Hello Justin,
If you don’t already have a ticket open with support please send an email to support@formlabs.com.
We are trying to determine why some customers are able to print perfectly with tough and others have adhesion issues.
Here are images from my first run with the Tough Material
Before Rinse
After Rinse
For me I have had Zero Issues with the building portion but my UV set up is severely under powered for this so I am in the middle of building a new curing station my initial curing time took almost 6 hrs but its more my fault not the resins… once the parts are finished I will be running stress tests with the material later this week to validate that it will work for our plastics engineering groups, but so far looks promising.
Tom
Nice looking prints. 5 failed attempts so far at my end at different heights. New tank, even tried a new build platform but no luck. Mirrors cleaned only a few days ago.
The resin is far more viscous than the others. I wonder if the suction forces are higher because of this. I might try a higher temperature to see if this helps reduce the viscosity.
I run in an office setting so temp isn’t usually an issue for me. It is definitely more viscous than the traditional resins (far less than the flex though that stuff is like molasses) I guess I just got lucky but I have run those same parts 3 different times and all have looked great.
I’m in the north of Scotland so temperature is always an issue
I’ve had 3 (2 of them were what’s pictured) failed prints so far and 1 successful print. They just aren’t sticking completely to the platform. That seems to be the only issue in printing. It’s not a new platform but this exact print does fine in the white resin. I cleaned (even sanded it a little) the heck out of the platform before switching resins.
If you have the STL or the form file i can attempt to print it on my machine and see if it works? could be the resin could be the machine who knows… but i do not mind if it helps people solve this issue
Tom
Tom,
Sure! Here it is. I printed it with the normal print settings.
1mlprint.form (2.1 MB)
Thanks! And let me know how it goes! I’m curious.
Mariann
Interesting side note did you update the supports when trying to run this file or is it the exact same as when you ran it with normal material?
I ask because if you run the supports with tough material and then try to change it to say white this message pops up.
Just double checking my bases before I put it in my cue to run
If I let preform make the supports they print into the barrel. If that makes sense. They can’t be cut away. I had to edit the supports to look like that. See in the picture. It even happens when I turn down the density/point size. I’ve noticed that different resins have different support styles. These are super dense and thick.
Yeah I got the same result I had to go in and remove all of the internal ones and I have something pretty close to what you had before. I will attempt it tomorrow when I have completed my current prints should have something positive or negative to post by the afternoon.
Thanks! I look forward to seeing your results!
I haven’t yet tried the ‘tough’ resin, and don’t really want to hijack this thread, but… I have the experience that, depending upon build platform:
a) models can be super easy to remove, or an absolute SOB, sometimes resulting in having to use a hammer and chisel (no joke) and it taking 20-30 minutes to get the build platform clean again in comparison to less than 30 seconds;
b) models sticking nicely to the build platform or not at all (for smaller parts), or having the same effect as @Mariann_Cary 's print (for larger parts), where one part sticks well (thank god) ond one not-so-well… then the part may be useable or not, depnding upon support structure lengths.
The last print I did I measured the bases of parts I printed:
So, that the base wasn’t going to be the same thickness everywhere was not a surprise - I think the technique used by FormLabs is simple but clever: to take care of tolerances between build platform and tank bottom, the first layer is exposed I think 9 or 10 times to the laser (I watched but lost count !) , as it is significantly thicker (I think), so that the tolerances ‘dont matter’. This is another reason why printing parts directly on the build platform will be a bad idea.
However, that the diferences were SOOO big was a surprise.
I am also thinking that over-tightening the screw on the top of the build platform, to stop it wobbling, will probably induce warpage in the platform, which will exacerbate these issues… and on top of that, the differences from platform to platform are probably significant, so that a ‘general’ z-axis correction is only going to work well for one build platform.
Surprisingly, scratches don’t seem to have much of an effect… at least, I have 4 platforms, one almost new, 2 scratched to hell, and the other one somewhere between. Removing the parts from one of the scratched platforms is easy, but small parts sometimes don’t adhere; removing parts from the other scratched platform is almost always a nightmare, unless they are small and not close to the edge… oh yes, did I mention that parts of a base close to the edge of the platform tend to be more likely to be brittle, and thus break rather than being pried off? In addition a base under about 1.4-1.5mm or above about 2.1-2.2mm seems in both cases also be more likely to break rather than flex? But perhaps I am imagining this… must track this a bit more thoroughly.
So, to connect the hijack of the thread to the original tough resin subject: what are peoples’ thoughts on the possibility that the failures/difficulties have less to do with the resin and more to do with the connection between printer and build platform tolerances? Perhaps people could be a bit more specific when talking from failures… a print not adhering to the platform is for sure a totally different kettle of fish from the flakes caused by dirty optics, for example.
Dr Frankenstein got into my lab last night and produced this (see photos) after more than a dozen failed prints. This abomination was made possible by a 50/50 mix of Tough & Clear. (YES, I Form-sinned). I cannot get Tough to stick to my build platform at full concentration (regardless of settings). Yes, my mirrors are clean…yes its a new resin tank…yes the build platform is spotless.
This little monster ran perfectly and was not impossible to remove from the build platform. All my other resins run fine.
I do not endorse this type on tinkering (especially for those using it for commercial purposes).
Seagull be sure to update to the latest version of preform they have fixed the wide base issue (please see image) might help with removal as for the unlevel-ness I would be outside of my realm to fix that I would assume you have a build platform that is out of wack or worse a tank that wasnt level.
That might be a support ticket issue
as for the scratches they are all good unless they are huge gouges…
and for those times that it is a real pain in the @ss to remove I use a razor blade holder and carefully not cut myself and remove it from the platform
I would love to update to 1.9… actually, I DID update… set up a print job and everything, only to find that 1.9 doesn’t run on the old laptop connected to the printer. DUH - should have thought of that one, and updated the old computer first. Sometimes I am astounded at my own stupidity !
At any rate, I’ll look forward to the resin-saving new feature.
How do those plates come out, by the way, with respect to planarity and dimensional accuracy? Or was that just as an example of that PreForm feature?
Got a new tray and tried to print again. First print at our usual -.4mm build platform height was a mild success.
Second print at 0.0mm platform height was much better with the bases sticking.
Now to get better at support placement!
So for us, it was a bad resin tank. (Formlabs support took care of that for us.)
@Seagull Still printing … the print I ran last night failed… I was using an old tank and old white resin, I was being lazy it bit me hard for it … lol anyways print number two is running now in white material I will be getting back to the tough resin this afternoon with Mariann’s print to see if it works or not. Damn real work gets in the way of my fun research lol
Yeah, doesn’t it just?! Just like those pesky customers… if only they would stay away, I’d have more time to play !!!
Haven’t tried the tough resin yet but I just wanted to chime in in regards to the latest firmware update. I agree the 1.9 update is a godsend. It saves a ton of resin and makes part removal much easier. Also this may seem super obvious so forgive me in advance but people that are having trouble with sticking parts are using the little angled indentations to “pry” the parts off right?
At first I was just trying to literally scrape or chisel parts off and it was always very difficult and sometimes resulting in parts flying across the office If you just put your scraper in those little spots and twist against the build platform parts pop off nicely. You can control this really well too if you go around the part and pry from 3 or 4 different locations.
Again sorry if that’s insultingly obvious but maybe it’ll help some people out struggling with stuck parts.