In case anyone wants to know why, its not user error. I used to manufacture parts similar, its the glue used to put them together that causes them to crack. You could put a drop of it in the middle of the case and expect it to crack as well. Lots of glues do this, and even loctite. A drop of loctite will bust a 6" thick piece of it.
There are a few different things that can weaken the polycarbonate used for covers and we’ve made sure not to use any adhesives that might weaken the cover during assembly.
IPA and other solvents can weaken the cover and eventually lead to cracking. Our support team can help to diagnose what might have caused your cover to weaken and determine the necessary steps for getting things corrected. One of our members will be in touch with you over email.
it has never been in contact with any chemical. It has never been cleaned. It has never touched IPA. It has not touched resin on that corner, the far corner is covered in in and less cracks. Printer has been used once, cracks all over it.
Also its worth noting…all cracks are always coming from the adhesive you claim will not damage the plastic. And they are in no stress areas. If you want to eliminate this problem, use a different glue. The glue is leaching into the plastic…its not rocket science. You can say you researched it and whatever you want…its the issue. Research it again, or keep replacing pissed off customers parts.
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I used to be a model maker in my early years, and we used acrylics/plexiglass and abs plastics exclusively. The cement we used was Weld-On acrylic cement IPS 3 or 4. To this day I still use the stuff, and I built many clear display cases that don’t show any cracking, even hairline after 10 years or more.
I’m not sure what Formlabs is using t glue the cases, and I don’t know how long you’ve had your printer, but I have a Form1+, and it only shows a few very small hairline cracks where the acrylic was rolled to create the rounded edges. The cracks have been there ever since I got the machine and haven’t grown in size, so I think they’re stress cracks, nothing to do with the glue.
Maybe you have a defective cover, so your in the minority, otherwise there would be lot of people experiencing this, and I’ve only seen a few complaints.
P.S. Loctite is a bad example as it was never intended to be used on plastics, only metal, and it will chew through just about any type of plastic
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My Form1+ has small cracks but I would assume if the hinge isn’t perfectly in line and the lid not fastened just right it is susceptible to cracking.
When I first received my machine I had to adjust the position of the lid by loosening the screws on the hinge so it would sit flat and noticed after that opening it wasn’t as smooth but at least I don’t have light leaks. Guessing in some cases the hinge and/or case might have more variations than I noticed.
My cracks formed overnight, 4 inches long, on two front corners. Never any resin or chemical on this ever. The rear has hairline cracks all over, and covered in resin.
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