How do any Form1 owners feel about their printers? Do they work well? Have you had any problems? How often do prints fail? And do you get many customers for them?
9 years, 9 months ago
0
defcon3d
- Since you have a Rep 2 I know you're already happy with that machine :)
If you're looking and getting some feedback on the Form 1 for a future purchase... Look no futher then Bob Vignone at Mold 3D in So.Ca. Now there's a guy that has produced some great items with his Form1. Bob is the guy to go to if you have any questions. He's not only a great craftsman but I believe he was the Head Animator for Dreamworks; "How To Train Your Dragon 2"
I know he put on a weekend training seminar last month that was a huge success. He's definitely the guy who knows the capabilities of the Form1
9 years, 9 months ago
0
mkapras
- How do I get in touch with Bob? Is he listed on here? I found Mold3d's website and it definitely looks interesting!
angusgbishop
- Hi Mkapras, I have a Form1 and would be happy to have a chat with you, I have already spoken to some people about their interests in the Form, Do you have anything in particular you want to know?
9 years, 9 months ago
0
mkapras
- Hey angus, thanks for the help! Does the Form1 take any more or less voodoo than the typical FDM printer? I know they all take practice, but what percentage of your prints fail? How easily did you familiarize yourself with it? Have you received many customers in need of the increased resolution?
9 years, 9 months ago
0
angusgbishop
- Take my points with a pinch of salt as I haven't used an FDM before I would say as far as virgin setup goes, it is far easier. I had mine printing 30 mins after I got it and had a successful part 16Hrs later. there is no real familiarization, just a few tips and tricks concerning layout of parts etc. However recently I have had a failure rate of around 50%, this seems to be very to do with the whole voodoo thing and formlabs doesn't seems to be very active in deciphering it, other than, again, a few tips and tricks. which reduce failures down to 25%
As far as customers who need the resolution, practically none. I have had a one request for some scaled traffic lights which came out at well below 0.5mm for certain features. However the rest of my prints are usually after the surface finish, which is fine at all resolutions, 0.1mm or 0.025mm.
mkapras
- I was looking at he Kudo3D. I think as an entry level SLA, it might be a better way to go.
9 years, 9 months ago
0
defcon3d
- It a great product if you adjust exposure times to accommodate different vendors resin. That's one of the biggest issues with the Form1 the last time I checked as they hadn't developed a resin for the waxless process yet and the resins that other vendors had for this process didn't work on their machine.
But with any new machine that comes to market, be prepared for some issues. It a fact of life that the pitch is always given on a best case scenario.
I don't need to tell you that as you already own a Rep 2. If you've owned that since early inception you know all the issues it took to work through to get the machine as reliable as it is today. :)
9 years, 9 months ago
0
mkapras
- I know the Replicator community has done a lot of work to fix the Replicators and there are a few folks who sell aftermarket upgrades to really tweak your machine. One of them is even developing his own ultimate clone for sale!
As with any piece of tech, if you plan to what for the best machine, you'll never buy one! Even the current Form 1 owners are a little upset now that Formlabs has just released the 1+ , which is what made me order one in the first place - stronger laser, faster print times, blah blah blah.
So I cancelled my Form 1+ order and decided to jump into the Kudo3D kickstarter. We shall see!
9 years, 9 months ago
0
defcon3d
- Didn't know you keep track of Carl's work :) the guys over there in his group and the bigger google group have been invaluable to my educational growth and expertise with my machine along with some great upgrades...
If you get 1/2 of that kind of outside knowledge with the Kudo3D it will be a great machine:)
mkapras
- I can't wait to see his finished product! It looks very promising!
9 years, 9 months ago
0
defcon3d
- Being that they stopped all production on the Rep2, I'm just waiting for Carl's to come to market.
I guess that's one way to force feed a sketchy new product to the masses by stopping production on the most reliable thing that you sell.
And I thought the Rep2 had some issues when it first came out but these 5th generation machines are in a league of their own. I guess 400 million has to go somewhere fast, yikes!
9 years, 9 months ago
0
mkapras
- I hear you. The new machines do look nice though. But now they have no open source community to help them. Quite the pickle they've gotten themselves into!
9 years, 9 months ago
Want to add a comment? Join the makexyz community.
If you're looking and getting some feedback on the Form 1 for a future purchase...
Look no futher then Bob Vignone at Mold 3D in So.Ca. Now there's a guy that has produced some great items with his Form1.
Bob is the guy to go to if you have any questions. He's not only a great craftsman but I believe he was the Head Animator for Dreamworks; "How To Train Your Dragon 2"
I know he put on a weekend training seminar last month that was a huge success.
He's definitely the guy who knows the capabilities of the Form1
I would say as far as virgin setup goes, it is far easier. I had mine printing 30 mins after I got it and had a successful part 16Hrs later. there is no real familiarization, just a few tips and tricks concerning layout of parts etc.
However recently I have had a failure rate of around 50%, this seems to be very to do with the whole voodoo thing and formlabs doesn't seems to be very active in deciphering it, other than, again, a few tips and tricks. which reduce failures down to 25%
As far as customers who need the resolution, practically none. I have had a one request for some scaled traffic lights which came out at well below 0.5mm for certain features. However the rest of my prints are usually after the surface finish, which is fine at all resolutions, 0.1mm or 0.025mm.
Form Z still has a long way to go.....
http://www.3dsystems.com/sites/www.3dsystems.com/files/projet1200-0414-usen-web.pdf
It's cheaper to buy and run, and they seem to have a novel approach to the peeling mechanism which is why so many part fail.
But with any new machine that comes to market, be prepared for some issues.
It a fact of life that the pitch is always given on a best case scenario.
I don't need to tell you that as you already own a Rep 2. If you've owned that since early inception you know all the issues it took to work through to get the machine as reliable as it is today. :)
As with any piece of tech, if you plan to what for the best machine, you'll never buy one! Even the current Form 1 owners are a little upset now that Formlabs has just released the 1+ , which is what made me order one in the first place - stronger laser, faster print times, blah blah blah.
So I cancelled my Form 1+ order and decided to jump into the Kudo3D kickstarter. We shall see!
If you get 1/2 of that kind of outside knowledge with the Kudo3D it will be a great machine:)
I guess that's one way to force feed a sketchy new product to the masses by stopping production on the most reliable thing that you sell.
And I thought the Rep2 had some issues when it first came out but these 5th generation machines are in a league of their own. I guess 400 million has to go somewhere fast, yikes!