New to printing on Form 2 + Failed print

Hello,

Its my third day using the Form 2 and so far I have had success with smaller parts. I just printed a bigger part with the following orientation:

https://formlabs.com/dashboard/shared/#shared/43c24c7b-8bdf-4c65-842c-cab2db2eb22d

The problems with this parts are as follows:

  1. One corner for the object oriented to be printed out last (angled such to be layered at the end) did not end up with proper edges. The corner had improper layers and a gap/hole in the layers.

  1. The edge of the object also seemed shredded upon removal of the support.

  1. the walls of the object were supposed to be at an 90 Degree angle but turned out to be angled rather than straight.

Please refer to the pictures and advice me on what went wrong. Any help is much appreciated.

Best,
Arti

Hi Arti,

This sort of failure mode is typical when the model is not sufficiently supported. With so few supports in the starting corner, your part is actually wobbling as it builds. That wobbling during printing is what causes the skewed geometry. Additional supports will cause the part to stay rigid while printing. You could try increasing the touch point size or the density of the supports, but smart placement will solve the problem too.

Check out these two pictures for what I would recommend. The screenshots are taken from below, with the center representing the bottom tip of the part. The picture on the left is the PreForm defaults. The picture on the right shows my added supports highlighted. Note how the addition of supports at those locations will prevent the part from wobbling.

1 Like

Having a small vent hole at the bottom may also prevent some of the holes you have on the side walls, especially with your wall thickness being pretty thin.

I would flip the part over so the open side is facing towards the base. Then let PreForm create supports. Then go in and add supports any place they appear to be “sparse”. All the support contact points will be on the interior or along the lip. You’ll be able to sand the lip easily and depending on what you’re using this for you might not need to do anything more than break away the supports from the inside surface.

When I print, I always try to orient the visible faces of my models so they will have the fewest support contact points and then I add extra supports where the blemishes they leave won’t matter.

Thank you @CraigBroady and @Randy_Cohen for your feedback. Both of your replies give me clarity on what could have gone wrong.

I will try to apply that while I print next time.

I appreciate your feedback.

Best,
Arti

This topic was automatically closed 14 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.