Florian, you need to rotate the part so that there are no big surfaces at the beginning of a print.
The principle how a Form 1 works is that the laser is curing the resin on the bottom surface of the tank.
The platform is peeling the layers away from that surface. So you can imagine that a bigger area at the beginning is more difficult to peel.
Just have a look to this tutorial http://formlabs.com/support/guide/prepare/model-orientation/ 5
Hey Guys, Thank you very much for your advice! I just started a new print considering you suggestions. I’ll give you an update tomorrow as soon as the print finishes.
-I always add costs for support to orders. Haven’t had a customer reject his order because of the added cost. I agree that this should be fixed or at least there should be a way to inform the customer that there will be added cost. The other option is to jack up your ml price but that doesn’t help if the customer compares prices.
-Supports help take some strain off the peeling process because they allow the platform-part-tank to move in x/y a bit, so they take the initial hit before the part peels of the tank - otherwise these forces will work against the peeling mechanism, your platform and the tank / PDMS layer. If you watch it print a larger cross section you may notice that your platform slightly tilts on peeling, together with the tank - when you print directly on the platform, the platform and the tank are basically glued together and nothing can move in x or y - but it wants to shift a bit, and that force now goes to the T-rail, tank and platform (and your print)
Also when placing objects flat on the tray, you usually printing the largest cross section through the whole print (the cube is an exception obviously)
I also tried to print objects directly on the platform, cause I wanted to save resin and have nice surfaces, but out of 3 different parts, only one printed right.
Lastly, Formlabs themselves state that you should always use supports - although one might argue this is because they like to sell the juice for those supports
For me, the thinking goes like that: A failed print means wasted juice, wasted time cause I have to filter the resin, potentially a wasted tank because of clouding and I have to start all over with the print. If I can avoid one failed print in 20 by placing supports, it’s worth it to me - especially cause I make the customer pay for the supports.
On another note, place objects near the hinge side of the tank to reduce the strain on the peeling stepper / threaded rod. You will have more lever -> less force needed.
Thank you very much @Tobias_4!! your comment is really valuable, thanks for sharing.
The only other suggestion I have that I have not seen made is to increase the density of supports. I have had some models that just take more supports than others to print properly. And yes you will use more resin for supports however you have at least 2 failed prints that uses resin too. You might want to empty the tank and filter the resin before refilling. Cleaning the tank and filtering the resin is always a good idea after any failed print. Use a funnel with a pipe filter screen or a paint filter. Floaters in the resin can really cause lots of troubles. They do not always affect the base because they are squished out to the edges. As the part builds they are drawn back into the center where they block the resin from curing to the already built part and or supports. Once you get any gap at all the part degrades and can fail completely.
I have a question about what I see in the current images showing a completes print.
What is the Orange tape for? I’ve never used that before. If anything, my parts always seem very difficult to remov from the bare aluminum build platform.
Maybe its a bit confusing, sorry for that the second picture shows the print curing on a metal plate, which is a heated bed from a RepRap Mendel design of us and has nothing to do with the Form1 we just placed the part there. The orange tape is Kapton tape. It is used with FDM printers to get a better adhesion to the bed.
