I just wanted to make the suggestion on the next firmware release. Is it possible to get a raise z axis on pause feature? It would be awesome to know if my print failed before several hours. I think it would be a very much welcomed addition.
This is honestly the number one reason I choose to use one of my other printers if I print items that can fit on them. I cant stand waiting all day just to see that it didn’t stick to the platform or failed shortly after.
lift during pause will very likely create layer line and shift. you could probably tell if your print works in 30 minutes. We are looking to see if there is an easier to tell if print works.
Most of my prints are anything from 5 to 20 small pieces at a time, printed at 25 micron layer height. Even when the build plate is 10mm above the resin line, it’s hard to see if pieces towards the back of the cluster of parts have successful supports. The tilt action between layers alone is around 6-7 seconds, so even with not much lasering happening, let’s say 10 seconds per layer, with the resin depth at 5mm, to get 10mm above the resin is 10s * (1mm / 0.025) * 15mm = 100 minutes.
It’s not like I have lots of problems with prints, but I get maybe 1 in 4 prints where 1 or 2 of the small objects fail because the supports failed early on. And because the pieces I print are usually different parts of a set, that means I need to do another print of the failed parts.
I’d have thought the repeatability in the z axis would be pretty good, considering it’s a stepper and you’re already presumably dealing with backlash, etc as it has to go up and down between layers anyway, but you certainly have more experience than me, so I’d trust your judgement if you really think that’s the case.
I’d quite like to try a raise on pause feature, even if it comes with a “do at your own risk” warning that it might cause a visible line. I’d rather do a little post cleanup than have to restart a print after 2+ hours that I could have started after 15 minutes if I could see that supports were failing early on.
I’ve wanted this, too. It would really help with determining how well a print is doing. Z-axis repeatability is definitely not a problem, but I think it that lifting print entirely out of the resin then pressing it back through all of the resin might have the potential to damage or distort really thin features if it’s done too quickly. I think your “at your own risk” idea is good. It might also help if there was a “pause lift speed” setting that you could adjust to slow the retraction speed to a crawl, if needed.
As @peopoly said, there’s also the potential for layer shifting and visible layer lines showing up at the paused layer, even if everything works fine. Part of the consistency of the quality of a print is certainly contributable to the consistency of the repetitious operations of the machine. Nevertheless, I’d really like to see this feature in a future firmware update. At least as an experimental option.
Yep, I’m not too fussed about minor distortion at the level I’d want to check. I raise all of my prints 5mm off the build plate anyway, and most of my failures are layer separation within the wide diameter section of the support base at maybe 0.3-0.5mm height (I use 0.8mm thick bases which then taper down to the thinner support rods). So I’d be checking the print somewhere between 2mm and 4mm, where I’m not bothered if there’s some layer lines or distortion, as long as the Z height is repeatable and the raise-to-check itself is not going to cause a layer separation.
@peopoly, I’m interested in this as well, although not for checking print quality. I’m a graduate student using the Moai for chemical engineering research, and I’d really like to be able to pause and move the build platform so that I can embed items in the prints. If I’m understanding correctly, this is not possible with the current firmware, right?
Just wanted to add my two cents that yes, this is something people want to be able to do, for a variety of reasons. Perhaps an “open mode” like the Form 2 has would be helpful? Limited access to the proprietary info, but more control than currently exists. Just my two cents.
On that same note, it would be really great to be able to access tilt speed settings for working with experimental resins.
thanks for the feedback, guys. Let me share that with team and see what we can do
This would be a good feature. I have it on my other resin printer and it doesn’t make a line. It’s on my elegoo mars printer.