I tested 10 times all fail, help

Hi everyone, It has been half a year since I got my form 1+ , I’ve tested it for almost 10 times. But unfortunately almost all of those tests failed. I realized that I could not make a random test again, so I came to the forum to share my experience of failure, hoping to find a solution.
I’m not sure whether I’m not operating properly, or the machine has a problem.
This is my first attempt. I printed a monster head with accuracy 0.025,everything was going well, the details are great.

Explore hyrx105 Explore hyrx105

I was so excited and immediately started a more complex test,I decided to print the whole monster model directly. but this time the model was broken in half from the head position.

Explore hyrx105 Explore hyrx105

However, this problem doesn’t attract my enough attention,because of my busy work I paused the test.

Recently I had enough time to continue my test, I’ve tried many times but failed at them all.
I’ve changed a new model. The first test was the most close to complete(with Accuracy 0.025).
Just a little bit of head was missing.
Explore hyrx105

So I tried again with different angles. The result was even worse, whole head was gone. T_T
Explore hyrx105


This is a screenshot of the software.
Explore hyrx105

Explore hyrx105

My method is keeping the model on a fixed angle, automatically generate support, then I adjust the red area until it disappears completely.


These are pictures of reflecting mirror, I tried to clean it with paper, But I’m not sure whether the current state comply with cleaning requirements, Are there any problems?

Explore hyrx105
Explore hyrx105


Last test I downloaded an model online, and failed again, you can see the right side of the tooth are disappeared, and the whole model looks very rough.
http://s1152.photobucket.com/user/hyrx105/media/10_zpsgacqyvd7.jpg.html?sort=3&o=5
http://s1152.photobucket.com/user/hyrx105/media/9_zpsgpmnmuc6.jpg.html?sort=3&o=6

In these tests, I have tried to change different models, different precision, replace the new resin slot, clean laser lens… I’m so exhausted and I have spent about 1.5L resin.
Can anybody help me? Tell me what the problem is? I hope to solve these problems as soon as possible. Thank you so much!

The very first thing you need to do is open a customer support ticket, if you haven’t already done that - they really helped me.

Apart from that, I can add my personal opinion, however I have only had a little over 2.5 months experience with the Form1+ and this is the first 3D printer I have used:

  1. The initial prints look good from the quality - the upper surfaces without supports look really nice and smooth, as they should… but they failed. I think this will be for one (or more) of several reasons, such as a) resin starvation, b) insufficient supports, c) adhesion to the resin tank, d) …
  2. After a failed print, you need to really carefully make sure there is nothing still stuck to the tank bottom or floating around in the tank - the support pages on the formlabs.com really have the information you need to initially follow.
  3. The models you are trying to print are quite demanding, and I believe they would usually be broken into multiple pieces to increase the quality of the finished item - e.g. see this guy’s really amazing efforts
  4. After showing a dirty 4th mirror (the last in the laser path), you show a model of a skull where there is obviously a ‘new’ problem (not apparent in the other model photos at least) of dirt or other problems on the optics - look at the supports of your model and this one I printed while I was having similar problems:

I was close to despairing, but support really helped guide me through it… you MUST open a customer support ticket before opening your machine and trying to clean anything or you will void your warrenty; support will guide you on what to clean, when to clean it, and most importantly how to (and how not to) clean it - I wrote a longer post on my experiences here.

In the mean time I am printing successfully, everything is going well… so don’t give up, go open a ticket from this page.

Is your main mirror Cracked???

And you need to open a support ticket to get the mirror cleaning instructions I think you have a dusty mirror from the looks of the pictures. This is a very delicate process to do so be sure you have the proper instructions to clean all the mirrors if you do. ONLY USE IPA and PEC PADS to clean the mirrors.

Also if you have any sections that are not solid and are hollow you may be causing a vacuum in the print process that could blow out the parts.

Start with a support ticket and clean the mirrors. That is where I would start.

Thank you for sharing your experience, brother, I’ve got a ticket
http://tickets.formlabs.com/requests/52942

Hi,Thomas_Judy,I got a ticket here smile :
http://tickets.formlabs.com/requests/52942

Hi,Thomas_Judy,I cleaned up the mirror again and print the test file, the result is still bad, you can see this ticket
http://tickets.formlabs.com/requests/52949

Only clean your mirrors with PEC-PAD contaminant free wipes and 90% or higher isopropyl alcohol (IPA). Using any other type of lens cleaner or cloth will mess up your mirrors. (I found out the hard way)

We can’t access those tickets, by the way, as far as I am aware - to show us a pic I think you’ll have to upload it.

In addition: cleaning the mirrors is tricky… I’m not sure if you’ve gotten as far as cleaning the smaller ones (ONLY DO IT WHEN REQUESTED TO BY SUPPORT!!), but if/when you do, you have to look REALLY carefully, like a thousand times out of a thousand different angles to be sure you haven’t missed anything, or even made the situation worse - that’s how it started it out with me, but after about 90 mins (including dismantling the machine), I had the galvos and small mirror clean and the printer was working beautifully again.

Good luck - hang in there… I know how frustrating it can be!!

Thank you, my friend, Formlabs has sent me a new big mirror, when I received after I will make the new test :D

Thank you, friend, Formlabs has sent me a new big mirror, when I received after I will make the new test :D

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