On Friday 30 May 14 I took delivery of a print – standing human figure, actually a devil figure – approx 65 cm tall, in white sf.
It has a 1 mm sideways jump around the middle. I e-mailed customer service, received no reply, and eventually, poking round the website, found that the design guidelines had been amended with the following paragraph added:
For models larger than 33cm: Our Strong & Flexible 3D printers operate with two lasers at the same time. If a product in the printer is located in the overlap plane where the two lasers meet, miniscule calibration differences between the lasers may create a visible line on the surface of the product. We aim to arrange products in the printer away from the overlap plane. However, products larger than 33cm long in any direction may be too large to fit in one laser's area, so you may see a visible line along the overlap plane on your product.
I don't know when this change was made, but it must be relatively recent because I have not seen it before today [2 Jun 14] though I often consult the design rules. It may even be a reactive change, given queries from multiple customers. I assume there is no point in arguing about my print, given that the 'fine print' has changed, and I expect I can clean up the print.
But I am distinctly annoyed. Particularly given that the price of my 65 cm tall print was well into four figures. I very much doubt that I am alone in this situation.
Given the general precision of 3d printing, I do not understand why this problem occurs at all. Nor should anyone else. Surely the two lasers in the printing machine can be brought into closer alignment, or the machine improved/retrofitted so that this adjustment is achievable.
And a 1 mm misalignment at this scale is not, remotely, minuscule .