FormLabs Form 1+ - More prints and some observations (Page 2 of 3)

There is no infill option with Preform, so if your model is solid (as most models are), it will be printed solid.  The reason for hollowing out an object is primarily to save resin, reduce weight, and to reduce the contact surface during print. 

Load up a (relatively) large object in Preform, and it will tell you how much resin it will take (Volume).  Hollow out the object in MeshMixer, then reload it in Preform, and you'll find that more often than not, the volume dropped by half or more. 

If the model is solid, you don't have to worry about trapped resin, but if it's hollow you should provide some drain holes.  Trapped resin might never cure.

If you're thinking about doing 50% infill for strength purposes, I wouldn't bother.  This stuff, once fully cured is solid, however it can shatter, it doesn't have the tensile strength of ABS.

Besides, how do you plan to create a 50% infill inside your model, without creating hundreds of closed pockets.  You might as well print it solid, because every one of those pockets will trap a little resin, and unless you plan on designing drain holes in every one of them....

Speaking of hollowing out an object, The general consensus is that a wall thickness of 2mm is more than adequate for medium size models.  Models with a large cross section should have thicker walls.  The thinnest wall that is reliable is about 1.6-1.7mm.  Thinner than that, and you could end up with holes.

So as you have already surmised, small objects should be printed solid.   Put it this way, if the cross section is about 4mm, Meshmixer would be able to hollow it out anyway.

DO you still have a recourse with seller of the printer (return it for a refund)?

If you can return it, I'd do that.  I know you think that was a good deal, but I think you can do better. 

If you can't find really good deal on eBay, I would look at the buy/sell trade section on the FormLabs forum.  There are many users there that are selling their Form 1+, because they're upgrading to Form 2.  I've seen deals for less that $1500 with lots of extras.

Here is one with extras for $1600.  No takers, so I'm sure you can work out a deal
http://forum.formlabs.com/t/form1-for-sale-florida/7991

Here is another for $1000
http://forum.formlabs.com/t/form-1-for-sale/7643

They are sending a new cover.. Made an exception, sure..  Well I have found watching this printer is less yes less exciting than watching paint peel. But I am learning that there are limitations to the actual resin. My Makerjuice SF that is supposed to be formulated for the 1 and 1+ cannot do less than .025 and even then is iffy. My two year old bottle of Makerjuice G can do .025 and maybe .01, have not tried yet. I also find the G is very brittle while the SF is sort of rubbery but still  hard. The printer came with a partial bottle of clear Formlabs resin, but I am not sure there is enough in the bottle for even one vat.Plus unless you have more than one vat, changing resins is a pain in the asterisk.

I run a separate resin tank for each type of resin for this exact reason...

Saves me a ton of time as well.

I plan on doing a few Sylgard vats.  I bought a few used vats from a FormLabs member, and I plan on buying some Sylgard on eBay.

The cost is roughly $60 (including shipping).  From everything I've read, if you do them one at a time, there will be some wasted material, so you'll probably do, at most, 4 vats, but if you plan on doing multiples, you can do 5 if you do them all at once.

At the moment, I have 3 new vats in the closet, so I'm good.

very nice!

Dwarvin War Hero at 18mm tall. Think I am getting close to my .1mm limit. But still looks good.

Thought I would post my recent prints.

As my sig says and listed in the buy/sell/trade section both the CTC and near finished Kossel are for sell. I have no need for them as my potential clients all complained about the lines  and I was never able to tune an FDM to print less than .15 and even then the lines still showed si doubt it was printing that low.

With this Form 1+ I am virtually line free. If I can't sell the CTC I might keep it for larger rough jobs that don't need an SLA finish.

Just Makerjuice Grey for the Form and then Formlabs clear. The yellowish ones are from over curing but still FL clear.

A liter of resin is $56 in the grey, the vat is $65 and good for about two liters of resin if you move your prints around. The vat gets burned by the laser over time and the bottom gets cloudy to a point it can no longer shine through enough to cure the resin properly. So just these prints I would say about 15 bucks. I don't count time since I let my printer run while I do other things. The only thing that consumes my time is stirring the resin in the vat to get the pigment suspended again (5 minutes) and topping off the vat if needed. The post process is time consuming as you have to put the print through multiple Alcohol washes to get the uncured resin off.. Then you have to bake it in a UV oven for an hour or so to cure the resin fully. Depending on your preference you then have to remove the supports before cure or after cure. I prefer after as the part is a bit sticky before when I use the grey. Depending on the size the support removal could take 30 minutes. Again I surf the web or whatever while I clip support branches. Of course I already have a few people willing to pay 3 times that for the bear alone. So I guess it depends on your market and what value it sets on your prints.

I'm sorry to hear that.  I find that the post processing work is not that bad, especially considering the output.

I suppose that if you're planning on making money with this, and you're looking at the time required for the finished product, then perhaps that might be an issue, but then again, maybe you're not charging enough

Once you get better at this, you should be able to estimate the amount of time required to produce it, and charge accordingly.  You have to remember that this is not for making bits and pieces people can buy in a store for a couple of dollars.  It's for making one-offs, that would be impossible for the customer t buy over the counter.  As such you can charge more.

Anyway, good luck with the sale, and I hope your experience doesn't scare other possible buyers away.