The print process for Fuse 1 generation printers requires that the material be sintered at a precise temperature, which is measured by the printer’s IR sensor. While most printers maintain this temperature without the need for adjustment, some print defects and issues can be addressed by fine-tuning the print bed temperature.

Formlabs recommends tuning the bed temperature of your printer before printing with Nylon 12 Powder for the first time. Fine-tuning the bed temperature prior to printing your first build results in fewer surface defects on your parts caused by variable printer temperatures. This process is run as a diagnostic print, uploaded through PreForm to the printer. The print contains several parts that need to be cleaned and inspected to determine the necessary temperature offset for your printer. This process should be run on aged powder, refreshed with 30% fresh powder. If you do not have any used powder on hand, age a batch of fresh powder before printing the bed temperature tuning diagnostic tool.

1. If you have previously used the printer with an applied offset, reset the printer’s offset to 0 prior to beginning the fine-tuning process. This can be done by following the directions to Set the Bed Temperature Target, and setting the printer offset to 0.
2. Update PreForm to the latest version.
3. Download the appropriate FLZ file for your printer from the links below.
• Fuse 1
• Fuse 1+ 30W (firmware version 1.22.0 or later)
• Fuse 1+ 30W (firmware version 1.21.1 or earlier)
4. Open PreForm and select Job Settings.
5. In the Job Setup window, make sure the correct printer is selected.
6. Select Upload Diagnostic Print.

7. Upload the file from your computer and start the print.
8. Load the hopper with 3 kg of powder. Fill the hopper to the 7 L mark.
9. Allow the print to fully cool per Formlabs recommendations.

Extract parts using the Fuse Sift or the Fuse Depowdering Kit. Excess powder can be sifted with fresh powder and re-used.

Clean parts prior to inspection either using the Fuse Blast or other media blasting solutions. Extract the five plaques with cones. The additional flat plaques in the build create equal cooling and separation between the cone plaques during the print and can be discarded.

Each plaque lists the temperature offset it was printed with (-2 ºC, -1 ºC, 0 ºC, +1 ºC, +2 ºC). Line the plaques up from -2 ºC to +2 ºC to prepare them for inspection.

To determine the appropriate temperature offset for your printer, look for two things:

• More than one instance but less than six instances of orange peel on a single plaque. This is most visible on the cones.
• No pitting. This is most visible on the side of the plaque opposite the cones.

Rotate the plaques to inspect the cones from all angles. Orange peel appears as a slightly layered surface on the cones. Pitting appears as a tiny dot on the opposite side of the plaques.

After inspecting all five plaques, determine the offset temperature that best matches the above criteria using the temperature offsets listed on the plaques. This offset can then be manually set on the machine.

The Bed Temperature Target can be adjusted by up to ±5 °C in 0.25 °C increments. After completing the Bed Temperature Tuning Print, adjust the Bed Temperature Target on the printer to match the offset determined during the Bed Temperature Tuning inspection.

To adjust the Bed Temperature Target:

1. Ensure that the printer is not running a print job and is currently Idle. The Bed Temperature Target can only be adjusted before a print, not while the print is running.
2. Tap the gear icon on your printer’s touchscreen. The Settings screen appears.
3. Tap Calibration. The Calibration screen appears.
4. Tap Bed Temperature Target. A screen with information about the target temperature appears.
5. Tap Next. The Bed Temperature Target screen appears.

6. Tap + or - to increase or decrease the Temperature Offset.
7. When you are done adjusting the Temperature Offset, tap Next. Confirm the new offset and tap Set.