I appreciate FormLabs commitment to creating a full solution rather than just a great printer. I think the Form Wash is a great improvement. However, looking at the pictures, videos, and demo at Rapid, it looks like the build platform is partially submerged in the IPA bath. The platform usually has a fairly thick layer of uncured resin on it. Submerging that in the rinsing bath wastes resin and will also foul the IPA much sooner. The loss of resin is fairly small, but I would expect it to significantly affect how long the IPA lasts. Just curious what others (including FL) think of this.
I would prefer to pop off my parts into a cage that then goes into the tank automatically instead of the build platform. You have to remove parts anyway, you now need two platforms if you are doing continuous runs (or wait), and you have extra resin in the bath that really shouldn’t be there.
To add onto this, ive seen many people on this forum have an issue with the build platform having either a crack, or improper seal where the resin has leaked into the platform itself. If the platforms stay the way they are, I can foresee people coming to support with the issue of IPA seeping into the platform then dripping down into the resin tank once you replace it.
I have 2 build platforms for my Form1+, one of them is from the original kickstarter model that I received.
I have noticed slight warping along the 4 vertical sides of the build platform, but that didn’t seem to hamper performance. also, I just wipe the resin off, I don’t clean it off with IPA. From the beginning I just assumed that mixing anything with the resin was a bad idea. But that’s me.
@gjgomes : Isn’t the Form Wash aimed at people turning the Formlabs machines into a production system ?
That’s what I gathered from the recently published podcast. In that case, IPA waste as well as saving a few ml of resin will not be the most pressing concerns, as mr. Lobovsky said in the podcast : the biggest cost in 3D printing is the human labor (I’m paraphrasing here, please don’t hesitate to correct me, also the sentence is probably mostly aimed at Formlabs products used as a mean of production in the industry/dental clinics/etc… ).
I don’t mean to say that your concern isn’t valid -in fact I completely agree- but maybe people who care about 5ml of resin aren’t the target group for this product.
@TemujinKuechle : I only had the Form 2 for a few days but I made the same observation immediately. I don’t dip the platform in IPA, but I do use a cloth with a bit of IPA to clean the resin off, whatever is left on the platform evaporates in a matter or seconds anyway. It’s interesting to know that the side started to warp a bit, I will definitely pay attention and try to prevent that.
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@JohnHue A production situation should be more cost sensitive than a prototyping one. I am using this for production and I use the Dental SG resin. 5mL of resin is $2, and wasting $2 every print adds up (I don’t know how much is actually wasted though just using your example of 5mL). I suppose the more you cover the build platform, the less you waste and we do tend to fill up the platform as much as possible.
I am just not sure what the benefits of using the platform are over popping them off into a cage. You have to pop them off to do the post-cure anyway!
If I am using the same resin for my next build (which is typical for production), I don’t wipe off the build platform but I do check it for cured material since sometimes the raft fractures. If it gets submerged into IPA I will have to wipe it to remove any residue and ensure no IPA gets into the Form 2 (another minor inconvenience).
Form Wash will come with a removable cage/basket which will be lowered and raised automatically. So we got you covered 
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How did you come to a cost of $2/mL? Not that you are wrong, I’d just like to see the cost breakdown. Thank you.
$399 /L for Dental SG which is $0.399 per mL. My statement was $2/ 5mL.
So we Bought a wash station last week and It cleans the parts quite well. I always squeegee off the extra resin from the build platform and rinse extra resin off parts before placing the parts in the wash station. I have been using the basket until today when I decided to leave the part on the platform and use the hanger in the form wash. WISH I DIDN’T.
Now my build platform is flaking and I will need a new one now as I don’t want to risk getting IPA & flakes in my resin. Maybe I have a defective build platform? Has anyone else had this issue?
Support got back with me very quickly and they have seen this happen in a few rare occasions and there Engineering team is actively looking into this issue. They are replacing it for me.
So far I am very pleased with there support & hopefully they keep it up 
