Greetings to all, We are a small business that creates resin miniatures as well as industrial parts and have long awaited the purchase of a 3d printer to assist us and finally settled on the Form1+ as our machine as we need a smooth surface. We purchased a used Form1+ and were ready to begin prototyping parts and unfortunately there are some issues with the machine and needed to create a support ticket with FL which we are awaiting, and are willing to do in order to get the machine up and running.
Problem is we are under a 2 week deadline and will not be able to print out our parts let alone come to know all the tips and tricks necessary to successfully print the parts we need, so a couple questions to the knowledgeable.
I am attaching a low res file for review which is a 4"x4" piece. (discontinued) Do you think FL is the right choice for this kind of piece? I have read alot about lens flare issues with tall vertical faces so I am concerned about failures as this type of piece would be typical of our use. Would you print it the way it is or break it up into smaller pieces? Dimensional accuracy is desired but it can be within 1-3 mm
As we are not going to be able to use our machine is there anyone that would be for hire to print these pieces out for us? I have gotten shapeway pricing and it is way too high.
Please let us know your thoughts when you can as we need to move quickly in a direction. Otherwise it is back to hand sculpting these parts!
if you are interested in printing please private message your rates.
I have just had a look at your model and I would say it’s at the very limit of how big an object can be (length and width) in Preform when considering things like surface area and supports. Personally I would print that hollow with a wall thicjness of 1.5 - 3mm (I assume it’s a master for casting?) as you will need to top your resin tank up at least once during that print (and that’s a pain). I would have a hole in the base to prevent a vacuum (assuming you do decide to print hollow) this should reduce the amount of material used and speed up printing significantly. You can always fill with resin or filler if you need the weight.
Hi,
I’m working a project now but I’d be willing to take a shot at it. Much like Jason was saying, hollow the piece, and a hole in the bottom. If you are using this as a casting master I’d also probably consider doing it in parts or perhaps printing a mold. I’m in Virginia.
Hi Jason thank you for your reply, great tips we will try to apply to the model for printing. Yes this would be for a master mold. I know about the hollow function but had not gotten that far yet and was wondering whether F1 would print better as a solid or a hollow.
Heard back from support and they are sending out a new button so took the liberty of taking a chance and soaking the old button and IPA and it worked! The button s functional again.
Long story short we are back up and running but still may be interested in hiring for prints as we have had numerous fails (it is not sticking to the head) and I can see there is going to be a long learning curve, can you private message your rates?