Fine Detail Printing

[Jules]

But from a practical perspective, if you need layer heights less than 0.1mm, wouldn't it be better to just go with laser sintering to start with?

Maybe...but...money....I have the FDM machine already

Well ,in that case - you can go down to 0.025 mm layers with your M2.

[Jules]

better to just go with laser sintering to start with?

A photopolymer printer may be more practical for ordinary home-shop users:
http://formlabs.com/products/form-1-plus/

The minimum feature size seems to be 0.30 mm, about half of what you'd get with a small-nozzle filament-based printer on a fair day with a tailwind, and 0.1 mm layer thickness seems the default. So it's not a clear win for very very very small details.

You still need support for complex objects and, by definition, support will be the same photopolymer.

The surface finish looks nice; kinda like acetone-smoothed ABS.

Limited colors and spendy consumables, though...

Oh yeah, the Form 1 made the short list, but i ultimately chose the M2.........my next toy, maybe! (By then i'm sure there will be a hundred more choices.)

[jsc]

Based on hearsay, the Form 1 has had teething problems. High failure rates, big mess, expensive resin. Perhaps their new model solves some of those issues. I'm willing to wait until the price comes down.

[Mark the Greater]

Based on hearsay, the Form 1 has had teething problems. High failure rates, big mess, expensive resin. Perhaps their new model solves some of those issues. I'm willing to wait until the price comes down.

You know, I bet you could make one with an M2 and some trialanderror...

[Jules]

Based on hearsay, the Form 1 has had teething problems. High failure rates, big mess, expensive resin. Perhaps their new model solves some of those issues. I'm willing to wait until the price comes down.

Yup! Me three!

[Jules]

Based on hearsay, the Form 1 has had teething problems. High failure rates, big mess, expensive resin. Perhaps their new model solves some of those issues. I'm willing to wait until the price comes down.

You know, I bet you could make one with an M2 and some trialanderror...

Jin's already printed an Eggbot.

[jimc]

i have found that i take my settings for .1mm layers and i can print .08 layers with the exact same settings. i just load my .1 profile and change the layer height to .08...nothing else. i only run layers that fine if i have something that needs a nice top layer and the top surface is on a shallow angle. a car emblem for instance. it really smooths out the stepping of the layers.

[Jules]

i have found that i take my settings for .1mm layers and i can print .08 layers with the exact same settings. i just load my .1 profile and change the layer height to .08...nothing else. i only run layers that fine if i have something that needs a nice top layer and the top surface is on a shallow angle. a car emblem for instance. it really smooths out the stepping of the layers.

Post 'em!
(not that i don't believe you, it's just saving me some time since i spent an entire weekend fighting the Win10 "caught in the update loop" fiasco!)

[jimc]

the settings? well im running the e3d but what i was getting at is that you should be able to take your good .1 profile and go slightly finer with no tweaking.

[Jules]

the settings? well im running the e3d but what i was getting at is that you should be able to take your good .1 profile and go slightly finer with no tweaking.

but....but....but....i have no 0.1 profile......sniiiifffff!


Just being silly by the way.....i think Win10 fried what was left of my brain.