there was a fault with the projector in the unit. 3dsystems sent a new printer. they said theyve never seen anything like it, the 3 components of the unit and all 3 simultaneously had faults; the touch pad, the projector, the resin tray. upon receipt of the new unit we were able to verify all 3 components were simultaneously faulty. the new unit came with the correct tray, working touch pad, and corrected projector.
Farrah Fawcett's idea of requiring shimming and calibrating each print in the first place is absurd, but even if it wasn't, would not be required because the z axis is the only moving part in the unit. it has its own encoder and it is not moving quickly so positional certainty is high.
i printed Surgical Guide material in the morning Friday, to see the printer approach and cure in transparent medium; i can report the unit cures layers of material above the plastic resin tray's tensed film. not on the film as other printers do. this may also be why the software's print settings are so tightly controlled.