My dashboard reports that I’ve used 0.7L of my High Temp v2 resin, but the cartridge is completely empty already. I base my print prices off of these estimates, so it’s a bit of a bummer. Anyone else experiencing this? In the meantime, I should probably add a small increase to make up for the 40% difference.
I was dumb and forgot to account for the 160mL in the resin tank, assuming that it’s currently full. So the calcs are only off by 140mL or so per 1L. Not as bad, but also not great.
It took me some time to realise this as well. But It’s even “worse”. The tank has a capacity of 260mL and there’s also the uncured resin you rinse off… The dashboard doesn’t factor this in.
It is normal that the Dashbord doesn’t factor in the resin left in the tank, as it’s more a tool to know if you’re able to print your next parts rather than a tool for estimating costs.
As for the resin left on the part there’s no way around it, you have to make your own estimates in that regard. If you log resin used and some metrics about your prints (outside shell surface area) you should be able to relatively easily work out a simple algorithm to be more precise with these estimates.
As far as using material use for quotes I am wondering what margins you are operating under if +/- 10-15% usage hurts your deal. Typically the price of a part is several multipliers of material cost, not percentages, to pay for your time and write offs on equipment.
Personally I would either just let it slide or as you say, add a factor to account for losses that are always there.
If you really want to know and understand your process you can weigh an empty build platform. Weigh your part completed on the build platform, subtract the first. There is your true usage (assuming you wash whatever is on the platform). Note that the density is not 1 so you cant transfer 1g = 1ml.
Figure density by weighing a known volume, or by weighing full and empty cartridges. I am sure someone here has done that already and it is a simple search.
Different parts / geometries are going bring different amounts of resin with them into the wash. But applying this to a small, medium and large part, compare your measured usage to the estimated use in Preform and you then have a look up table that will get you very close to the truth.
This topic was automatically closed 14 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.