I am about to run out of the V4 standard grey resin, and I have a cartridge of standard white on-hand. I’ve read that the only real difference is the pigments, so would it be safe to assume that if color isn’t an issue that I could just add the white cartridge when the grey runs out?
Hey there @SeanM!
Great question. We typically do not recommend mixing resins in any capacity. While the standard resins are similar in some ways, their differences are significant enough that mixing them would make final printed results hard to predict.
It likely wouldn’t hurt anything, but I suspect the results wouldn’t look all that great.
I’ve mixed them all the time with no issues at all. I’ve mixed FL Grey with ALW grey to use up the resin. No difference in output. I now mix ALW grey with about 10% ALW Flex and you’d never know it was a mix. Results are just as always. It does add a bit of flex to the grey which tends to be brittle. Too much Flex on the other hand, 33%, does get messy as the parts come out sticky and need cleaning in either alcohol.
I do from 6 to 8 prints, two Form2 machines, with dozen or two on the build plate almost every day.
From what I understand, the standard resins are the same except for the pigments, but the pigments do have an effect on the curing of the resin so there’s a risk it might have problems. For example, the clear resin has less curing time than the black resin.
The pigments affect the opacity, which is a factor in determining the laser power used. This may be outdated but to give you an idea…
I’ve used stronger power in the past to breathe some extra life into old resin (by selecting another color that’s the next step up).
I mix Clear and Black V4, its the only way I can get any sense out of the black resin, just goes like chewing gum otherwise… Works perfectly mixed 50/50.