List Tank Life in Materials Store

General Discussion
1

I was just rudely interrupted in paying client work on my form 3+ by a tank expiration error, for a tank of Tough 2000 resin.

Come to understand that this behavior is only hinted at - Not in any page related to ordering material (you know, the actual consumable that limits tank life depending on selection), not as a feature or even a footnote of the materials catalog, but buried 3 links deep in the Tank product page.

AND on review, there *is no verbiage in any guide published by Formlabs *that actually comes out and tells you that expired tanks will cause your Form 3+ to refuse to print.

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Does Formlabs want to update this guide and materials catalog to inform users that their material selection makes them liable for tank replacement costs of >$750/yr?

Or does Formlabs believe this cute little disclosure gap is defensible as not influencing a reasonable buyer’s selection of printer or resin? I can tell you it’s influencing mine.

2

I wonder if this is specific to Tough 2000. We’ve had tanks for Grey Pro that were printing just fine long after they “expired”, and did indeed only give a bypassable warning. The estimated lifetime for tanks definitely feels more like a strong suggestion than a set rule in our experience (only if you very diligently and frequently check the condition of the tanks tho. Don’t just let them sit there indefinitely!)

3

Ive never had the machine refuse to print with an expired resin Tank I have some well over and it just gives me a warning and I Ignore it and continue ptinting.

1 Like
4

We’re sorry to hear about the issue caused by the tank expiration error.
Like others have commented, this error is designed to be a simple warning message that can be skipped, allowing you to continue printing until the tank is eventually replaced. If the error message you’re seeing is not skippable, could you please provide a photo of it? This will allow us to investigate the issue further.

Thank you also for your feedback on the communication of tank lifetimes! We link this information on the tank’s store product page, but I will forward your suggestion that it would be useful to include this on material pages as well.