How do you know when the Resin Cartridge is Really Empty?

Support & Troubleshooting Materials
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We keep getting notifications that the Resin Cartridge is Empty and it really is not. So my question is how do you really know that it is really empty? There should be some kind of visual window just like on a plastic quart of oil.

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The machine doesn’t meter the resin, it calculates how much resin has been dispensed based on a fixed assumption about flow rate from the valve. So time open equals resin dispensed (I suspect it’s a bit more elegant than that since different resins flow at different rates, and the rate changes as the tank is depleted). But it’s an estimate. There’s got to be some variation from valve to valve.

There’s quite a bit of resin in the tank even when the cartridge is completely empty. I think better than 200mL. So if your print uses less than that, just ignore the warning and keep printing until nothing else comes out of the cartridge (it’s designed to drain completely). Then replace the cartridge and keep going. If your print uses more than that, swap another cartridge in and do the print. Then when it’s done, take the old resin cartridge and drain it in to the new one. Odds are you’ll only get a few 10s of mL. Of course, that’ll put a bit more resin in the new cartridge so you’ll be challenged to do the same thing again when it runs low. Alternately, when you next replace your tank, you can pour the remaining resin in before starting your next print and the printer will make up any difference to fill the tank and you’ll be “recalibrated” on the new cartridge.

Generally, I’ve been able to print to use up all but a tiny bit of resin in the tank, long beyond the point the cartridge ran dry. I make it a challenge to not have enough resin in left in an old tank to be worth filtering and transferring to a new tank.

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Randy, thank you for your response. Very appreciated!
I guess the best indicator is to watch the Resin Tank and visually look and see the level drop. I guess after printing a few liters of Resin we will develope a better sense knowing when the Cartridge is really getting low.
Thanks again

Joe Tortorici
www.ClearFusionOrtho.com

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I would empty the little bit of resin left into the tray and not the cartridge. This keeps contamination out of the cartridge and doesn’t screw up the calculations.

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@Randy_Cohen’s comment about it being calculated by theoretical amount of resin dispensed rather than by weighting the cartridge is correct. This is why re-filling empty cartridges will yield a ‘cartridge low’ error regardless of the amount of material in the cartridge. Oftentimes, you can get a reliable sense for the amount of material left in a cartridge by feel. The cartridge low error is fairly conservative so it’s entirely likely that you do have enough resin left to finish the print.

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Once I think my cartridges are finished I stand them upside down at an angle so the remaining resin pools near the screw off cap. After a day or two I flip open the cap and pour what’s left into the resin tray. More often than not I get a good amount, maybe 10-20mls (never measured it).

Protip if you change your own oil in your car you can do the same thing with quarts of oil. not a huge savings but an extra quart or two per year normally.

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