Recently read that the wiper is disabled when printing in Open Mode. I have Form 1+ resin that I’d like to use up in my Form 2. Is there any way to enable the wiper? Is there a good reason not to do so?
Richard, there is not currently a way to enable the wiper in Open Mode. However, if you have a resin cartridge with the same type of resin, you can filter your Form 1+ bottle into the cartridge and use it as normal.
Jory
Thanks Jory!
Unless there’s a really good, non-marketing-related reason not to, advanced settings to let us control these type of options manually would be great. I hate it when companies take away my control because they think they know best. (Well, you do know best, but still it’s my machine and I’d like to experiment without having to fight against the thing. Enabling a wiper seems harmless enough 
)
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I was wondering about how this would work, do the cartridges not track how much resin is left?
I’ve several full or partial liters of form1 resin myself.
@SGuber I don’t think the cartridge itself tracks it? I think there is a sensor on the Form 2 that detects the resin level in the tank, and opens the cartridge valve until the level gets to where it’s needed.
Currently the cartridge cannot tell you how much resin is left, but will pause when it can no longer auto fill the resin tank. However, we are working on improvements to this functionality. As for removing wiper movement in Open Mode, I’ll quote a post from my colleague Zach:
"Right now, we’ve disabled certain systems while in Open Mode in an effort to make sure we don’t damage your printer with an unknown resin. We don’t know the properties of 3rd party resins that may be used with the printer, and that could easily lead to cartridge dispensing over-filling the tank. The wiper is disabled for a similar reason - if the tank is over-filled or the resin has a different viscosity than we expect, it would be possible for the wiper to push resin over the edge of the tank. Heating is also disabled, as we don’t want to risk damaging a resin you purchased.
We’re listening to customer feedback about this first implementation of Open Mode, and will consider improving the functionality with future updates. Our goal with the initial release of Open Mode was to make sure 3rd party resins can be used, while limiting potential damage to the printer as much as possible."
Add me to the list of users who are happy to void our warranties if it allows us more control over the equipment. I’m willing or more specifically my company is willing to replace a printer if it means I have more options while doing R&D on material development.
@Jory, @Zach, y’all made a couple interesting comments regarding Open Mode:
You disable auto fill because 3rd party resins could “easily lead to cartridge over-filling the tank”. Cartridge? Who will be making 3rd party cartridges? I suspect no one - most if not all 3rd party resins are shipped and poured out of bottles.
Speaking of auto fill, that seems to be one of the most disaster-prone new functions for the Form2. I’ve already read a few posts where the auto-fill doesn’t know when to stop and overfills the tank - yikes. It should be a option outside of Open Mode to turn that “feature” off.
As for disabling the wiper, you describe a scenario where the tank is over-filled, causing spill-over. But auto-fill is disabled, so that scenario can’t happen, right?
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They didn’t say anything about third party cartridges, just resins. I assume though that you could fill an empty cartridge with whatever resin you want and it wouldn’t know what’s in there which would use the wiper and the heated bed–as an alternative to using Open Mode and pouring directly into the tray.
That’s exactly what I do with the grey resin.
The wiper speed varies per resin from what I read. They disable the wiper to prevent splashing ID assume. Would be nice to have a set wiper speed option.
I like many others fear the auto fill tank. I’d rather have control of this even with Formlabs own resins.
I’m thinking about stockpiling my emptied Form1 resin bottles, so I can store excess resin from the cartridge. If I limit the amount of resin in the cartridge, I can limit the potential damage from the auto-fill going nuts. Kinda a shame that I would be taking defensive measures against what Formlabs has been promoting as a cool new feature…
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