I’m very new to SLA printing but am currently running a Formlab2 with V2 resin (expires in a week). My tray is essentially brand new, only two prints in. I print four coins, two of which detached from the build platform at different times during the print (only 1.5 hours). The two that detached were all on the wiper side of the build platform. Any ideas why this would be?
Also, noticed today that the two coins that failed cured an impression into the PDMS layer? It feels like a thin layer but very solid. What would cause this too? Sorry for blurry pictures, the resin is Black V2.
There are quite a few reasons why the parts detached from the build platform. There may not have been enough supports on the part, it may not be fully curing, either due to the nearly expired resin, or some dust or smudges may be obscuring the laser at some point along the optical pathway.
If there was nothing on the build platform and prints come off very easily, you may need to adjust your z-offset down a bit.
If you want to show images or attach your preform files so people can see how your print is set up, and more information regarding when in the print it failed, and what was left on the build platform, and in the tank, we may be able to help figure things out.
Any time you have a failed print, you should inspect and clean out your tank. Having a set of paint filters is essential for maintenance and cleaning after a failure.
There are a lot of resources on Formlabs support page, including this guide to cleaning up after a failed print, and a link at the bottom for info on straining the resin:
There are also guides on best part orientation, and lots of other useful information. SLA printing is very different and many things are basically the opposite of how you want them with FDM printing, so it takes some getting used to.
Everything that @SheffS4 mentioned is spot on. If you’re seeing the first layers of a part stuck to the tank, it’s likely that the Z offset needs to be adjusted a bit. Here’s the support documentation for Z fine tuning. After filtering the tank, I’d iterate downards with Z fine tuning, and let us know if that corrects this for you.
To start: I used the pre-generated support settings for this print; however, I printed all the coins parallel to the build plate (oops). I would say my prints sometimes come of easy but I wouldn’t say easily? I printed a large jig the other night, which suffered extreme warping (then learning not to make things parallel to the build plate) but it doesn’t look as if it left the same melted impression in the tank as the coins?
I’ll try that out sometime this week. I printed a large jig and didn’t seem to get the same melted impression but I will check again. I did learn not to run things parallel to the build plate though (I’m super new to SLA printing)
(I’m super new to SLA printing)