How should I react to the red!?

Support & Troubleshooting
1

Hey!
I would like to hear your methods of considering the “redness” of a print. I have taken a look at formLabs official introduction to supports. And now am attempting to understand the ramifications of my print. It is a two story building with a roof, each ceiling within the building is glowing red, seems logical. I guess what I am wondering is if you would break the model into several pieces in order to allow external supports to reach the red areas. If I do not do that, does the print have a good chance of completing without internal supports? A part of me wants to just try and print it to see what happens, experimentation is good right?!? None the less, I’d like to hear your opinion. What is your method?

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Hi @Brent_Pauba, that is quite a big model.

I have been testing some prints on a much smaller “scale”, you are welcome to look at my thread, and I would suggest that you break your model. If I were to print your building I would do it this way:

Print the floor slab on its own,
Print Level 1 (no slab) but include the ceiling and second floor up to the slab.
Print Level 2 to the top of parapet.

If you don’t support the ceiling planes you will end up with a mess inside the model. I wonder if you have any sort of structure modeled on top of the ceiling which would in turn help support it.

If you happen to print the model as it is please let us know how it went. I am too trying to learn the best way to print architecture from seeing what the 3d artists / character designers in here are doing (which is awesome).

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any updates? what did you end up doing? share with us.

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Thanks for the nudge Cesar! I broke the print into two: internal (floors and walls) and external (skin and roof). I oriented the prints like so:

Print 1 (internals) faired well, I was surprised about the orientation, I do think it affected the print though. An unwanted surface textured developed on any horizontal surface facing towards the build plate , this surface had uneven crater like features:

those are ugly! Maybe someone has insight onto why that happened, Could it be that the resin pooled ontop of the horizontal shelves? The print itself turned out well, I am happy with it

The other print failed due to human error! Newb mistake, it was running at an open house and ran out of resin! Crap. the detail on it is real nice though, coming from a makerbot I was very happy! Although I was a bit concerned, the print showed a bit of bowing on a straight edge, I am holding back my worry simply because the print was not finished yet AND it ran out of resin… Unfortunately deadlines are keeping this printer dormant for the next week or two, so sad.

What I learned:

  • The angle between build plate and print matter. It seems that
    parallel faces are negatively affected if oriented this way!
  • Automatic orientation and scaffolding are a powerful tool, it seems
    that they are even more powerful when human intervention occurs. I
    need to become more familiar with where scaffolds are needed!
  • prints stay flimsy until they are “baked” by the sun or some other
    lightsource

What I need to investigate

  • Preform indicates a “volume” on their lower HUD, is that the resin
    used?
  • Stacking procedures, how many component parts can be stacked ontop of
    one another
  • methods of “hollowing” prints will need to be refined, as resin can become expensive! Yikes…
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If you look at the stuff I have posted here and someone elses thread where they print planes (walls) you are going to see very similar artifacts and craters. So far I have found that angling in only one direction parallel to the peel motion seems to produce the best result. You are also printing on grey… me too.

Let us know when you print the shell. I want to see how it comes out.
Is this form a revit model?

We have a makerbot. its okay, I think they are different machines for different tasks. But yes I love my Form1.

Yes you are correct. Its a good estimate from what I read.

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Hi Brent!

To answer your questions:

  • PreForm “volume” does indicate the amount of resin used.

  • If you wanted to email support@formlabs.com, they will be able to help you figure out the best way to “stack” or arrange various elements on the build platform, in order to have the optimal orientation and arrangement for printing.

  • As far as hollowing prints go, I would be happy to help with that because I actually have an architecture modeling background myself! What program(s) are you using? What’s your general workflow?

  • Cesar is right about angling your model leading to more successful prints. Usually we recommend about a 10-20 degree orientation. Again, if you want to message me and send me your file or email support@formlabs.com I would be happy to help you orient your model. Manual supports are also a great tool for really ensuring everything in your model is well supported.

  • The pooling or residue on your print looks like it was an issue with resin flow and that possibly some resin got trapped in those areas. I think you could post-process it and create a really great finished piece with some sanding! You can check out this article on our support site for some tips:
    http://formlabs.com/en/support/help/finishing/removing-support-marks/

Those marks could also possibly be from artifacts in the optical path. I would also recommend checking and cleaning both your resin tank and your mirrors! Again, feel free to message me if you need any help with doing this.

Best,

Meg
Formlabs

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@Brent_Pauba, @MeghanMaupin ,

I wonder if this is something as a result of the grey resin. I have printed some non architectural items that where more “surfaced” or free form in contrast to planes / walls and the grey resin works great. I am wondering is they the grey is just not the correct resin.

Meghan, it would be interesting to see if the same artifacts occur with white or clear,

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Thanks Brent for posting great detail pics and insights.

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I have a couple pictures of the incomplete print -

As a reminder, This print “failed” due to human error, we did not fill the resin tank when needed! It may have gotten 20% done. Picture 4 exhibits a major concern, a slight warping has occurred throughout the base of the model. I am not taking this too seriously, as the print may have been negatively effected by resin shortage! Who knows, but I will be considerate of the problem and look for it in future prints. Adding in a support directly on the corner could be a useful experiment.

Picture 4 shows detail, which I am excited about! The camera really brings it out nicely (and some of the surface flaws, it all balances out!). Grey is a beautiful resin, I certainly want to experiment with other resins though, as the translucent nature softens hard edges just a bit too much for my liking. Maybe it is a matter of painting the models.

Picture 1. shows a nice detail of what happens when resin runs out, it gets progressively bubbly! I have a question about empty resin tanks. How does this negatively effect the machine? What may occur if the laser is shooting into an empty tank, are there any known ramifications?

I’ll begin printing the second iteration of the exterior shell either Wednesday or Thursday, I’ll keep everyone updated (by the way, it doesn’t hurt to remind me, I am a forgetful person :smile:)

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From what I read nothing happens.
Although your print failed the detail on it awesome, i love my printer

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