Changing NFEP When Notified by Your Printer

[robert3985]

I've had my Anycubic Photon M3 Premium printer for a few years, and 3 or 4 days ago my machine notified me that I needed to change the NFEP film when I was starting a new print.

I needed to print a few more runs, so I have ignored the warning and my prints are still coming out flawless.  I have not noticed any degradation of my prints previously to the notification either.

So, just what are the reasons FEP needs to be changed??  Does it stretch some after long use?  Could I simply tighten/re-tune it instead of replacing it? Does it scratch over time lessening the sharpness of the prints?? Or, something else??

I'm curious.

What are the consequences of ignoring the warning for a while?  What is the wise thing to do.  I have an extra resin vat which has less than a dozen prints done on it, so there won't be an interruption of production if I really need to sit down and replace the film.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Lemosteam]

Buy a second vat so you can just swap resin when you replace the FEP.

Don’t forget to re-level the plate, unless your printer does so automatically.

No, you cannot tighten it. I suspect the printer may be mechanically sensing that the FEP is stretching farther when the print releases. Eventually it could fail leaving a resin puddle on your screen or screen protector.

[Chris333]

It is like the oil change reminder on the dash of my car a month after I just changed the oil.

[robert3985]

Since I have a second vat, I'm wasn't too worried about immediately changing the NFEP on my machine after it notified me.  My main concern is having the film break and having a resin spill.  Frankly, since I rarely actually clean the resin vat (it's always got resin in it) except to do a 30 second full-screen exposure if I have a print failure.  This cleaning technique, which some printers are incorporating into their machine's controls lately, captures all of the settled or still-stuck-to-the-film parts on a full-print-area rectangle which is easily removed from the film using either scrap, thick supports or what I call a "paper airplane" method.  Quick and easy.

But, just to be safe, I'm gonna do the change at the end of the week changing over to my other vat later today.

AND, since I'm running two vats anyway, and I don't level my build plate every time I switch vats...and everything prints perfectly...AND, since I level my build plate with the leveling paper with no vat on the machine, I don't see a reason to re-level it after replacing my NFEP on one of my resin vats.

Thanks for the responses!

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Scottl]

My printer counts the layers and recommends replacing at 30k.  I have actually yet to get to that number, as one FEp failed and leaked.  Given the effort and mess of clean up,  I would not push it.

[Lemosteam]

Since I have a second vat, I'm wasn't too worried about immediately changing the NFEP on my machine after it notified me.  My main concern is having the film break and having a resin spill.  Frankly, since I rarely actually clean the resin vat (it's always got resin in it) except to do a 30 second full-screen exposure if I have a print failure.  This cleaning technique, which some printers are incorporating into their machine's controls lately, captures all of the settled or still-stuck-to-the-film parts on a full-print-area rectangle which is easily removed from the film using either scrap, thick supports or what I call a "paper airplane" method.  Quick and easy.

But, just to be safe, I'm gonna do the change at the end of the week changing over to my other vat later today.

AND, since I'm running two vats anyway, and I don't level my build plate every time I switch vats...and everything prints perfectly...AND, since I level my build plate with the leveling paper with no vat on the machine, I don't see a reason to re-level it after replacing my NFEP on one of my resin vats.

Thanks for the responses!

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

I did not want to presume you had a second vat.

So one of the leaks I did have on my D2 that I to deal with was in fact caused by the full exposure cleanout.  While I was trying to peel off the cured resin, I did not realize I was tearing the FEP which is easy to do when the FEP is warm from printing and exposure.

As for leveling the plate:  When you are printing in micro meter layers, micro meters matter. How do you know that the FEP in one vat is the identical thickness as the other?  Everything has variation, which is why I relevel each time.  This is especially true when you buy aftermarket FEP and install it.

I have come to leveling the plate directly on the FEP in the vat instead of using the paper trick, which also may or may not be the same thickness as the FEP.  It saves much time and it guarantees that my plate is level to the FEP thickness in that vat.  I have even leveled the plate in the vat full of resin with no print issues, but I only do that when I am positive there are no chunks of cured resin floating around in the vat.

Good luck- resin leaks suck.

[robert3985]

I did not want to presume you had a second vat.

So one of the leaks I did have on my D2 that I to deal with was in fact caused by the full exposure cleanout.  While I was trying to peel off the cured resin, I did not realize I was tearing the FEP which is easy to do when the FEP is warm from printing and exposure.

As for leveling the plate:  When you are printing in micro meter layers, micro meters matter. How do you know that the FEP in one vat is the identical thickness as the other?  Everything has variation, which is why I relevel each time.  This is especially true when you buy aftermarket FEP and install it.

I have come to leveling the plate directly on the FEP in the vat instead of using the paper trick, which also may or may not be the same thickness as the FEP.  It saves much time and it guarantees that my plate is level to the FEP thickness in that vat.  I have even leveled the plate in the vat full of resin with no print issues, but I only do that when I am positive there are no chunks of cured resin floating around in the vat.

Good luck- resin leaks suck.

Ohhh...tearing the FEP!...that sucks!  I position a folded, fairly small piece of paper (folded like I'm starting to fold a paper airplane), holding it to the FEP in a corner...then do my 30 second exposure.  I prefer that method over using scrap supports, although I've considered designing and printing a batch of "handles" to position in a vat corner and use one of them to lift off the 30 second burn, but the paper airplane method works just fine except sometimes my Nitrile glove's finger will get stuck to the 30 second exposure...not a big deal.

