It seems I get more of a response from the support team on here than sending an email to support or calling the pro service line, so posting this here.
We have a new printer that is having its second set of issues within a week of owning it. Multiple print failures, and already streaks on the underside of the optical window. I send an urgent email to pro services support; two hours later and no reply. I call pro services, and of course no one answers like usual, so I leave a voicemail; one hour later and no call back. We bought another Form 2 because Formlabs is rated as having the best support. Well when we’re having an urgent issue because our new printer is failing again, and thus killing our R&D and need for prototypes leading up to a crucial company meeting, I expect an immediate responses. Particularly to phone calls. All I ever get is the after hours voicemail.
I’m attaching an image of the optical window with the streaks. Has anyone seen this before? We had massive streaks on our old printer (which is currently in for repairs), and we’ve only had this new printer for a week and they’re already showing up again.
Did you try cleaning the mirror?
These streaks are usually caused due to cleaning with IPA.
It’s really difficult to get the window streak free with only IPA. I use acetone with much greater success but be careful as acetone and plastics don’t work well, so only touch the metal and glass.
We have not because I’d like to not take the printer apart again if we don’t have to. These streaks are on the inside of the window, not the outside. We already had to take the printer apart to fix the galvo mirror plugs when we received it.
I have the same problem, bad streaks on the inside of the glass. I put in a support ticket 5 days ago asking how to clean this and have still not received a reply. If anyone has a link to an article describing how to remove this glass plate to clean it I’d appreciate it!
What Formlabs don’t tell you is that when you try cleaning the inside of the optical window using too much IPA can dissolve the glue that holds the thin strips of foam in place. This glue can then cause more streaking than was there before you started cleaning.
For fingerprints and other residue (e.g. not resin), I use a fine microfiber cloth and no solvent. The microfiber cloth does a good job absorbing anything on the window. At first it smears the grease everywhere, but then after some time of rubbing, it begins to become clean.
