I’m only 4 or 5 prints in and I’ve had zero successful prints. I’ve already got scratches on my build plate from this dollar store scraper tool, and I cannot bring myself to drag it along the silicon layer of the resin tray to remove/check for semi cured resin. Has anybody looked into a better scraper tool, one with rounded edges perhaps?
I would not worry about the scratches on the build plate. What have you used to remove the cured resin from the vat? If you have not removed any cured resin from the first failed print then I do not think you will have a successful print. I would watch the videos from FL on the “technique” they recommend. In the end, just do it. If you are gentle you should be fine. If you share some pictures, and maybe the .form file, we can help troubleshoot what is going on. Also, are you using clear or gray resin?
Thanks for the reply. I’ll give it a shot once I’ve cleaned up my build plate, it’s a disaster. Do you happen have a link to the video you had in mind? I’m half an hour into one of their webinars but haven’t found it terribly useful.
71556578 or https://player.vimeo.com/video/71556578?byline=0&portrait=0&color=1bacc2;autoplay=1
How bad could your build plate be? Pictures?
Hey Craig, I used to have the same concern about scraping and it is right to be very careful about the silicon layer. I now use a plastic card with a thin film tapped on its surface, the plastic card offers a rigid force and keep the film straight forward, the film offers a very soft and gentle force that we need to scrap the cured resin from the tank, the film is very thin so it very sharp, enough to go through under the cured resin and peel it up. I used it once when my print failed and it was successful! I can scrap as hard as I want without worrying about any damage to the tank since the film is so soft.
What kind of ‘film’ are you talking about, @lock? And by ‘plastic card’, you just mean an old debit-card or something, I suppose?
To everybody else: has anyone found another product that works well as a scraper? I’ve considered a silicone kitchen scraper / spatula type of product; but most of them don’t seem rigid enough, and I’m worried that it’d be difficult to clean the resin off of. (How does IPA interact with silicone, by the way?)
I do not and will not use the metal scraper on any part of my printer. To remove models I use a plastic putty knife. They sell them at hardware stores for a buck. Also for lifting cured resin from the silicone layer in the tray, I use a plastic ID card. You could also use a credit card. Works great! Also if you want to “see” the invisible flakes of cured clear resin in your tray, remove the tray and put it on a white piece of paper. Indoor, overhead lighting will show the flake shadows on the paper. Try it!
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I made a scoop, cut out ribs to catch any debris,
I also took the supplied metal scraper and polished the edges on a buffing wheel.
When you scrape the bottom you don’t need a lot of pressure, just enough to act like a squeegee. I noticed the plastic scrapers will streak at the bottom making it difficult to spot any cloudy spots or stuck layers from a bad build.
When I first started I started to get bad builds right off. Few things can cause this and are easy to overcome. I some of these tips throughout the forum and tech support.
Make sure your models minimum feature size is big enough to print,
If you auto generate supports, zoom in and carefully make sure the supports touch the model. It is really easy to delete the bad ones and add new ones.
Orientation of the model is important and can be tricky if the object is complex. In theory if you had a pyramid you would want to angle it so the base of the pyramid faces the build platform but angled so the top of it doesn’t create a negative angle. Ultimately you want consecutive layers to get smaller and bulk of the weight of the model closest to the build platform.
Try to get the tallest supports facing the Hinge side of the resin tank.
If you get a bad print, you really really need to make sure there is no lumps floating around. Sometimes even a comb doesn’t pick them out and if it’s bad enough you may need to strain the resin through a filter or fine screening.
When mixing the resin try to push the bubbles away off to the sides because sometimes they get caught and cause voids. The metal scraper does work well to push them away.
I always check and mix the resin between every print and keep all tools spotless, should not feel sticky or greasy.