I’ve got a concern that hasn’t turned into a problem yet. Just wondering if any of you have had this issue as well. Recently I noticed when I was cleaning my tank after a print that there was a large crack at the back hinge side of the resin tray. I have never knocked it by mistake or dropped it or anything like that so it must have been damaged in shipping and I just didn’t notice when I installed it. I also noticed a smaller hairline crack at the front of the tray as well after inspecting all four sides.
Take a look here
So far there are no leaks but I’m definitely worried now as this is a relatively new tray. If that thing cracks and leaks inside my Form1 that will just be a disaster
Anybody ever experience anything like that or have any advice? Thanks.
Yes. It’s a very common issue. I’ve had one of my trays replaced by Formlabs (free) beause I couldn’t fill the tray up to the maximum line as resin would end up spilling over the crack, which I didn’t want to risk. I have another tray which has a crack going down towards the fill line, however it doesn’t create any issues with leakages or so… So these are still perfectly usable.
It’s a definite flaw in the production of these tanks, however in 95% of the cases it isn’t a problem. It just doesn’t look very good.
For reinforcing Lexan R/C car bodies we always used rubber cement or shoe goo and nylon window screen. Might be just the sort of cheap hack of a fix this needs if you cannot get a new tray.
Here is an Instructables showing the process:
He uses drywall tape, but same idea. You could probably use a stiffer adhesive, as these trays don’t need to survive massive flexing.
@Anthony_Huczek, the trays are fine on arrival (at least in most cases), but it’s by lifting up the black lid from the front which seems to cause the issue. The “pooring” corner is most definitely the weakest part of the tray. Luckily, in most cases the chips end up sticking in the black lid, luckily.
I lift my lid up from that corner first and haven’t had a crack or chip in the new trays yet. Of course I cant guarantee it’ll work until the tray is wasted because of the PDMS layer, but it certainly helps!
Be thankful your tank didn’t split all the way like mine, releasing a full tank of resin into the printer. Not a good look. FL did replace my tank, however it took my machine out of action for months and destroyed the tilt motor. Took hours to clean the mess up.
Ummm. If it cracked due to an inherent defect, meaning it wasn’t cracked before the print, why is this your problem?
I’m curious as to what response FL offered, and whether you pushed for a better resolution. Did they just offer a new tank, rather than to repair the consequential damage? And did you attempt to reject that solution?
Knowing JamieWilson’s case, I am going to wrap my resin tanks’ vertical walls with tape. It is to strength the walls and to prevent any crack growing that cause leakage.
I just did the same thing this morning. That was initially what I was terrified of. I’m really curious to hear what Formlabs said about Jaimie’s case as well.
tray 1 had a manufacturing error in the silicone bed (unusable)
tray 2 cracked at the pouring corner and then started leaking from the opposite corner (unusable) (half a dozen uses)
tray 3 had hairline fractures along the resin-tray base which caused a persistent slow seepage. (unusable) (half a dozen uses)
Yikes. Well hopefully that isn’t indicative of a larger issue. It sounds like all of us in this thread at least have dealt with a cracked tray but I will say out of the half dozen trays I’ve gone through this is the first I’ve seen of the issue.
@JamieWilson What did Formlabs say about your case when it happened? Still curious.
I’m in Australia, and this tank came with the printer that replaced my Form1, which wasn’t working. It might have been damaged in transport, but the machines are packed so well it is hard to see how.
Formlabs originally offered to give me a new tank with my next order. But it took several months to clean the mirror and trouble shoot the machine, as it wasn’t printing properly. Eventually we discovered the tilt motor had resin drip on the shaft and cause it to not work correctly. They sent a replacement motor and tank and now the printer works again.
Had I been in the US I would have packed the whole thing up and sent it back and say “you fix it”. I also probably wasted a litre of resin with failed prints over that time too.
Overall a frustrating time, but Formlabs was helpful in getting me back up and running.
Formlabs totally ignored requests for a replacement…until i pointed out that they had totally ignored repeat requests for a replacement. They then promised a replacement… weeks later…, nothing.
One guy blamed another guy for not dealing with it or keeping them informed, and promised it would be dealt with - nothing.
i’ve now had an email from somebody else asking if i want a replacement tray… not saying they were replacing it, just asking if we wanted it replaced.
I’m tempted to say “no, of course not, I was really after a large trout!” but i suspect British humour will go right over their heads…
Normally they’ll give you a discount code to order a free resin tray. You do end up paying transport costs, so it’s probably wise to order it together with some resin.
