Ive just got a new form2 and getting good results. However I have a bit of a problem with the auto-filling resin.
I had to cancel a print after uploading due to an incorrect file. The resin tray had already filled with resin, but no printing had started. I aborted the job and tried to upload the new file. When I did this, the Form2 started to fill more resin into the tray despite being full.
I got round it by printing via open print, but seems like a bit of a hack.
So for any more experienced users…
can you refill a resin tank with unused resin (and if so how?)
has anyone else experienced this sort of problem and was there a fix?
The tank fill operation is very slow. The printer “checks” the resin level and does a fill at the start of every new job. Just because it says “filling tank” doesn’t mean the tank is about to overflow. Odds are that if you’d just let it be it would have dribbled a little more resin in to the tank and the print job would have started without issue.
There’s a black horizontal line of the front of the tank that marks the fill level of a “full” tank. But there’s some margin either side of the line. A little over the line is no problem, and the printer can print down to the last few mL of resin in the tank even though it will complain that there’s no resin left in the cartridge.
Thanks for the reply @Randy_Cohen. The tank does actually start to fill again unfortunately. Ill try again, but dont want to waste too much resin either if Im not sure how to reuse it.
It almost always does for mine, too. And while I haven’t quite figured it out, it generally appears to run a fill cycle after printing the first layer. My point was that the printer only adds a small amount of resin at a time. You can watch (and hear) it open and close the bite valve. If you’re near (slightly above or below) the fill line on the front of the tank and the printer runs a fill operation, you’re OK. Just keep an eye on things. If it’s still trying to fill the tank after the resin level is clearly above the fill line, you have a problem. But I bet if you leave it be, it’ll run a couple of fill cycles, raising the level in the tank only slightly, and then start printing.
The printer apparently uses a capacitive sensor to detect fill level. There’s going to be a fair amount of variability in that kind of measurement system. You probably never get the exact same fill level twice. But there’s margin for fill level, I’ve watched how close the resin gets to the edge of the tank on a wipe cycle with a “full” tank and it’s clear there’s room for a decent amount of additional resin before there’d be risk of splash over.
I guess I’d add that the first time I used my Form2 I was pretty convinced it was going to overfill the tank. I aborted the first job twice before I said the hell with it and I just let it do it’s thing. On the third run it did one short fill cycle and started printing. I’ve ignored the “Filling Tank” thing ever since. I just wait until the job starts before I walk away from the printer. If the tank were to be overfilled, I’d be there to stop it. But that’d be after I’d waited a good long time for it to decide the tank was full on its own.