Resin not coming out and mixer detaching

[tsato]

Got a brand new Form3, and was excited, but just on my first print (to be fair, the first is always the annoying one), had troubles with resin dispensing, and the mixer kept on detaching. If anyone is wondering, the vent cap was open the whole time (I spent years with a Form2, so I’m not making that newbie mistake) and yes, the mixer was pushed in enough to click into place (it clicks in with very low force though).

The issue with the mixer was happening earlier when the resin wasn’t coming out, so I thought it was just sweeping till it failed. However, even after I got resin to come out, the mixer came off.

I did get the resin and resin tank + mixer during the pandemic, but has QC been an issue recently? The fix for the first was to 1) close vent, 2) pull out the tank, 3) shake it all around, 4) pull the stopper out a bit, and 5) use an xacto knife to open up the slit a bit. If the mixer comes off mid-print, I’m not sure what to do; should I hot glue the thing? I’d like to 3D print something that would hold it in place, but it’d be a chicken-and-egg problem where I can’t get the prints in the first place… I guess the whole thing did start off a bit on the wrong foot since in my big order, they forgot to include one of the tanks as well. A bit frustrating given that I pushed hard for going with Formlabs over any cheap imitator within my company and collaborators.

Any suggestions, as well as feedback, from other users about what to do and recent QC issues are welcome. Thanks!

[Randy_Cohen]

In my experience, the mixer tends to detach during the initial fill operation if the ambient temperature is low, before the resin has fully heated up. Is that when it happens to you, or have you actually had it disconnect during a print? It’s held in place and moved with magnets, there is nothing you can glue to keep it from coming loose. Are you sure you’re installing it the right way around? If so, the problem may be with your resin tray. Do you have another you can try?

[tsato]

Hi Randy, it only detached during initial fill so far. The first print seems to come out fine, so hoping it’ll keep staying that way. Thanks for the info though!

[Randy_Cohen]

It sounds like you’re seeing the same thing I am. The heater in the printer appears to be pretty low wattage and when the ambient gets below around 65ºF the printer really struggles to hit its target temperature. My solution is to “tent” the printer. I have the large plastic bag the printer was packaged inside of slipped over the top of the printer, slid down and bunched up at the bottom where I think it tends to restrict the printer’s ability to draw in outside air. And I preheat the space where the printer lives, bumping the thermostat up from 62ºF to 70ºF for 10 or 15 minutes before I kick off the print job.