More then a few here are less than a month owners. I am about 2 weeks in. So far so good and starting to get better. The first weekend was a complete disaster. I found that it is perfect for my items which are model railroad parts. Besides the rather attentive Form1 emplyees that haunt here, other owners have been amazingly helpful on this forum.
Buy once - cry once. It is all fun after that.
Bill
@Andrew_Werby, please contact support and submit a ticket. They will help you with your print issues, as well as the tank that won’t slide out.
Has anyone used the Form 1 in a library setting? We offer a FDM printing service here at Hunt Library and are contemplating adding the Form 1. Essentially we charge our patrons enough to cover the consumables. If anyone has used it in a similar setting, do you think this is a good printer in that context?
Thanks!
Dan
Hi @Dan_Hawkins,
Our Form1+ is only a month old, but our intention is to use a daily check-out system in our Makerspace-- the Columbus Idea Foundry.
While taking it back-and-forth from the shop to home a few times, we’ve started to compile a list of important things to include in the User Training Class. (Keeping the large mirror clean, not touching the bottom of the resin tray, comb resin between prints, etc,)
With the right amount of training, I think most of our 200 members will be able to use it without too many problems.
-JD Davison
The Lab Partners
I am in the market for a Formlabs and also wonder as in the original post about the user experience. I want to produce small 4x4x4 architectural models with the machine on a reliable basis. So is the machine a reliable workhorse or it is a finicky prima donna…always in need of a new built plate or a new resin tray?
Many thanks JD! We will be using it in a more “print service” setting, so there will be fewer people to train, but it’s good to hear that someone else is having a good experience. We’re really close to a decision…
When it works the quality is superb, but it’s not the easiest machine to work with. It’s also better suited to organic shapes rather than long flat ones, so may not be ideal for certain types of architectural model (that’s why I originally got mine).
Interesting that it’s better with organic shapes. I’d have thought flat surface would be a breeze, but having learned more about the process I can understand flat layers would have difficult with adhering to the tray and not peeling away easily. The real hope is that I could make small beams and posts and so forth. Do you have any experience with that?
That should be fine - it can do larger flat pieces but they tend to warp if too flat or too long. Printing hollow with an internal Web can help, if you print a more complex shape composed of straight pieces. This is just my experience of course, no doubt others have different experiences.
I own it since January and the last three months has been used at an average of 14 hours a day with you to 3 prints per day. I have experienced only one major failure (few days of bad prints) solved with a mirror cleaning.
If i forget the scare i had to dismount the mirrors, so far i am extremely happy … but i find the clear resin to be the best of the bunch so far.
I print from toys to plastics for electronics. But I have never printed at max resolution.
I’ve had my printer InquisitivePup for just over 2 months now. The three weeks or so were great, printed all sorts of parts in all resolutions, white and black, then had problems with dust on the mirrors; customer support has been great, however, as has the forum with its many active and helpful users, and the printer is up and running again since a couple of weeks.
I can echo @Francesco_Pessolano 's comment about nerves when dismounting the tiny, delicate internal mirrors; equally @JasonSpiller 's comment about it not being the easiest machine is right on the money… but so long as you don’t expect a printer that is as plug ‘n’ play as a laser printer (don’t forget they’ve been around for way over 30 years… just a liiitle bit longer than Formlabs!), AND you are prepared to put in some time to climb the learning curve, I believe you will be very satisfied.