I saw one thing I hadn’t seen before at 3d printer world expo.
This is a resin print by Full Spectrum showing some really nasty Z artifacts. Looks like part of the mechanism (either of the build stage or the height of the vat surface) was loose when it was printed.
Not sure if this indicates a damaged machine or a flawed design, but the fact that they deemed the print good enough to put in their display case doesn’t bode well for the quality you can expect from their printers.
@Full_Spectrum_Laser screwed our hackerspace plenty of times. When the engineers were helping us install limit switches, a boss must have gotten ahold of the conversation because immediately after, we got new replies from a different email address stating that it wasn’t supported and we could buy a new board. We replied with the information that was posted in the forums, and all they did was promptly delete everything.
Fuck @Full_Spectrum_Laser . Don’t buy anything from them ever. Only thing they’re going to do when something breaks is tell you how to purchase a new (equally faulty) part.
Is there any way that it could have happened after it was put in? That’s the only excuse I can think for such a bad issue.
@ThantiK I’ve heard many stories about them being a bunch of dicks before. My point here was to point out that their quality is questionable at best, regardless of whether their service is any good.
@Justin_Nesselrotte That type of layer line striation can easily happen during a print, but I can’t think of any way that it could happen after the fact.
BTW, I didn’t get any other good pictures (or inspect everything that closely), but this issues was clearly visible on at least one other print in the display case.
They also have a policy of charging $200 to transfer ownership and registration of one of their machines to a new owner. I think the machine doesn’t work until it’s transferred.
@Whosa_whatsis I know it can with fdm, but I’m not sure how it happens with resin. Care to explain?
Two causes I can think of. First is the build platform shifting while the print is being peeled from the bottom of the vat. This could be loose mounting, parts that are not stiff enough, play in the leadscrew, etc.
The second is the surface of the vat shifting. As each layer cures, you’re essentially gluing your print to this surface, then you need to pull it free to allow resin for the next layer into that space. If the peeling process pulled the bottom of the vat up strongly enough to deform it, shift it so that its thickness varied slightly, or lifted it and failed to settle it to the exact same height that it started, this would cause an inconsistency in layer height.
I bought my first laser cutter from them. Still going strong. But Laine and Carl had to rip it apart to fix a power supply. I called them to let them know there was s part out of spec while Carl was there. He is a failure tester with many years experience and tons of knowledge. We weren’t asking for anything, just wanted to help them avoid future failures. The customer support guy on the phone told us we were wrong and that we simply didn’t know what we were talking about. He said he was an engineer and was qualified to know these things and we weren’t. It was so over the top I was speechless. My next three laser cutters were from a different company- rabbitlaserusa. Great support, replacement parts…, everything good. Buying Chinese laser cutters is a trade off… Their cheap but software is basic and etching is not stellar. I’ve shipped millions of dollars of product with these things but it’s quarter in birch plywood and simple cuts- no etching to speak of.
My $0.02
Brook
@Brook_Drumm I’d really like to build a lasersaur personally. Any experience with those?
On mine, there is one screw holding the z-axis in place and it makes it very easy for the build plate to twist. My guess is this is what happened.
@Justin_Nesselrotte I made myself a happy medium between the Lasersaur and cheap Chinese lasers: http://www2.artaylor.co.uk/laser_conversion.html
@Brook_Drumm The software for FSL is from the US and specific to them. It’s one of the few parts of the machine that isn’t from a contractor. We’ve got a 24x18 and for the price it’s not a bad value for a glass tube laser but it’s far from state of the art.
We also use Universal, Trotec and Epilog depending on which Techshop we go to at the time. There is a difference but the cost of anything real is about 3 times what the FSL is. The engraving is fine though we primarily use it for cutting.
I’ve seen the printer several times and haven’t thought much of it. It’s inexpensive compared to the others in that market, for example Form Labs and even the new Ember from Autodesk. Much like the laser I thought the software toolchain was clunky.
We also use rabbit laser for laser cutting our printers. I can say they have great support and the owner Roy is also a great guy. He sets up the laser for you once it arrives.
Thanks for posting this. That is my digital sculpt there. I had sent them the file during their kickstarter campaign to see how their Pegasus handled organic models. I was not impressed back then and I’m still unimpressed.
I’ve also asked them to not use my work to promote their printers at tradeshows. Or if they insisted to at least credit myself as the artist. Did you see a name next to the print?
@Joel_Mongeon I don’t recall seeing any kind of attribution on anything there. It was several months ago, so I may just not be remembering, but I usually do notice when people put out attribution cards because (A) it’s rare and (B) when they do, it’s usually the Thingitag cards that I designed.
