At the right edge of the Preform screen you have a scroll bar that you can use to scroll through the slices.
Or you can use Page Up, Page Down, Home and End keys to do the same.
I just had a failed print myself and upon examining the suspected area I found this strange slice.
That triangular area that only exist in this single slice I’m pretty sure did dangle around or fall of and block the laser for the rest of the print.
Thanks @Hellborn! I’ll update my other post.
@Macro, is the geometry repairs the error box that shows up when opening Preform and has a repair option? If so, are you getting this when you open the 2hi4zcafdocked1-ribbon.stl file? I’m not getting this error box. And you’re using the original file, right? Not the one I modified by cutting off the residues.
Also, I experimented with what printer I choose on start up in Preform, and it looks like the Form 2 generates the thinner supports, while the Form 1+ generates the supports with the thicker bases. I wonder if I can’t print the thinner supports on the Form 1+.
Edit: Spacing. -Quinton
I have actually noticed both thick and thin supports on the Form 2. I didn’t change any settings…it just happened on one print! I’d like to understand the rhyme and reason behind it.
That is odd, I have never seen that on the Form 2.
Dow214, yes. When I imported the 2hi4zcafdocked1-ribbon.stl file, I got an alert box saying the model needs repair, and then proceeds to do a good job in repairing it.
I believe I am using the unmodified one. It is the one in the zip file on the link you provided.
I don’t think that using the thin supports are making the difference, you might need a heated tank for that. I just think that it is a symptom of a different support structure used by each printer model. (Of course, you could try that if everything else fails).
Maybe it is your external repair process that is introducing the odd triangles that Hellborn has pointed out. Try and skip that process.
Note that in my cases, the unsupported regions were in-fact valid geometry features. So just keep in mind that unsupported areas can result even from valid models.
Here’s a third print of our protein of interest.
I’d say it’s 85% there.
For this print, I used @Macro’s Form 2 file (see post 20) on our Form 1+. I changed nothing about it except I positioned it on the hinge side. I did keep the thin supports. Two things I do think helped make this print better:
Thanks @Macro / @Konstantin_Dani for those suggestions.
You can see in the pictures that the exterior is well-formed. But it looks like that the interior misprinted (I don’t really have a good picture of this right now). There are also flakes on the model. Actually, it almost seems that one giant flake saved the print. These flakes were also visible on the first two prints.
Huh! I didn’t get an alert box. I also did not use an external repair process. For this third print I did use @Macro’s (your) file, but when I scrolled through the layers of my first two print files, there were no odd triangles
When you say valid geometry features, do you mean not only those odd triangles can cause a misprint? I didn’t see anything floating in space when I looked a few days ago. I did see in PreForm that some structures would start printing and then their supports came a few layers after. Didn’t pay much mind to this. Probably they still printed well, but maybe it’s possible one didn’t, right? All the supports were generated via PreForm too!
Moving forward,
Since I last posted, we installed a completely new tank and did wipe some dust off the big mirror below the tank. We only did a dry clean of that mirror however. We did another test print, and it worked great. I even printed two models, one with the thicker supports generated for the Form 1+ and one with thinner supports generated for the Form 2. Some flakes on those too, but less. I haven’t updated to Preform 2.6 yet though! A little timid to do that, since I know protein printing works in 2.5.
Thanks to all for your comments and responses,
Sincerely,
-Quinton
P.S.
Just checked in PreForm to confirm, but yup! @Macro’s (Your) Form 2 file is the original downloadable file from the 3D Print Exchange and not my modified one from my second print. Sorry for the confusion, I was impressed to think you were not only able to print it, but print it with all those amino acids jutting out in the interior. Thanks again for printing it.
Edit: Pronouns. -Quinton.
It is great to see it is just about there.
If the information is not classified, and when you have time, it would be very interesting to read a short line or two describing what the modified protein actually does.
Hopefully, it isn’t intended to instigate a zombie apocalypse.
Which one is your modified one? I could include along side with my models in my next white print. It might shed some more light.
Ha! The modified protein file is the original file, except I cut off some of the amino acids jutting out because I thought it was getting too crowded in the interior. So there isn’t much a difference between the two.
The protein we’re trying to print is Cytochrome P450 1A2, i.e. CYP1A2 or 1A2. The Cytochrome P450 family in general metabolize a diverse range of chemicals including pharmaceutical drugs. CYP1A2 metabolizes caffeine.
It’s this one. Wasn’t included before, so my original question was poorly worded. If you’d like to print it, sure! I bet since you were able to print the more complicated one you’ll be able to print this one.
Although I don’t think I’m going to modify the .stl of proteins in the future if I can help it; I’d like this to be a quick process, and the. stl editting is long. Maybe you can send us the prints. That might be quicker than where we are right now. Ha.
-Quinton
Edit: Have you (or anyone reading this) had problems with flakes in your print? Just curious. - Quinton
@Dow214 I have been passively following your post and curious if you ever got your ribbon-structure to print?
I was reminded of your thread because I just read a newer post where someone printed a somewhat similar looking structure (albeit on a Form2) Braided Torus Print
I hope this helps and good luck!
We haven’t printed it since I last posted. But since my last print, one of my partners cleaned all four mirrors with the help of the Formlabs team. He told me the machine was printing perfectly, so there are high hopes that the next print will be complete.
Thanks for asking and sharing. That print is very cool.
-Quinton
Sorry, I missed your post.
I am sure that your mirror cleaning did the trick, but I can send you the print if you still need it after your test.
Thanks. I hope the mirror cleaning did the trick too.
-Quinton
