Hello! I just acquired two Form printers, a 1+ and a ‘factory reconditioned’ 1+ (with a lighter finish, I heard this is a repaired/reissued Form 1 with upgrades). I got these under the condition as-is. The owner didn’t know the true condition of either. I have been researching, reading, watching videos and googling my way around what to expect, how to use, and how to fix the potential issues I may be up against. I know there are no parts/consumables made or offered for this anymore, and what it seems I’m up against. I’m super eager to jump into SLA and do what I have to do to get these printers going! I still have a couple questions I can’t seem to find answers to. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Overall they look clean, turn on, and firmware is upgraded to 1.40. I am mainly wondering if there’s any standard tests I can run through and benchmarks I can compare against to know these are dialed and the galvos and mirrors are clean, before I start printing things.
I got at least 15 liters of resin, but I suspect/know it’s all from 2014 and 2015. A lot are unopened, and some containers are still in sealed black bags. I know it was stored in the dark in a storage unit for the majority of time since then. Should I shake the hell out of some of these and bother trying a print with them, or should I assume this is all unusable hazardous garbage at this point. I just ordered 1 liter of new resin from another resin source. Would you suggest the formlabs form 2 resin over others?
I got 14 resin tanks in their boxes with various leftover resins still in them, probably from 2014/2015. Should I even bother cleaning these? Or should I toss them? I heard I should look for bubbles in the bottom edges?
I have one clean brand new resin tray (rev03) still in-box, still shrink wrapped, that I am pretty happy about. It feels like my only hope. There are a couple little bubbles along the sides of the bottom edges, but not any bigger than 1mm. Seems to be normal. I also have a bonus unused build platform.
Cleaning resin on the outside of the units. They have a bit of resin on the outside of the acrylic (I hear I shouldn’t use IPA on this) and the metal body. Maybe some of this is cured. Any tips on getting this off, or should I not bother? I ordered some Novus 1 and plan to try that.
Cure box. Is it worth it to build one? 405nm LED flood or strip lighting? Overall goal with watts and time? I have a lot of nice indirect sunlight at my disposal here.
Is there any live community beyond this forum for Form 1+ owners? seems pretty quiet around here, but I couldn’t find anything else yet.
Mainly, I’m looking for advise and tips beyond the initial basics that you wish you had known at the start, or techniques you’ve learned and refined over time. Mostly with dealing with the resin. What’s the best method for keeping the work space as contained and clean as possible?
Thank you so much!