I’d taken a long while off from having any time to use my printer. I decided to get using it again over the weekend and discovered one of my in storage resin cartridges had leaked about 100 ML into the cabinet I keep the resin in.
Formlabs previously said never to worry about this when I mentioned placing the orange covers back on the bite valves for storage on a support call.
Has anyone else had the same happen?
I’ve had a few drips come out of the bite valves, however nothing compared to what you are describing. Be sure you contact support…sounds like you had a faulty, or at least very weak, bite valve.
Call they will replace it
You should store the resin cartridge bite-valve up, not down. The cap is a much more reliable seal than the bite valve. Once the bite valve is “opened” for the first time a thin seal is broken. After that, the bite valve cannot help but leak slowly over time. If the temperature goes up, or atmospheric pressure goes down, resin will be forced out past the bite valve by the resulting pressure differential. Bite-valve up, it just burps air. Store them the other end up and don’t bother with the orange cap thing…
While we do occasionally see a few drips from the bite valve, 100mL is more than we’d expect and I’d recommend getting in touch with our support team before using that cartridge. A weakened bite valve can make it difficult for the printer to accurately dispense resin and lead to error.
I’ve just opened a new cartridge which had a small leak into the sealed plastic bag it came in. It appears that it was caused by the cap being slightly loose.
Can you get in touch with our support team so that we can look into the cause and verify that the cartridge is still safe to use? This also helps us to track the prevalence of issues such as these so that we can make necessary changes to avoid them going forwards.
I’ve had a cartridge where the bite walve had no opening at all. Had to cut a slit. Works fine
For bite valves that are being especially challenging, it’s best to get in touch with our support team so that we can determine the best way to get your cartridge functioning. It’s possible that cutting a slit manually could affect cartridge dispense or at worst lead to the valve failing. You shouldn’t have to worry about manually opening the bite valve and getting in touch with our team helps us to track the number of users experiencing issues and allows us to work towards fixes.
FWIW the last 3 cartridges I have received have had insufficient cuts in the bite valves leading to the printer being unable to dispense resin. In 2 of the cases I was able to massage the bite valve to open it up…in the third (Tough v4) I had to take a blade to it. I was extremely nervous and only print from this one while I am at work so I can keep an eye on the printer in case of overflow. So far so good.
Mine leaked from around one of the seams. Brand new cartridge on new printer. Leaked all in the box, all in the printer. Finally just threw the $150 leaky paperweight in the garbage. I would say its expected at this point. Ive seen alot on other forums with same issues. Sucks losing that much money on poor design.
I store my cartridges on their side with the cap and bite valve up. This keeps things from getting messy if there is a problem. I wish the label was on the cap side of the tank so that it was up when I store them.
Also I keep the cartridges in a plastic tote so any leakage is contained and off the floor. Never had one leak yet but better safe than sorry.
I tend to be off hours on support lately. I’ll start to store them with the valve up.
“I store my cartridges on their side with the cap and bite valve up. This keeps things from getting messy if there is a problem. I wish the label was on the cap side of the tank so that it was up when I store them.”
From a post below this is totally true. Perhaps a label on the handle/top side would help.
I had 2 of 3 clear carts leaking in package on arrival. FL replaced both. Just sent pics and Cart numbers. Yes all of my carts will leak a very slight amount from the bite valve, just enough to trash the table and make the bottom edges sticky. Which is BTW where the Cart chip is an can pass contamination onto chip sensor. So as said, store on the side.
Hmm, I have used dozens of cartridges and have never seen them leak even a little bit. I have always stored them with bite valve down and have no problems. I do store them in a plastic bin just in case but again, no problems.