Used Form 2... Should I be concerned about its condition?

So bought a Form 2. This is what I received… Should I be concerned? Waiting on a tank and build plate to test it…

Photos:




Clearly its used. But not a big deal. They all look pretty gooey after use so not a problem. The bottom line is, does it print alright for you? You need to do some prints, after all that’s all your really after. If it prints moderately well for your needs your doing fine. The laser degrades a bit over time but generally it should still give you a nice result with the correct supports created in preform. The slight cracking on the amber shroud, they all do that.

Waiting on a new build plate and resin tank + resins to arrive next week.

I need it to do high resolution prints and also transparent stuff. That’s it’s main purpose. For the rest we have an array of FDM and SLS printers.

Obviously the machine has suffered a resin spill…and No, not every amber cover cracks. We currently have 3, none with cracked covers. And, if you maintain your printer well they do not all get “gooey”. Were I to have purchased that machine used…unless I got a killer deal, I would be upset about the condition it arrived in.

I do agree that the ultimate test is how it prints but as with anything evidence of neglect and/or abuse is not comforting.

Good luck with it and I hope you got it cheap but a bargain is not a bargain if it doesn’t work well.

1 Like

Because it’s had a spill you should pull the case apart and check that the electronics aren’t full of resin. The overflow is above the power supply. Formlabs will send you instructions with a support ticket.

The sticky is easy to clean with IPA just don’t clean the plastic cover with it. Mention this in the support ticket and they’ll give you the current best way to clean.

My cover isn’t broke after about 2 years of use. Keep the covers clean and be reasonably gentle people…

2 Likes

What’s driving me nuts is the listing photos don’t show any spill or anything.

I wonder if the resin is from the shipping or if the printer was switched with another (he owns a few apparently).

If the listing doesn’t show any signs of a spill you may want to contact the seller.

It’ may just be a quick cleanup or it may be a machine full of uncured resin that has been tumbled around during shipping.

Yepp already contacted him. No response.

I’m giving it the weekend with a reminder to him tomorrow.

After that I may simply contact ebay since I’m worried by the time the build plate, tank and resin arrives it could be ‘too late’ to complain to ebay.

Update: Received the new build plate, resin and resin tank.

Printer is quite loud (louder than out Ultimaker 3’s and Ultimaker S5) on the Z axis. It almost sounds like it grinds/skips (hard to describe).

Seller tells me its normal, and kinda loud. Also reassured me the orange bits/pieces are from resin tank tabs that broke (apparently thats common).

So just checking in to see if its safe to run a test print?

Thanks all :slight_smile:

The Z axis should not be loud, and it should definitely not sound like grinding.

TBH the printer seems to have been handed quite roughly, and not cleaned very well. I would not have been happy to recieve it like that and would cetrainly not have bought it if the photos on ebay looked like yours. The printer I have at work is almost as-.new (especially based on your third photo) and as others have also said the cover didn’t break, but we also didn’t use IPA on it as recommended by Formlabs !

The Z axis is quite loud but it must sound relatively smooth, not “grindy”, you might want to upload a video and I’m sure people will comment.

Thank you.

This morning I went to the printer, and it was off. It seemed to basically have shut itself off after I told it to start printing a test and I went to bed.

I’ll try again later today. I’ll plug it in the emergency power supply, just in case.

I asked Ebay to step in since the seller isn’t helpful. I hear a lot of excuses from him, but end of the day, it arrived damaged and not as described in the listing.

He thinks I have buyer remorse… Yet I need a SLA printer for a work project. I just don’t want his after it arrived damaged… That’s just setting myself up for all kind of issues (he shipped it in a home depot box with bubble wrap rolls stuffed around it).

The kicker is when he told me it wasn’t insured for even close to what the printer sold for…