Hi there, I am thinking about buying professional 3D printer for architectural/design needs, and found Formlabs 3 attractive to me because of good feedback, high quality prints and simplicity of usage. My question is about accessories which should be replaced with time on printer. On Youtube one of designers was reviewing Form 3 and he told with time you need to buy new tank because of bottom film will become scratchy after printing sessions. But tell me please more what affects on tank life time, how much liters of resin in practice it can pass through. Also which another components with time must be replaced? Financial aspect is important for me too so i am very curious how much $ it takes to care printer properly. Thank you for replies!
The machine will tell you when it’s time to replace the tank. The machine will tell you when it’s time to install a new resin cartridge. How quickly either of these things happen depends on what you print and what resin type you use.
I think estimated life information is posted in the Support section somewhere. There are also details there on things like cleaning or replacing the LPU.
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Randy is absolutely right!
Also I’ll just add that we typically don’t recommend “stocking up” on materials and accessories too much, as our resins do have expiration dates and things like that.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t have a spare tank/cartridge on hand for when you run out(I think this is the right thing to do personally), but that it’s not worth having like, a 6-12 month supply of resin on hand all the time.
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