Hi to all Fuse 1/1+ Production users,
We are working on a project since last November which involves manufacturing eye wear(our contract is for 3000 frames for 1.5 years) it has been very successful and our customer is very happy with the material, raw finish and results from the Fuse it was preferred over MJF because of color continuity and overall quality, the only better at aspect from MJF was material resistance.
However since a couple of weeks ago we noticed a quality drop, and it was coupled with several failures(which now we believe were being produced by irregular energy supply, an probably preform/latest firmware) To date we have produced around 300 frames and 600 temples, but our last 2 production runs were very disappointing, the main reason I’m reaching out is because many of you have already seen this defects, and hope to find some guidance better than “please update to the latest preform and firmware versions” to send parts obtain useless results, wasting powder and then try again.
This machine produced this very same parts(and many others) for over 6 months, and then we purchased it from our local reseller, it had around 1200 on it and it came with almost all important parts being replaced(upper laser window, RTD, major service, filters, optical cassette)
I attach some pics of what we started to see for reference( this orientations and parts were produced dozens of times without issues)
This is a great project, parts are already being sold both physically and online at our customers store. And we believe it showcases the potential of Fuse machines, however I want to have the best practices and ensure that everything is ok before starting modding parameters or making changes that can alter the whole result. As I said it has been working ok until a couple of weeks with nothing different, same formlabs pa 12 powder acquired last dec, same settings, orientations, etc. The only differente when we experienced major failures was latest preform and latest firmware, currently running Nov firmware and preform 3.43.
Have you changed orientation on the parts?
The warped/collapsed issue is usually called pitting and it something we deal with basically every day and have not found a 100% solution so far. In our case they don´t affect the parts to the point that we can´t use them.
Your visible layers indicates a layershift. How often do you service your buildchambers?
I´ve noticed in my 3 years of running Fuse printers that every 3 months or so i have to tear down the buildchambers and perform a service on them. It´s tedious work but worth it. Formlabs can provide a guide on how to do that. They also have some servicekits available.
I would in this order start by, check the optical cassette and the ir sensor and cone. Switching build chamber, 100% fresh material.
If nothing of that works then we would have to dig deeper.
1 Like
One thing that you might want to check, the inner rail the coater runs on. Make sure that is really clean from buildup. If you let powderresidue build up on the rail the coater will begin to stutter. I learned that the hard way, so after everyprint i use a toothbrush on the cogs to make sure they are clean.
Hi @Mario_Martinez! It’s awesome to hear that you’ve using your Fuse printer for eye wear production. 3000 frames in a year and a half is very impressive! These recent print failures may indicate that the printer is due for some maintenance of a possible repair. I agree with a lot of the pointers that @Andreasemilsson provided, especially the guidance to check the printer’s IR sensor and IR sensor housing. I also recommend checking out our article for Dimpling and Pitting here, as it contains some more thorough steps to rule out any over or under heating that’s occurring during printing.
This being said, I also encourage you to reach out to our support team or a local Formlabs reseller who can help to further diagnose the issue to get you back up and running as soon as possible!
4 Likes
Thank you for he observations and recommendations One buildchamber was supposed to be serviced prior to delivery of the machine I will check, the other one was completely new so it has probably very little hours we are switching between builds. Yes we have modified orientation to enhance packing density but are now sticking with validated ones loosing a little bit of it.
2 Likes
I will check with our reseller, the machine is running with no significant issues. We reviewed some points, but our last build while more successful still had a couple parts with some defects. I guess then the best way is to keep it more clean and double check all points. I’m reading again the article, and will try my best with it to solve this issues. Thanks!
2 Likes
One thing to keep in mind, even if buildchambers are brand new the buildplate can be tilted. Do get a machinist square to make sure the bed is not tilted. I think they show that in the article aswell. But that is 100% necessary to check if you have any issues like layershifting, warping or inconsistent sintering.
1 Like
I would think this only affects the objects placed at the very bottom that might start out angled. Otherwise, if you leave a slight gap and start your parts a little bit above, the powder should level itself.
1 Like
This happens randomly, from what we collected some orientations lead to mayor issues.And after all the invaluable knowledge that was shared here I understood so much more.
1 Like
hmm, i thought so too but im not really sure that is how Formlabs rep explained it to me. I´ll see if i can find the email where they explained the bed tilting thing in detail.
1 Like
