It would be great if they designed the Form 3 so that any overflow would flow into a 1-litre container. That way they could sell the empty containers and enable the wiper.
Selling an empty cartridge is a great idea. If open mode is truly open then selling an empty cartridge makes perfect sense. The idea of 3rd party resins should not bother Formlabs. There resins are the best for use in there machines, anyone that has tried the others would confirm. I run a 3D printing business though and I get all sorts of requests from customers to use different resins and colors. I would like to get that business but Formlabs has there machines locked down too much for me to be able to explore these other resins. Just think, I would maybe get even more business and need another printer (wait: did I mean give Formlabs even more business! ) I hear all the talk about Formlabs trying to protect there machines, but a business must take risks or they will be left behind by the next guy willing to take that risk. My business is an example of people wanting a expanded list of resin products from me but I canât because Formlabs is dragging there feet worried about there printers and printer owners staying inside there safe little box they created. (sorry for the rants but, I am losing business and it frustrates me.)
Regards,
Mike Auer
Scout Design & MFG
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It only makes sense if you ignore the reasoning behind the decision.
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Before I placed the order for a form 2, to replace the paper weight that was my form1+ I specifically asked if they were doing this sort of thing and got a very clear ânoâ as the response.
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The rubber valve I think could be easily replaced, and perhaps they should offer them for people that want some extras in case they have valve issues.
I also want to point out, by making things restricted it holds Formlabs to a higher standard to get their hardware and resins working as good as they can.
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Right here yâall:
Just pull off the black one and trim the back of the blue one to matchâŠ
Another concern about FL resins vs third party resins vs FL/third party resin mixes.
FL resin does not perform as well for our application vs FL/third party resin mix.
We are still buying FL resin, but mixing it.
Otherwise we have to go to another 3D printer manufacturer with much higher cost or order prints from a company with that printer at what is still a much higher cost.
The Form 2 is much better than the Form 1+ for our application, even with double the print time.
The F 1+ was around 1 good batch in 3. Not knocking the F 1+, we were at its printing limits.
But while the F2 has printed flawlessly, it would be better with a true open mode.
We also got bit by the cartridge limit. It put us down for a week while we got a new one.
As we are buying both resins and mixing 50/50 it wonât get us in the future it was a pain when it happened.
Add a Warranty Void Super User mode for those wanting to really use it and willing to risk non-warranty repair.
Wow, if there was a way to defeat the usage sensor on the cartridge weâd be home free!
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There is a much bigger issue here. FL is engaged in something called vertical monopoly. Under Clayton and Sherman Anti-trust Acts owning the production of machines as well as the materials they use is an unlawful monopoly that violates fair trade and competition. Then controlling the software that operates the machines to feed into the sales of a tie-in product like the resin is again a violation of these acts that their patents will not protect them from.
You should tell that to 3D Systems, Stratasys, Solido, just to name a few.
Sorry, but I do not see an issue. We can use 3rd party resins in all of Form Flavor machines. I canât use 3rd party materials in my InvisionLD / Solido. The Mojo and similar family of printers have chipped filament cartridges that when hacked void the warranty. I am willing to bet that 3D Systems will void your warranty if you dump 3rd party resin in their sla printers. Can we use cornstarch in the Z-Corp line? Are the Objet cartridges refillable with 3rd party resins? I think our efforts are better spent helping FL keep superior products on the market. They all write the controlling software that operates the machines that we feed materials into.
Z-Vat is still selling the glass bottom vats. No one is stopping them (from what I can tell). Design a resin cartridge replacement. I am sure you will sell a few.
So, go ahead. Hack the cartridges. Replace the bite valve. Just donât be surprised if you end up with a $3,500 repair bill if you have to send the printer in for repairs if the printer gets covered in resin.
Formlabs does listen. Just donât expect them to jump at all of our ideas. Some ideas are really good. Some are not.
I think it is fair to say that we all get superior results with FL resin, I do. A few printer owners just donât like the price of the resin.
On the other side of this coin. FL crippling a printer mid-print because the printer thinks it is going to run out of resin is sad. There needs to be an override to let the print finish with full closed loop settings. One should not have to pause a print for a week while they wait for FedEx to deliver.
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Even if you are a nice and courteous monopolizer it still unlawful.
I donât see how anything could be seen as unlawful. Besides, you can still use other resins, just not with the same features turned on. If someone wants to create the same type of resin that Formlabs makes then they are welcome to formulate it.
FL does not have a monopoly on 3D printers. If they want to totally close their system to anything but FL approved consumables, thatâs their prerogative. It might not be the best marketing idea, but there is nothing unlawful about it. If you donât like FLâs policy there are other similar printers you can buy.
I donât think thereâs a sensor, when you print something it keeps track of the volume of resin that you have printed with that cartridge, eventually it will say itâs used too much.
I think this may be tied to the Dashboard appâfor example, when I first started printing, I didnât add the printer to my account, and so my first cartridge wasnât being tracked. At this point, it shows the cartridge as having more resin in it than it actually has.
I am not a electronics person but it appears to me that there is a sensor with a small memory chip on the lower portion of the cartridge. I have put tape over the sensor on the cartridge and inserted it in the machine and it does not recognize the cartridge at all. This tells me (and I am no expert) That this sensor recognizes the cartridge, it also tells the printer what resin it is, as well as, I think that the chip in the cartridridge has memory or at least an in-bedded serial number that allows the printer to keep track of how many prints are created with that cartridge.
Mike
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Yes. Cartridges and Resin Tanks are chipped so the printer can uniquely identify them. My understanding is that itâs the printer thatâs remembering how much each has been used, not the cartridge or tank. The chip is read-only. It just gives each component a GUID (Globally Unique ID) code that the printer can remember once itâs been seen.
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Right, it has an identifier for the cartridge, but it doesnât have a sensor for detecting how much resin is in the cartridge, it just keeps track of how much has been used with that cartridge.
Are these cutting off at exactly 1L?
They donât âcut offâ. When the printer thinks youâve used about 1L it will start to complain that there may not be enough resin to finish the print. You can âabortâ or âignoreâ and continue printing. After the printer thinks thereâs been 2-3L through the cartridge, it eventually refuses to use the cartridge anymore. So the printer will let you use all the resin in a cartridge no problem, plus a bit more if you refill the cartridge.