![]() ![]() There’s also a handy tool to assist with orienting your model, so you’ve got the faces you want facing the supports (the “Select Base”). If you’re particularly concerned with details on a specific set of faces (surfaces, perhaps on an electronics housing), then you can rotate the model and rerun the orientation process and get a match that better suits your needs. The software will orient things nicely as a first pass. As the machine works by building from the base of the unit, through the material, the parts are essentially suspended from the build platform. The first step is to have the system orient the part. Handily, there’s a well prescribed workflow to progress through. Now, because of the way that the Form machine works you need to ensure, perhaps more critically than other systems, that the orientation is matched to the geometry. You load up the STL you want to build and it’s placed on screen in a default orientation. Formlabs’ PreForm is pretty slick, particularly if you’re used to arsing about with a lot of the entry level machines. Plug the machine into your workstation and get the software set-up (it’s worth downloading the PreForm software and seeing what it looks like).Īs ever, the set-up software is always the key to getting a decent result from your prints. Once you’ve got the machine unpacked, you’re about ready to rock. If you’ve got an iPhone, your compass is perfect to assist. ![]() Unlike the filament based machines the Formlabs machines use UV curable resin and, as such, it’ll swill around a bit and works best when it’s not pouring into the internals of the machine. Hint #2:Make sure where you’re putting this thing is level. The good news is that warranty returns are now handled for Europe, through the Express Group, so it won’t cost you $500 to send your machine back. The Formlabs machines are return to manufacturer warrantied, so you’ll need the boxes and an idea of how to pack them up should the worst happen. I tend to photograph things as they come out of boxes – so I know how to put them back in again. Hint #1:Watch out for the elastic tape that holds the build tray and make sure you’ve got it all out before starting to print.Īlso, keep ALL the packaging material. Once you’ve worked out how to extricate it from the packaging, found all the various pieces of clear tape that hold the components in place, you’re pretty much ready to start doing some work with it. While many desktop level machines arrive, to a greater or lesser extent, as a self assembly kit that then needs hours of assembly, levelling and adjustment, the Formlabs machines arrive calibrated out of the box. There’s the big one for the machine itself, then another one for the materials (we’re running with the brand new black resin) and another for the post process and clean up station (more on that, tomorrow I suspect). While the FormLabs machines are desktop bound (about the foot print of a laser printer), the box that it arrives in isn’t. So it was with some delight that we managed to talk fine folks at FormLabs into lending us, for the period of two weeks, one of their brand spanking new Form 1+ machines. Something I talked about at DEVELOP3D Live last year for those that made it ( If not, the talk is online). ![]() That issue is often exacerbated by the simple fact that many of the desktop machines are a massive pain in the knackers to set-up, to maintain and to get decent efficient results from. ![]() The problem is that it’s not often that a vendor is willing to send you a couple of grand’s worth of hardware and let you have at it. We’ve always tried to get our hands on these machines, live with them for a little while and give you thoughts on how they work, what they can do. While there’s all manner of punditry, hype and general horse shit spat forth, there’s very little in the way of first hand documentation of how these machines work, what you can expect from them (other than a fancy new Yoda head statue) and what day to day life is like with them. When you look at the swathe of verbiage about 3D printing out there on the internet (and elsewhere), there’s much noise and not much signal, to be frank. We’ve got our hands on a FormLabs Form 1+ 3D printer for some proper testing ![]()
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