I am considering buying a used form 2 and looking for some advice. I have previously owned the form 2 for a number of years, but eventually the mirror got too dirty to get clean enough for decent prints. So a couple questions:
Thanks!
I bought a couple spare mirrors from either Formlabs or third parties.
Oh yeah? What third party? When I troubleshooted the issue with formlabs, that didn’t seem to be an option. I believe the issue is on the tiny mirrors on the interior.
It was a long time ago but if I recall I found an eBay listing for a couple of main mirrors. Might have been stripped from non-functional printers sold as parts, or unused replacements. Keep an eye out or set up an alert. The printers are older now so there might not be as much of a market these days.
In the past when parts required replacement I always inquired with the support rep about whether I could purchase one or two extras for next time. There were some parts that were not listed in the store but they were able to get a line item from sales to sell me.
If by “tiny mirrors” you mean the galvo mirrors, that’s another matter. I’ve never had to replace those, and imagine they’d be trickier to locate.
In terms of buying a used Form 2, you can check price history on eBay sold listings and other platforms. I still use my Form 2 all the time and it’s a great printer (and there are several aspects I still like better about it than my Form 3’s). Aside from making sure it’s in good working, functional condition, laser time would be my biggest concern, which I guess is proxied by # of prints. I can’t offer an estimate myself as guidance as I do low volume.
Hopefully others will chime in to help with your specific questions. Good luck!
Thank you! It is the galvo mirrors that are the issue I believe.
I think I’m reasonably suited to answer here. I’ve bought three used Form 2 printers in the past year or so. I paid between $350-$400 each including shipping for two of them and $150 shipped for the third. I’ve also bought three used Form Cure’s and a couple other used bits like a build platform and parts.
I have a couple words of wisdom for you. First and foremost is that before this stuff I’ve had very good luck on eBay. What I’ve found is that buying on the low end has been a horrible experience. There is something about people selling this stuff that brings out the worst in people. Check out my post about my first printer that was shipped with resin still in the printer to get an idea.
At this point I’ve completely dismantled and rebuilt one of the printers. I can also say that all three had cloudy mirrors. The optics area really has too many holes and just invites vaporized resin and dust.
Were I to do this over again I would just find a Form 3 printer. Form 2 parts are getting harder to find and support I think is ending soon. FormLabs support has been really great to me, especially considering I haven’t spent that much money with them. There are regularly people in here selling Form 3 printers with supplies. Just wait for a good deal and jump on it.
Good luck!
Thanks for all the info! Since you have rebuilt a couple, any tips for dealing with cloudy mirrors? Not sure that is the problem with my current one, but in a perfect world I would avoid buying one all together and get my existing one going again.
I’ll have to let you know when I figure it out! I’ve worked on these in spurts. The last time I had a go I found that the resin soaked printer was up and running but that my mirror cleaning wasn’t good enough and my resin tank calibration was off. The third printer I bought was just for parts, so I’m at a point I can throw a mirror in an ultrasonic cleaner and see if that works or if it destroys the special coating. Doing the recommended cleaning of using pec pads gently with 99% IPA did not work. I found myself rubbing more than I was comfortable and it seemed ok but my calibration print still showed problems.
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