Hi, please help me understand my issue. I haven’t seen anything like this and I have combed the forum for a similar issue.
The print that failed isn’t the first one but that was a bit of a larger print and it has cost me quite a bit more resin than usually when printing dental copings.
The platform adhesion was good. The print whet is left of it looks well defined so I don’t think it’s and optical issue. I have cleaned the glass panel but haven’t tuched the mirrors (not ready for that downtime yet). But somewhere in the middle 15 mm of the platform it suddenly failed and I have no idea why. Things obviously went downhill from there.
You’re ready now.
Haha love your humor. You really think it’s the mirrors? The print looks well defined to me. It’s not blurry or unsharp which would be the common culprit of dirty optical path.
I had an issue like this about a year ago. The unit was still under warranty so Form labs ended up replacing the printer. The unit would print the supports but nothing else. I would get a partial print like that as well. I cleaned everything. Changed the tanks, resin and so on but it ended up being a faulty machine.
Cleaning the mirrors could possibly help fix this but unfortunately i believe your machine is faulty.
Hope i’m wrong!
1 Like
Thank you very much for sharing your experience. I sure hope it is not a faulty machine. I am in contact with Formlabs support about some other issues I am having (they just keep piling up). They have quoted me 1000 € for a replacement printer which I get to keep or 799 € to repair mine with a longer downtime of course.
The thing is that not every print is like this. When I am printing 4 dental models they print phenomenally well. This inconsistency is what bothers me the most and why I am asking others with more or different experience.
That never happened with me at all. I would get supports but nothing else. Even Formlabs test files wouldn’t print.
I’d always get no model or half of one.
Hopefully you get it figured out.
Best of luck!
I don’t think you have enough supports on this pieces. The walls of the two look too thick and heavy for the supports you have.
All the pieces will print well directly on the build platform. The two centre ones without modifications and the two hollow one will need some custom supports to lift them off the build platform and proving air gaps to prevent cupping.
This is the arrangement I use for some of my pieces:
The green is the model and other colour supports. ThIs support section the top is 0.5mm wide which makes it easy to break off:
Hope this helps.
1 Like
I have been always neglecting printing directly on the build platform because of the elephants foot effect. I was also scared of peeling forces so I always tried tilting the parts to minimize that. With the center ones, flat, directly on the build platform that is quite some surface area.
Maybe you can shine some more light on that for me? Will I be okay with the LT tank which has the FEP film or do I still have to worry about the peel forces?
Thanks a lot for your constructive and insightful reply.