got to open it last night.

So, my question - Do you always see visibly the laser at work when printing?  I don’t see any light, even when I get a tiny camera pressed up against the lid for a huge, clear view of the bottom of the resin tank.  I just tried a couple test prints (one of my own models, and then the butterfly stock model, both at .05 and white), and nothing seems to be printing or curing in the tank at all.  Nothing on the build platform, and there doesn’t appear to be anything cured in the bottom of the resin tank.

I poured out all the resin, and all that was left was the thick residue coating the tank, but in that residue there certainly didn’t seem to be anything cured in there.

Thanks everybody!  I’m looking forward to joining the noble 3D printing ranks once I get this sorted out.

Andy

2

Hi Andy,

this definitely sounds like a defective laser diode.

the wavelength of the diode is 405nm (blue/violet) and it should definitely be visible through the orange cover.

One last thing you could test ist this:

locate a small metal plate on the front right side bottom of the cover. This is a little magnet.

If you open the cover, place another magnet (if you have one) right in the same place to trick the printer in believing that the cover is closed.

Attention! The beam is dangerous . but you could safely move a few meters away then start printing. If you see nothing or very little blue light, your diode is most likely broken. Contact the support. They’ll help you.

3

The laser is clearly visible during printing – even with opaque resins you should see a green fluorescence when you’re looking at the bottom of the tank. It sounds like there is a serious issue with your machine, and our support team is handling it. They’ll also guide you through (safe) steps to check your laser. Please do not override the manual interlock. That is dangerous.

4

Sam is right.

unless you are wearing correct eye protection (that is safe to be used with a 405nm wavelength laser),

and unless you have secured the room by locking it with a key, so nobody can walk in suddenly,

you should not operate the laser without the cover!

I am sorry that I suggested that earlier!

__

Etienne