I understand your logic about leveling the build plate for each resin vat, but, I interchange mine and I don't experience any difference in print quality between the two vats.  You're correct...I don't "know" that the NFEP supplied by Anycubic is the same thickness for each of my vats, nor if the spare Anycubic NFEP that came with my machine is exactly the same thickness either.  I just assume they're all close enough, just as I assume the thickness of the leveling paper is equal from corner to corner.  So far, after printing for a couple of years with my Anycubic Photon M3 Premium 10" 8K printer with a 28.5µm resolution, I'm still completely happy with my results after only the initial leveling, and later purchasing the extra resin vat...and I'm printing tiny detail parts with rounded surfaces and N&B/rivet details.

Anyway, thanks for your advice!

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Chris333]

I asked this on FB:

My Mars 5 Ultra keeps telling me the film needs replaced and in order to print anyways I need to press a button. How do I reset whatever this is? The machine has no idea what shape my film is in. Thanks.

Answer I got:

On machines like the M5U it’s set to give that warning once it hits 60,000 release layers. To reset go into tools, device self test, then the very top line says usage count and has a refresh logo to press

And then 2 months later I had to search for the above answer again to reset it.

See 2 months later and the warning popped up again. I need to search here to figure out how to clear it again. Crappy design, should be able to shut it off or at least tell how to clear it.

So that at least tells you it has nothing to do with the condition of your film. It is just a number of layers printed that pops up the message.

[JeffB]

So, just what are the reasons FEP needs to be changed??  Does it stretch some after long use?  Could I simply tighten/re-tune it instead of replacing it? Does it scratch over time lessening the sharpness of the prints?? Or, something else??
Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

In my case, continued print failure to stick to the build plate and layers that would not release from the very cloudy/worn nFEP leading to "peeled" prints...

This went on for a few days and I tried everything fix the problem short of changing the nFEP, and of course not thinking "Hey...  Maybe the film on the tank is just shot...".

I increased exposure times for both the bottom and normal layers and that didn't fix it. 

I scuffed up the build plate with 80grit emery paper.  No deal, slightly better but I was still getting failed prints.

I even readjusted the Z-axis nut position, bearing carriages (which were installed backwards, not that it matters), checked and adjusted the Z-axis squareness.  Disassembled the printer, cleaned the reflecting mirror, which was incredibly dusty.  Cleaned off the LED array.  Cleaned the bottom/top of the protective glass.  Figured out that the protective film on the bottom of the LCD hadn't been removed.

Throw in about a dozen build plate releveling exercises in between all of these various troubleshooting steps for fun...

And it all amounted to nothing until I FINALLY changed the nFEP in the vat. 

Changed the nFEP and everything was back to normal... 

The rest of it was not in vain as the prints do seem sharper and I've been able to decrease the exposure settings by about 25% from the original settings for that printer (thanks to cleaning off all the optical surfaces and removing that protective shipping film).

Started getting some detail clarity and a required increase in exposure on prints on my other printer (same make and model) and immediately changed the nFEP.  Again, back to normal.

Not sure about the automatic notification to change your FEP, maybe it's a gimmick to sell more FEP sheets.  But the shape of your FEP/nFEP definitely matters after a certain number of print layers.

Jeff

[Baldylox]

its a gimmick.  dont scratch it, dont puncture it, have your settings correct and you can go loooooong time depending on your use.  mine probably go through more usage than the avg user and i get 3-4mos on my pfa films.  ~200000 layers or more i think. 

Derek just released a good video chatting about this a bit.

[robert3985]

its a gimmick.  dont scratch it, dont puncture it, have your settings correct and you can go loooooong time depending on your use.  mine probably go through more usage than the avg user and i get 3-4mos on my pfa films.  ~200000 layers or more i think. 

Derek just released a good video chatting about this a bit.

/>

@Baldylox - Thanks for the video link!  I respect Derek's opinions and advice highly.  Nothing is out of order on my machine, soooo...I'm taking Derek's advice and telling it to shut up. 

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[Peachymike]

I would agree with Derek as well, my machines go 200k plus on a FEP (5 Saturn 4’s, two 3’s and a Mars 3). I am careful, stir the resin with a silicone squeegee and clean the tank after a failure (rarely). Like Derek I would estimate that I print a lot more than average as a cottage industry. Only ever had one pin hole from a stray particle with no adverse effects. I do find that I need to increase the lift a couple mm on the non-tilting vat to make up for the stretch. Note that the biggest issue I’ve had with changing FEP was over tightening them, it caused shear forces that led to layer separation, which was most noticeable in the center of the build plate. I use a bottle cap as a spacer, seems to work well, although I have seen some use a Hertz meter.

[Scottl]

I use a rectangle of green scrub mat to space the tension.  Saw it in a video somewhere and it works well.

Even with great care, my FEP ages noticably and by the recommended 30k, I seems reasonable to change.  It is only a few dollars and an hour, and prints better afterwards.

Mind you, I change my oil in my car too, despite I'm sure that it will keep running on old oil without problems. 

[Chris333]

Got the message again on mine. I had to come to this page to figure out how to reset it again... because "device self test" doesn't sound at all like how you would do it 

[Scottl]

On the Saturn 4 you can reset it on the device self test page.  It is a circular arrows symbol, I think.