My printed characters and creatures

Projects & Prints
1

Hi folks, so i finally got my printer last week, and iv finally had the time to print something out.

Starting small, roughly 5cm big, one of my unfinished orc busts to test things out.

grey resin at 0.025mm, before cleanup and priming

Turned out pretty good i think, but there’s a few holes in the back where the supports seem to have garbled up into each-other.

Would be interested to hear what people have to say about this print quality.

also, does anyone know if there Is a way to measure your placed 3d model while in preform?

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2

You could lay it down in the Pre-form bed and look at the grid. I still haven’t figured out the grid size. It must be metric. sigh…

3

The grid is marking off centimeters – though for accurate scaling, I’d suggest you work in your preferred CAD program. The quality looks great. For something with smooth surfaces like that, you’ll probably see similar results at 50 (or even 100) micron layer heights – and print your parts in a quarter of the time. You can find more details on that here: http://formlabs.com/support/help/advanced/layer-heights/.

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4

hey thanks for the reply guys. Good point josh, and thank for clearing things out Sam.

So iv used up my 1 liter of resin that came with my Form 1+ and this is my result.

Lined up chronologically, there is one missing after the 4th version that i threw away in frustration before photographing it.

Click image for highres version.

5

Oh… that looks depressing, but so familiar. My prints have failed in much the same way too. I hope you’ve gotten in touch with support by now. Mine’s out due to a degraded laser, so I’m waiting on a replacement. For the record, it was with the first Form 1.

6

Just glancing at the photos, this looks as though it could be due to optics. We can provide cleaning instructions if you write into support.

You should never attempt to clean the mirrors in your Form 1 without first speaking with our team as they are “first surface” mirrors and easily damaged. Even wiping with a micro fiber cloth can remove some of the reflective surface.

Jory

7

Just to keep this thread updated with my experience with the Form1+ so far.

18 weeks of wait to get the printer delay after delay, it works for 1 week, and then 3+ weeks to get RMA and now im waiting going on 5 weeks to get it repaired.

At this point i regret ever coming across Formlabs and their printer. Jesus what a mistake.

9

Take the time to work with support - it paid out for me.

I was on my second machine, having great results and got around 100hrs out of it, over several jobs,

I then got the ‘ragging’ as they call it over my models, I couldn’t believe it, and I didn’t want to either! I just wanted to return it, pay the costs and get printing again, even if it would inevitably break after such a short time.

Anyway, I had lots of emails regarding cleaning the mirrors etc etc, the last one of the same type mentioned about a new ‘beta’ set of instructions to clean the mirrors on the galvos. I completed the steps within an hour, and the prints after, again, over 100 hrs have been flawless (as much as the form1 can! ;))

Be patient, and lets hope your machine just needs the maintenance it deserves, and not a full return.

Ed

10

Unfortunately i did have to do a full return 5 weeks ago…

I really did want this to work. Its such a shame. I had some grand plans for a lot of printing with this printer. God knows how much resin i would have gone through in the 9 weeks since my printer broke. Its just been such a waste of time for me so far i just wish i had gone with a different printer.