If I understand everything correctly, the images you supplied are from the very earliest days of the Form1 printer, possibly before it was actually released. I remember those support structures from the very first photos and videos of the F1 when it was first announced and still a long way from going on sale. And just as the support structures evolved over time, I’ll bet that the compression of the first few layers was also a decision that came later, so the very first prints made on the F1 could indeed print directly on the bed without distortion.
Now, being realistic, who would like to guess how many failed prints happened before each of the beautiful successes in those early photos? You could be forgiven for assuming that those photos showed the typical print quality because that was the intention! But I will theorize that there were many failed prints in this early configuration, which would lead to redesigning the supports and introducing the compression of the first layers. So yes, the Form1 in the beginning did have the supports and direct-plate printability shown in those photos, but they would have been changed for a reason.
The main thing different now is that the first 5mm will be printed with different settings than the rest of the print. That causes a line across the print at that point so when you print directly to the platform it will have that problem, that’s why it’s good to use supports and have the print raised higher than 5mm above the base.
I use my form 1+ to perform modeling on a scale of 1: 160.
All the faces of my piece that look towards the platform will have a horrible quality … however everything that is oriented upwards will be perfect.
It depends on the supports etc … for this reason the faces that look towards the platform has a horrible quality … I was not expecting this formlabs.
I feel cheated, when I see the chess piece and others like its advertising … it’s incredible … straight bases … now I make those pieces and I do not have the same result.
I have trusted this company.
I need to know if my gray resin V3, is the problem of everything … the black will be better?
I notice that between bridge and bridge (overhangs are not straight) but curved
Which version of preform can be really better for my 1: 160 model?
The latest version?
I think the best way for the community to assist is for you to post up examples of your models oriented in Preform and pictures of the actual prints.
This way we can see what is going on and provide some assistance. The Form 1+ can product some amazing results. But there are a few guidelines that must be followed, some of the guidelines provided can be bent and some just ignored. It takes a bit of time, trial and error to find the happy medium. If you are comparing the Form 1+ to the Form 2 print results, you will see a difference. All the new samples that FL is sending out have been printed on the Form 2 (to the best of my knowledge).
So the issues with printing directly to the platform can possibly be improved in the future, part of the reason for that difference is to make it easier to print, since it increases the success rate of prints, but it’s something they could likely test to get the same success rate with better results.
Besides that though–any downward facing surfaces will not look as good as upward facing surfaces, that is an issue with all printers of this type (SLA), that is due to how there is no way to restrict the light from going through a layer and curing extra material on the underside of a print.
That is something you have to deal with with this type of printer, but you can minimize the issue with some different techniques. For example, angle an object in the printer so that it starts at a small point and doesn’t require as many supports, if you have a flat surface you don’t want it to be parallel to the build surface, so if you can angle it then it won’t require supports on that area (unless for stability) and then you will get better results.
Also, sometimes you need to redesign a part so that you can orient it in such a way that it gets the detail parts printed more cleanly, so for example you may need to separate a part into multiple pieces so that different areas can be oriented better.
I think you should think about printing the cab ends separately and gluing them on to the body. It should then be possible to arrange all the support structure to be either along the bottom edges or inside the parts.
I did an Auto-Orient which should get it oriented in the proper way, with supports along the bottom edge and the inside it should print just fine. There’s no need to print directly to the platform with that object.
