I have a print that I have attempted to print 2 times now and both instances fail horribly. The second time I tried to adjust the support thickness which helped the second time, but the spheres are falling off. The model is not very complex from my perspective, I have printed more complex shapes suspended by supports much higher off the platform, can FormLabs take a look?
form file download:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2081604/isoprene.form
Image of failed print:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2081604/isopreneFailure.jpg
Thanks!
Also, can anyone tell me if there is a gel-like coating at the bottom of the resin tray where you pour resin into or is it hard just like the exterior of the resin tray.
Robert,
the bottom of the vat is silicone (PDMS) and has a gel/squishy felling. When your print fails, you can end up with cured resin still stuck on the bottom or floating in the resin. Try to get them out with the tweezers (happy fishing time, it’s tedious…).
As for the model, you can try to rotate and put your geometry as far away from the peeling side. From the top view, move your piece at the bottom.
On the joined picture, the A1 and B1 piece failed completely will the C1 piece was perfect. Moving the pieces to A2 and B2 locations got me out of trouble…
You can also try to add some angle on the print (molecule not horizontal) to minimize the print surface at all time.
Also there is only one row of supports under for a large structure, so you could try to decrease the support step size and increase the touch point contact size.
Hopefully you will be able to get your print working.
Cheers
Damien
Thanks Damien for the help! I will do what you suggested for the supports ect. I was printing it at an angle, but maybe I should increase it more. I am always worried of the printer having to make to long of supports, as the longer they get the more they tend to fail as they become more unstable.I have even seen them bend and twist as they enter back into the resin pool which is a bit of design flaw i think. If the resin tray was able to hold a minimal amount of resin for any given print layer and have a bird feeder system in place to keep it at a consistent volume that would be great.
Hi Robert,
Very cool model. Thanks for sharing the .form file along with the image; it really helps with the diagnosis. I would definitely follow Damien’s suggestion of making sure that your tank is clean before starting another print. A tank with cured resin at the bottom from a failed print will definitely cause the next print to fail.
Diagnosis:
In this case, your part is insufficiently supported. If you look at each sphere, you can see that only one support is carrying most of the load. During your print, this one support failed for three of the spheres, causing the spheres and everything above them to fail. Because the sphere is so much larger than the 0.5mm support point, it broke off early on.
Solution:
Going forward, I would recommend increasing the support density and increasing the touch point size. Changing some of the variables to the defaults (Spacing = 2.75, Slope Factor = 0.6, Touch Point Size = 0.7, Support Size = 2.0) should work quite well and will not require much additional resin (48.7ml vs 42.1ml).
Additional Tips:
I noticed that you decreased the Support Height setting from 4.5 to 2.5. If you find that the bottom-most sphere is not coming out smoothly, restoring the default value may help. If you’re still experiencing trouble with the part using the default support structure settings, I suggest using the auto-orient feature. It will rotate the part to reduce overhangs and improve general print quality. Using auto-orient + default support structure settings, the part will use 54.6ml of resin. Lastly, because the part does not have fine details, you could try printing it with a layer height of 100 microns to reduce print time.
Let me know if the part works with these settings tweaks. I’ll look forward to seeing the successful isoprene molecule.
Form On,
Craig
Hey Craig, thanks for jumping in and commenting on this. I will definitely do those steps you mentioned, thanks!
Hey Robert
It looks like your print is quite wide.
Did you looked during the printing if you had enough resin in the middle ?
Do you have a loud noise during the peeling process when you are passed the base support ?
Why not breaking down your model into balls with holes and connector.
You could create your own support too like a box under each ball and then connect the box to the sphere your self with multiple sticks then preform will build support to the plane
Hi,
Thanks for all the help for this print failure. I ended up splitting it into separate pieces and I was able to print it with the setting suggested. I am now having new problems since the most recent software update on a print that is much less complex.
I had a print fail on me recently and I heard that exact sound. “loud noise during the peeling process when you are passed the base support” Is this an immediate indication that a print is failing or going to fail? It sounds like the tray is having a hard time peeling away. If i had to guess why this one failed is it printed supports that never stuck to the base and they cause the rest of the areas to draw improperly.
Overall I seem to have issues with supports not printing straight, sticking to the base properly or them moving enough to “melt” into another support.
Maybe it is this latest version of the form software?
Could you share the stl or form file?
Hi Robert,
Did you change your resin tray? It sounds like it may be failing and it’s sticking too much. The sticking can cause your supports and the model to fail.
I would check the tray to make sure it’s not cloudy.
Hi,
Thanks for the suggestion. This is actually a bran new tray to go with the new resin. I rebuilt the STL and am trying a bit thicker supports. I am printing another right now and I will let you know if this one fails as well. I find it strange that most of the supports print fine at that thickness flawlessly and then once it got to the edge they completely fall apart.
Robert,
Why not build your own supports? You can put a really thick support at the lowest part (closest to the base) and some more of them at key locations to hold up against peel process and then use some thin supports for the overhangs.
It will be easier to clean.
If you want me to put some custom supports on your model and email you back then please post the stl file, not the form file.
Thanks for offering! I think for a model that I care about a bit more I will build my own/custom supports. This is just more of a 1 off test piece. What software are you using to build supports?
I use b9creator’s software to build the supports and then export the stl file.
Fantastic, I will give that a try!
So with my next attempt, this print turned out worse than the previous one. I am not sure what is happening. It has similar to other busts that I have printed in terms of size and orientation. Nothing really special. I am using a generous amount of supports and entire areas of the face are just not printing at all. This is with This is with a new resin tray/grey resin. I had to gently scrape off a bunch of cured resin on the bottom of the resin tray. here is a link to the form file and stl file.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2081604/femaleBust.stl
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2081604/bust_100.form
Robert,
The PreForm supports are flimsy, so if they move during the peeling process (because your model’s slices surface area is large) then the print may fail.
Have you tried hollowing out your model? That would make the peeling easier and would use less resin.
Here is the stl file with custom supports if you want to try and print it.
http://sdrv.ms/17xauKE
Thanks for the file, I will load it up and check it out. I did try a hollow + clear version. It was the first one that failed on me so I decided to make it solid again.
I have been reading through other post and some people are reporting that with the latest version of the software their prints are now failing. I wonder if this could be the case for me.
Really neat support setup. Seems like it will be pretty stable. I will give this a print now. I will let you know how it turns out. Thank you again for setting up the supports!