I attempted my 4th print today, just a small item at .025 and noticed that this resolution does not seem to be working so well on my printer. I attempted the same part along with a few others 3 or 4 additional times at this resolution before switching to a resolution of .05. All prints work perfectly fine at .05. However every attempt at a resolution of .025 resulted in a very small amount of activated resin and no adherence to the build platform.
Is anyone else having similar problems at this resolution? I’ve already strained the resin in the resin tank being careful to know scratch the bottom, and cleaned the build platform with IPA (allowing it to completely air dry for several hours).
My last attempt at .025 was a miserable failure as well. I tried reducing supports on some of the parts, so it’s likely partly my fault, but one part with default supports came out badly as well. My first prints at .025 came out much better (second batch I’d tried on the printer.) Hoping someone has some advice.
I’m wondering if there’s a bug in the .8.1 software at .25. My last attempt at .25 was even worse than the previous. A nearly solid part failed completely (the quartz crystal seen on this board.) Looked almost like it had been cut in half at an angle. Also a small part had about half its supports fail.
After a few failed prints, I was able to get a successful 0.025mm print using the GRAY 0.025mm profile, not the clear. It appears to increase the exposure times just a bit, and that really helped with adhesion to the build plate. Everything from there was perfect. Check out my thread in the “cool prints and tips” section for pics (and this tip). Good luck – I’d be curious to hear if that works for others.
I’m having the same issues with .025 mm prints. I’ve been able to get a couple to come out, but there’s less detail than the .05 mm prints and most often the second half of the model ends up in the tank and the first half looks like it’s been melted. I’ll give the grey profile a shot as well. Thanks for the tip!
last night I tried another printer at .025mm this time using the GRAY material type but did not have any better results. Printing at .05mm has been very consistent, but I still have had no part at .025mm turn out. Hopefully this is a firmware fix that can been ironed out.
Is the biggest problem making the resin adhere to the build platform when printing at 0.025 mm?
Could you print one or two layers at, say, 0.1 mm, cancel the print, reset it (without removing the two 100 micron layers), and start a new print using the 25 micron setting?
This would create a thin base-layer of cured resin that would hopefully allow a 0.025 mm print to stick more easily.
(I’ve never seen a Form1 in person and, strangely, I’ve also never seen one truly operate on video. Sorry if this suggestion is completely unhelpful.)
I’ve had some similar problems with adhesion between print layers and failed supports at 25 and 50 microns. The helpful advice I got from Formlabs was to increase the base thickness from the default of 1.7 to something between 2 - 2.5. You want to end up with a base that’s 1-1.5mm thick. Apparently pushing the resin tank and build platform together so close creates problems due to the compression.
Changing to grey resin also helped the quality of one of my 50 micron prints.
@Hirudin - I don’t think that would be a good Idea as the printer wouldn’t know there is additional material in the way. Also, it’s not necessary as you can accomplish the same thing in software.
Even on my 50 micron prints I switched to grey to get more consistant results. Haven’t tried the thicker base setting yet to see if that makes improvements as well. Occasionally still get some parts with a wrinkle caused by the part moving. Will also try slightly thicker supports.
still an issue and actually things have become much worse.
As a result of removing the cured resin from the tank over and over the coating on the bottom is damaged. My printer will barely print anything. Each time I have been extremely careful about scratching so I do not think that is specifically the issue. What appears to have occurred is that parts of the coating on the tank bottom has become cloudy.
It is amazingly frustrating to have a beautiful orange paper weight.
last night I tried another printer at .025mm this time using the GRAY material type but did not have any better results. Printing at .05mm has been very consistent, but I still have had no part at .025mm turn out. Hopefully this is a firmware fix that can been ironed out.