I am currently in an email conversion with formlabs support about issues weather my printer has lost its laser power or a bad batch of resin. Long story short: I made an optic test print with (in my oppinion good reults) and they are telling my that the resin is good but my printer is loosing its laser power. Therefore no compensation for the faulty resin. I am very unsatisfied by the support from formlabs. It seems they are changing their argumentation everytime I have a problem.
Please help me and other users by sharing a pic of your optics test print and the official answer from formlabs. I will try to post here frequently so that this topic doesn’t get closed automaticly.
This testprint was done after roughly 5 liters (I use always 0,025mm z-layers)
According to formlabs support my laser power has decreased and the optical window was dirty. (the window was then replaced)
This testprint was done after roughly 10 liters (I use always 0,025mm z-layers)
According to formlabs support it shows that my mirrors are polluted. The laser (I asked for this) is working at 100% power.
This testprint was done after roughly 20 liters (I use always 0,025mm z-layers)
According to formlabs support it shows that my laser has lost most of its power.
This is most unfortunate and part of the reason why I wish Formlabs would sell their individual parts more openly. It would help keep the community alive and minimize their maintenance work for those willing to do their own work. Then again I think that’s the point … they want you to get that shiny new Form 3 or 3 XL. Best of luck I’m curious to see how this turns out, following.
I have ran over 50 liters through my printer and I just had to start a ritual before every print if it is a day or so between running the printer and I can honestly say I have not had a bad print in a few years.
First thing before any print… I manually stir/scrap the tank to mix the resin… I use Dental Model exclusively and the the pigments seem to settle and adhere to the FEP… (I only use LT Tanks ) .
2… Shake/mix the resin cartridge.
at least every 2 -3 weeks clean the glass (I live in CO so we get a lot of dust and I am a smoker so doesn’t help either.
When I start to notice the prints are starting to look a little “Soft” Open it up and clean the main mirror/Inside of the glass and the galvo mirrors. It may look like nothing came off the G-Mirrors but it makes a world of difference.
This is just like any other tool and requires maintenance routine. My printer is now pushing 4 years old and once I learned the little quirks and the ins and outs of the printer it has been rock solid…Just really sad they are discontinuing it…I will be buying a few more F2s as pepole retire theirs for parts and backup machines then eventually a F3 or will see what happens as tech advances on other printers. (Some pretty exciting stuff happening out there right)
IF I had a real complaint about anything it would be the resins (From everyone not just Formlabs) would be the warping and/or brittleness of parts over time.(My parts do push the limits though as large thin/flat parts are always a pain even in cast resin)
I think that the last one is as good a print as I’ve seen, the only thing wrong with it, and all these prints, is that they are truncated at the base. They should show a complete figure ‘1’.
