Something I’ve noticed when watching my resin printer work is that a lot of time is spent every later lifting the plate well after I hear the model unstick from the FEP.
It’s not a huge deal on smaller prints, especially ones that can be printed with “vroom” settings, but on larger models that are being printed at 1-2mm/s lift speed, several hours are spent just waving the model in the air for no reason…
I had the idea of making a test model that is essentially an intentional suction cup in the center of the plate (where FEP stretch is most prominent and required lift distance should be highest). I would print this model multiple times, with slightly lower lift heights each iteration, until it fails to release from the FEP. I’d add a safety margin and set my raise height to that…
Does anyone see any fault in my logic, or know of a better method of achieving what I’m after?
I can see your logic and i can see Fribbtastic’s objections. I am not sure immerse in a liquid a suction cup will be necessary. I would start out with a 20mm cube. A pure flat surface right in the middle of the filament where you’re going to get the most flex of the film.
I would sincerely consider giving your film 50% slack for eventual failure and loosening but your idea is sound. I do think commenter is right though that this would be something to redo on every single film replacement AND every single resin you use.
I’d genuinely be curious to see time saved VS used up to dial it in.
Time saved vs used is a pretty good argument against.
My previous printer (Anycubic Mono 6k) allowed you to change lift height and speed on the printer during a print, so I could just lower it until just above hearing the separation. My current printer (Saturn 3) doesn’t have this capability, so it would have to be multiple prints, which would take a couple hours.
What might be a better solution, is to do a similar test, again with “worst case scenario” (ie a cup with no suction cup release hole, or a very small one), increase the result by a large margin of error, and go with that until I need to replace the FEP or prints start failing.