# Form 2 Cartridge worn out must replace! NO not this! **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [September 18, 2016, 4:54pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/form-2-cartridge-worn-out-must-replace-no-not-this/9690 "2016-09-18T16:54:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 66
**Author:** ![fantasy2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e4f/32.png) [@fantasy2](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/fantasy2)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2018, 8:16am UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/form-2-cartridge-worn-out-must-replace-no-not-this/9690/66 "2018-06-09T08:16:24Z")
> [@billb](#): > > The only time I’ve had a tank fail is when I used a third party resin. So I suggest that using cheap resins is likely to be a false economy. Nah not really, all these failures were with original formlabs resins. 😉 I’m only switching now to cheaper resins as I am annoyed by how this was solved. > [@billb](#): > > As the optics. I’ve just followed this youtube video, cleaned all of the optical surfaces and restored the output to something very close to what I was getting with a new machine. So the cause of the optical problems id not exactly mysterious. You think I wouldn’t know that after two years of usage. 🙂 No, it’s not the solution. Read the topics on this forum. There is a problem with the galvo/laser itself. The beam changes shape after a year of usage. Formlabs charges 20%(800 something usd) to replace the galvo and laser. If it was just dirty optics, they wouldn’t replace it, right? Luckily my machine was within the EU warranty period but there are people who were less lucky. > [@Form 2 Optics degraded](http://forum.formlabs.com/t/form-2-optics-degraded/18400): > > My printer ran flawlessly till the latest preform and firmware updates arrived and my prints started to fail. I was asked to do the optics test and here are the results. I was told my optics have degraded. I have had less than 50 prints with my printer since I bought it and the optics have degraded. I have never used the printer in open mode or tried doing any modifications. Anyone else having this issue? What could be the reason? How come I had problems only after upgrading preform and firmware… --- _[View the full topic](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/form-2-cartridge-worn-out-must-replace-no-not-this/9690)._