I had a print yesterday that was estimated to take 3.5 hours, but ended up being over 5.5 hours (newest update installed), so there’s definitely something to this.
*edited to note that I was using Clear resin
I have a brand new machine and updated firmware installed. My prints are also considerably out from the estimate. Estimated 3.5 and took 4.5 if I recall correctly…it was certainly an hour out anyway.
Any thoughts on what is driving this? I plan to use the estimated print time as a basis for estimating print costs for clients and need it to be reliable.
The more layers there are, the greater the time discrepancy. So it has to do with the algorithm that calculates the time the build platform lifts and falls.
This is definitely an ongoing issue. Currently printing a big model on Form 2 in gray resin - initial estimate was 18 hours 34 minutes. I got in this morning to find it still had 1.5 hours to go (it’s been two hours since then, now it says 30 minutes). So total print time is actually more than 21 hours.
This has been a consistent issue - even since the latest firmware update.
I’m waiting for a print that was estimated at just over 12 hours and which is currently looking like it’ll finish in 14. It’s so consistently wrong that I just mentally add 2 hours to the estimate every time I print now.
Hi, I noticed those estimated time errors. These are my last prints:
| Firmware | Layers | Resolution | Volume | Prevision | Effective | Diff | Perc. error |
| 1.17.7 | 579 | 50µm | 1.9mL | 01:52 | 02:58 | 01:38 | 58,93% |
| 1.17.7 | 1211 | 50µm | 86.6mL | 04:56 | 06:34 | 01:38 | 33,11% |
| 1.17.7 | 1425 | 50µm | 102.6mL | 06:35 | 08:32 | 01:57 | 29,62% |
| 1.17.7 | 1333 | 25µm | 10.3mL | 04:40 | 06:38 | 01:58 | 42,14% |
| 1.17.7 | 296 | 25µm | 2.1mL | 01:14 | 01:46 | 00:32 | 43,24% |
| 1.17.7 | 310 | 25µm | 25.7mL | 02:40 | 03:07 | 01:21 | 16,88% |
| 1.17.10 | 833 | 50µm | 21.8mL | 03:47 | 05:08 | 01:21 | 35,68% |
| 1.17.10 | 1989 | 25µm | 43.5mL | 10:03 | 12:37 | 02:34 | 25,54% |
Raf
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The data doesn’t lie 
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Are you using the Dashboard ? If so you could track the resin type, print volume and layers. That would be very useful I think.
However, I’m betting Formlabs is aware of this, they probably have access to these stats with the dashboard and they know wen the print started and finished as well as what was the time estimate. If they can’t access this informations we should all start logging these.
Data updated
Raf
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I see that in PreForm v2.14 they sped up print speeds. They then realized it reduced print quality, and slowed down print speeds in v2.15. I wonder if it’s possible that the estimates are still based off v2.14 speeds, but printing at v2.15 speeds? I don’t remember the time being an issue when we got the printer.
Does anyone know when a fix for the estimated print time will be resolved? It’s playing havoc with my printing schedules.
This is a bit of a “me too” post, but the print time estimates are so way off that they’re a bit of a joke really. I always add 25% to the estimate, and that’s not always sufficient. And this is with a variety of objects being printed and a variety of resins.
My print times are also about 15-25% longer on average. But mine seems to be somewhat more accurate with it’s estimate as it goes thru 75-85% of the print. Then the last 15-25%, as it gets closer to the end, the time remaining estimate get’s much less accurate. So if my print is supposed to last 16 hrs, about the 12 hr mark, it says it’s about 4 hrs remaining, seems about right. Then with 2-3 hours remaining, the accuracy diminishes. So I timed what a Form 2 minute really is at that stage. It was actually about 90 seconds and printed 6 layers in that time. And there was no resin detection, no hiccups of any kind. The printer was cruising fairly quickly it seemed with each layer printing in about 15 seconds from peel to peel. So I have no clue what is contributing to the discrepancy. It’s accurate to a point, then bam! - minutes grow into 90 seconds. Thing is, for me this issue didn’t seem to start until a few months ago. And I’ve had my Form 2 for close to 21 months.
It’s only been an issue since the last couple of firmware updates for me.
My Form2 just did an automatic update this morning. It has been underestimating time by around 20% +/-.
I have a flaky nozzle on one resin cartridge. Sometimes when it’s “sensing resin” it will squeeze that nozzle for 5 or 6 minutes before any resin comes out, really throws off the time from the estimate.
What kind of resin are you using ? If it’s one that is heavily charged with pigments or has sedimentation issues (White, Black, Grey Pro, Rigid from my experience, I also read that Flexible settles quite a lot), it’s not impossible that the bottom of the cartridge is clogged with sedimented resin if you don’t shake it often.
Yeah Black deinitely has settling issues. I just had the exact issues I described (nozzle cloged) on Grey Pro yesterday and black settles quite a bit more.
A new form2 owner here. My print had a calculated print time of 5hrs. And it ended up taking almost 19 hrs. -.-