@cfrank78, if you look at the BlueCast documentation, they state very clearly that the resin is not to be stored in the tank, and recommend filtering the resin and putting it back in the bottle for storage. It even states in their documentation, “[Do] Not leave the resin for more than 24 hours in resin tank.” They also warn the user to “check the resin tank before every print.” In many PMs on Facebook, they haven’t mentioned the PDMS issue, so I can’t help you out with that.
So I am also one of those users with BlueCast, but I know that I bear some responsibility for using another company’s resin.
Before I ever purchased BlueCast, I did have a Formlabs tank crack while using the Formlabs castable resin, and Formlabs was extremely responsive. The castable resin is apparently rougher on the tanks. It did spill on the surface outside the tank, but I was able to clean it up and the printer works fine.
However, now I don’t store any of the castable resins in the tanks, and I never store a tank with resin on the printer for more than a day. I take the time to drain the tank and filter the castable resin into a quart storage container if I know I’m not going to print for a day or two. Is it a little bit of a hassle? Sure. But I really don’t want to have to clean up the printer like I had to.
I agree with @Randy_Cohen on this one…it sounds like a “standard business practice.” I have an MBA with a focus in Customer Loyalty and Services Marketing, and I can tell you that Formlabs’ Customer Service is on par with other high-tech companies with world-class customer service. Having worked for Apple as a tech and customer service trainer, Formlabs’ response is pretty standard for a tech company. If a customer had contacted Apple and said their motherboard was fried by third-party memory (RAM), the fault was not with the manufacturer. Inevitably, the customer ends up stuck between two companies, but this is a risk taken when people choose to use third-party stuff. And it always stinks to be the customer service person on the other end telling someone that they voided a warranty and that damage isn’t covered. Believe me, it’s not fun.
And as a customer, I’ve been caught in situations like yours, and frankly, it sucks. We’ve all been there. And I’m pretty attached to my printer. When the tank cracked and I thought I’d irreparably damaged the printer, I was devastated. But I cleaned it up and now it works fine.
When I first looked into BlueCast, I checked the Formlabs warranty before making a decision to purchase the third-party resin:
"This warranty does not apply: a) to damage caused by use with non-Formlabs products including third-party resins; b) to damage caused by accident, abuse, misuse, flood, fire, earthquake, or other external causes; c) to damage caused by operating the product outside the permitted or intended uses described by Formlabs; d) to damage caused by service (including upgrades and expansions) performed by anyone who is not a representative of Formlabs; e) to a product or part that has been modified to alter functionality or capability without the written permission of Formlabs including the refilling of resin cartridges even with Formlabs resins; f) to consumable parts, unless damage has occurred due to a defect in materials or workmanship; g) to cosmetic damage, including but not limited to scratches, dents; or h) if any Formlabs serial number has been removed or defaced. "
I’ve also included a couple screen shots of the documentation I received when I purchased BlueCast. It states specifically that they are not responsible for damage caused to the printer…although the warning about leaving the resin in the tank seems more like it’s about damaging the resin than the printer. Nonetheless, I store it back in the original bottle as recommended by the company. I do keep my clear resin in the tank, but always store the tank on the box. I never store any tank on the printer anymore.
So this response is only to give clarification from the perspective of a BlueCast user who’s had great service from Formlabs…they really do stand by their products when they’re used as intended. But I’m also very thankful that they’ve opened the system up so that we can experiment with third-party resins, but with that comes responsibility on the part of the user…a chance we take.