Here’s an idea. I’m going to try to build a build platform of solid plastic. Nylon or other material not prone to warping.
First I’d attach the clamp on top, then I’d attach the aluminum plate and it’s binding posts to the solid plastic base, then lock the aluminum to the plastic base using the same
hex bolts used in the present build platform.
The side walls of the present design swell and flare out. Resin and IPA gets inside the cavity, somehow getting around the black rubber gasket. Shouldn’t, but it does.
I’ve opened my older build platform to sniff around and see how it works. Lots of goo stuck to the walls. Looking at the side walls, they’re really thin sectioned, about 1.5 - 2mm thick.
why not just affix the aluminum plate directly to a massive block which can’t take on any resin or ipa because it’s…Solid…
Formlabs, the build platform would be heavier. Can your ball screw handle the increased weight?
That design would allow the resin tank hold almost twice the resin without spilling… since it displaces far less when it goes in. I like it. The only negative I see would be a second surface that needs wiping to prevent dripping while you work at removing your print. But I think it would be worth it, since prints can fail from a “refill me” pause.
Oh… Thomas_Judy, the simplest idea is usually the best. Thanks for the idea. MUCH lighter weight, and if the contact surface is at the same distance from the clamp, then no sotware /firmware changes are required. NICE! As to cleaning both surfaces…at least they’re aluminum , solid (can’t take on or hide IPA or leftover resin) and cleaning would be even easier than present build platforms.
AND, Bombproof. Might be some wacky flow or movement above the surface when doing the peel. Worth a good look though. Like it!
Cut the backside of the plate with a chamfer, give it a flattened 4-sided pyramid shape. It doesn’t have to be flat, and if your print includes any layers where the platform doesn’t submerge, any resin on top will start to run off. If it’s still a little drippy at the end of the print you can wipe the edge or just let it drip a bit longer. When I do a print, I pull the platform, hold it over the IPA wash tank, pop the model off and in to the alcohol (or more usually, on to the carpeted floor and from there in to the IPA), and then the platform goes back on the printer. Many times there are still drops of resin on the face of the platform when I get it back in the printer.
I’d also design it with some set screws accessible from above, that would change the tilt of the plate. My build platform is not square to the resin tank, it’s closer on the hing side and leveling the existing platform is a PITA…
This is actually a cool enough idea, I’m inclined to go dig through my scrap and see if I’ve got a chunk of aluminum I can machine to give something like this a try!
Randy_Cohen
You are right on the chamfer and pyramid top surface. Thinking more about it, most of my parts are higher in the Z axis than the typical fill level, so once the part builds above that line, the excess resin has drooled off the edge. I’m going in tomorrow to draw up a part, and get it to my offsite fabricator to cut from aluminum. To all on this thread, does anyone know if the surface of those build plates are specially treated? They don’t look hard anodized or coated with a vapor deposition. Just looks like thin tooling plate. Coated, treated or not, this should be fun. At the very least, we may get a durable build platform we won’t have to replace often.
I have approval from my build manager for when my fabricator gets freed up to try to build one might take a month or two but I have an old beat up build platform that I might rip apart to tinker with I will post if I happen to get any good results with it I figure what the hell do we have to lose right.
Firstly: great to hear so many people are looking into the same issue of the build platform… I’ve put a LOOOOT of time into this subject and have been rewarded, but mine is a process-oriented solution that has to be repeated for every new combination of build platform and tank, as well as every now and again to make sure previous results are still valid. Anyone who has success in this field with ideas like above has not just my vote but my euros/dollars!
@Formlabs: the fact is that we users have a few issues with the build platform as it is. As I’ve said in several posts I think the Form1+ is a REALLY great value for money 3D printer with quality that in this price region simply has no equal, as far as I know; nevertheless the build platform needs some work to make it work better, to improve reliability, quality and ease of use… the alignment of platform to tank base IS critical (or at least very influential w.r.t. build success) in many (but admittedly not all) cases, and it MUST be possible to, at the very least, reduce this problem if not completely solve it.
You guys ‘n’ gals seem to open up every now and again, but there is so much unanswered activity on this platform… your support is great, in my experience, but a few more comments on such ideas as have been mentioned here would, I’m sure, be very welcome. Not simple or easy, I know, commenting on such posts, without breaching some kind of company policy, but…
For example: are such ideas likely to bear fruit, or have you already tried such things with negative results? I mean, it’s not rocket science… tricky, yes, governed by cost probably more than anything else (by a long way), but when i see the problems people are having, there HAS to be a better way of implementing the build platform that could be introduced in the foreseeable future (unless you’re sitting on a stockpile of hundreds of thousands of build platforms of course :)!). Of course, you have to keep the platform as cheap as possible; you can’t offer a cheap AND an expensive platform without raising zillions of questions; and when I see the latest chinese copy of your Form1+ I could hardly belive the brazen cheek of it… but throw us some crumbs already !
!