Hi everyone.
I need to 3D print a part on an substrate other than the build platform; let’s say on a glass slide. I need to print this way as I won’t be able to attach my part to that glass slide later on after the printing is done because I need careful alignments between the parts.
I was wondering if anyone ever had a similar printing approach with a Formlabs or other printers. Btw, my printer is Formlabs 3B.
Any suggestions would be highly appreciated! Thank you!
Because the Formlabs printers are hanging you would need to attach the glass to the build plate, reset the height offset, and hope it sticks and doesn’t get pulled off from the suction forces. This does not seem like a great idea as a lot of things could go wrong, but that’s up to you to decide.
Thanks for your reply! Makes sense. I will do that for the attaching the glass.
Should I do this height offset reseting from the software? I haven’t seen any option for this purpose.
It’s a calibration setting on the actual printer through the settings menu.
Keep in mind you REALLY need to make sure the glass is secured onto the platform so that it can handle being dunked in resin and the peeling force when it tries to lift after each layer.
@hesam I would start here: customer_v2 I think it’s interesting to explore these edge cases, haven’t tried it yet myself.
@br4n_d0n Using a microscope slide, I would think the peel force should be manageable. 1"x3" is 3sqin, with no cupping and a part that actually fits on the slide I can’t imagine you even reach 10 lbf/~1 PSI. I’m more concerned over the best adhesive for the job. It can’t dissolve in IPA obviously so CA glue is out, but has to dissolve easily (in acetone?) to not break the slide after printing.
Thank you @br4n_d0n and @BLicht for the info/clarifications. Well, I’ll start to search for the right adhesive then.
What you are trying to do may or may not work successfully every time. I’d be inclined to engineer in alignment features to the part you are printing. For example 3 cylindrical bosses will provide accurate and repeatable location and alignment against straight right-angle edges. Alternatively adding a datum feature/features to use as a reference could also work. Or a combination of both alignment and datum features together.
Can you post an image of what you are trying to achieve? There’s a lot of knowledgeable people on here.