New resin formulation?

Does anyone know (Q Formlabs rep:) what they have done to the resins? Looks like the flexible in now black but other than that its hard (or I am looking in the wrong place) to work out what has changed?

Many thanks for any info.

Will

I’d also like to know what happens to existing orders- I have a form 2 arriving soon and would prefer they include the latest version of the resin when they ship it.

I had ordered a few cartridges. The order has been processing for 2 or 3 weeks. I have now asked if the cartridges can be exchanged for those of the latest spec. Still have to get an answer to that.

One of the hazards of taking so long to ship things is customer dissatisfaction as you announce improvements to the purchases people have not received yet.

When the lead time is 17-18 weeks ( which is how long my January ordered form 2 is taking) it would be nice to know what version you are eventually getting.

I can imagine how frustrating the announcement of the 2+ would be if it occurs while my device is finally in transit.

I literally just received some tough resin- would love to know what exactly I’m missing in the new formula.

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The PreForm 2.3.3 release notes state about the new materials:

Black v2 (0.05, 0.1 mm)

However, the store states about RS-F2-GPBK-02:

Supports print resolutions: 100, 50 and 25 microns

Which one is right?

Hi Will,

great question. We bundled so much into this announcement that we didn’t do the best job of communicating the updates for the general materials.

Flexible FLFLGR02
This material has greatly improved tear strength and UTS compared to FLFLGR01. You can see comparison of material properties here.
It is also opaque, matte black, vs a translucent pale grey.

These changes aim to improve a few things:

  1. FLFLGR01 could start to crumble over time, or tear easily
  2. Our flexible materials require thicker default touch points. This means you typically have one side with marks and one side which is clean. By moving to an opaque color we think people will be able to achieve better looking final prototypes, especially when using Flexible as an accent to multi-material prototype assemblies.

We also improved Flexible by reducing the viscosity which makes it easier to print with so it should be more reliable. The resin will flow more easily in the tank.

Clear FLGPCL03
This material yellows less over time. We already reduced yellowing with our second formulation, but in this, our third formulation we aimed to make a more stable color that didn’t change over time. What this means is that when you print a part in FLGPCL03 it might be a little more grey / blue straight out the printer than FLGPCL02, but it will stay the same color over time. So an old part in FLGPCL02 would be much more yellow than an old part in FLGPCL03.
You can find the technical properties here.

Black FLGPBK02
This is largely a formulation change as we improve our supply chain.
Technical properties did not change significantly.
We denote the new formulation number because there are updated print settings and we want to make it possible for people to ensure they use the right print settings and don’t accidentally mix the materials.

Tough FLTOTL02
This is largely a formulation change due to a change in our supply chain.
You can find the technical properties here.
We denote the new formulation number because there are updated print settings and we want to make it possible for people to ensure they use the right print settings and don’t accidentally mix the materials.

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Hi Alfredo,

good catch. We anticipate also having 25 micron print settings for FLGPBK02 however there was a delay and they did not go out in the latest PreForm release. Given the shipping delay we hope this won’t affect your ability to print with 25 microns as the setting will ship with a future PreForm update.

Jennifer

I just received my machine Monday, April 18th. Ordered last few days of December.

I received the previous Clear 02 but the newer Tough 03.

Glad to hear there is a fix on flexible, after the sample I had I decided NOT to use flexible because it was too easy to break the support tabs by bending them.
Maybe now I will try it?
I will need a new flexible sample to see how much it has improved.

And changing flexible so it is more of a solid black, well lend itself to model TIRES better. :slight_smile:

My most useful flexible print is a replacement grip for my Wacom pen- looking forward to the new.

Hoping highest resolution support returns for black quickly. That is what I’ll be putting my printer through testing with.

Greetings,

3rd and 4th paragraphs from the bottom of this URL are duplicates. Coffee induced double paste possibly :wink:

Thank you! Got it. So good we told you twice :wink:

Nice, the new color should work great with Wacom gear.
Not to put pressure on our process team but hopefully the extra time will result in extra impressive 25 micron settings, would love to know what you think!

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