Hi -
I am trying to make sense of the Resin consumption statistics. What I see on the statistics page and what is happening in real life does not seem to match.
All three Grey cartridges have been depleted. I expected the numbers (Resin Used) to be off on the first on due the that fact that you need to fill the vat. It is the second and third one that baffles me a little. So on the second cartridge I am supposed to the 171ml remaining and on the third 256ml?
Adding all this up, it means that I used 2.1L of the 3L resin. Of course there is resin in the vat, but I seriously doubt it is 900ml. I realize there will be wastage so I am just trying to determine what actually resin usage will be compared the the theoretical numbers (Preform and Machine estimates)
Regards,
Friedl.
Sadly, Formlabs doesn’t properly measure any of this stuff and is more like a rough estimate at best.
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Hi @br4n_d0n -
If I am correct the printer uses a load cell to determine the resin level in the cartridge, it stand to reason that they could easily report the actual resin level in the cartridge to the console then as apposed to the ‘calculated’ value??
I mean, what is the point of having this information if it is off by quite a bit? I would much prefer knowing what the true resin level is in the cartridge and know that the first cartridge is kind of sacrificial just to get going. Maybe just my OCD kicking in here, but having depleted cartridges showing up in the console indicating some resin left is driving me up the walls 
Thanks for sharing your experience @Friedl_1977
Sorry you’re seeing this discrepancy. The printer and our Dashboard estimates the amount left in the cartridge by deducting the amount used for printing. What it cannot account for is any resin dispensed to fill a resin tank from empty (if you used a new tank, that’s about 300mL) or to top the tank off, nor any resin that clings to your printed parts and is lost to waste (that can account for 200-300mL per cartridge depending on the geometry of your parts). It’s not uncommon for cartridges to run empty and have the printer and Dashboard report that it is still partially full.
We know this is an imperfect process and we’re working to correct this on future printer models - for example, the Form 3L uses something called a load cell to measure the weight of the cartridge to track its fullness.
I realize this isn’t very helpful for you right now, however - if this precision right now is important for you, you can weigh your cartridge prior to first use to ensure it is full - our cartridge filling process is automated so the odds of it being underfilled are extremely rare.
A full cartridge weighs ~1390grams (a smidge over 3 pounds). This calculation is from the following formula:
Empty cartridge = ~290g
1mL of resin weighs 1.1g → 1000mL (1L) of resin weighs 1100g
1390g = ~3.06lbs
You can also use this formula to determine the amount of resin left in a given cartridge. Weigh the cartridge in grams and subtract 290. Divide that number by 11 to determine the percentage of resin left in the cartridge. Example, If the cartridge weighs 830g then 830-290= 540. 540/11 = 49.09. There is 49% resin remaining in the cartridge. In the end, periodically checking the cartridge by lifting it from the tower to feel its weight is a good method.
We hope this helps!
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Afternoon!
Doesn’t the Form 4 have a load cell as well?
In that case, why does the user need to jump through this many hoops versus just have the printer immediately weigh this via load cell and give you a much better resin % than one can ever estimate? Isn’t the point of the load cell to give you this information?
Furthermore, what is the point of a beautiful dashboard if this is what is in reality necessary? Why does the printer rely on a complex and imperfect process to figure out material use through preform versus just simply weighing this cartridge with already installed hardware? This sound pretty easy to solve through just some software updates, right?
2 Likes
HI @verdugod
Thank you for your prompt response and comments.
I can appreciate the fact that there will be wasted material, it is part of any manufacturing process I guess. What baffles me a little is the way this is measure and more so, reported by the printer. Think of it this way… Imagine diving you car but it only tells you how much fuel it consumed based on Google maps distance determined when a route was selected. Not very helpful is it. hehe. What makes a lot more sense is knowing how much fuel is in your tank 
I am familiar with loads cells yes… so this is al little concerning to be honest. For one you refer to future models meaning this will not be ‘fixed’ on the brand new Form4? More concerning to me is if this was implemented on the Form3, why take a step back on the Form4 ??
I think it is not unreasonable to expect reporting to be accurate on a $6500 setup do you not agree? Especially if it is something that can be achieved (or complimented) by means of something as trivial as a load cell? If I am supposed to be able to sell parts produces on this printer, surely I need some way of deterring the price of said parts. This can only be achieved by know how much resin will be (or was) used?
Thank you for the math… but this is not something I am willing to do before and after each print. If I bought a $200 printer and if this was a hobby, then yes,… maybe. My apologies, I do not mean to sound lazy, but I bought this printer as I do not have time to fiddle with stuff. I need to print parts that work and have reporting and stats that is usable. This is not my hobby, I am a PCB design engineer by profession. Every minute I need to spend fiddling with something else is taking away billable design time 
While I am ‘ranting’ (not really), please… PLEASE… PRETTY PLEASE add an ESP Wifi module to future Cure and wash stations. The fact that you still have to plug in USB cables into anything to perform an update is less than ideal. I am sure just about everyone would be happy to pay that extra $1 for the Espressiff WiFi Module
We completely understand the current solution is not ideal and that it’s adding unwanted time to your work. Rest assured we see this feature as very important to customer workflows (as we’ve already integrated it into Form 3L) and it’s a component we are actively working on, so please stay tuned for future product updates. We appreciate your patience!
Noted on your feedback about the Wifi connect w/ Wash + Cure. I’ve passed that along to our product team.
Thanks again for sharing your feedback - customer feedback is extremely helpful for us and we have through-lines for passing this directly to our product and engineering teams who are dedicated to improving our workflows, with your insights.
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Hi @verdugod -
My apologies in advance if it comes across as complains, please note this is not my intention. As someone who designs products for clients for a living, I know all to well not everything is feasible but I also have a good understanding of which features are important
Will it stop the printer from printing… no, BUT if we have a dashboard with a whole bunch of stats (of which resin consumption is surely amongst the more important ones) one would stand to reason that it should be more accurate than an estimate based one only some of the info
With regards to WiFi updates… yea sorry no, that is not negotiable on a $750 curing and $700 washing station 
As a matter of interest, does the Form Cure L have Wifi updates?
Thank you for your response, it is comforting to know someone is listening!
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@Friedl_1977 don’t fret, your feedback is truly appreciated! 
We do have Wifi connectivity for Wash L and Cure L, with more info below:
Connecting the Form Wash L and Form Cure L via USB, Ethernet, or Wi-Fi:
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Thanks @verdugod
Providing I can make the Form4 work for me, I will look into acquiring these. I seems like this should have been the way to go from the start, but I had to cap my initial investment (into something which is not my main line of business) at some point.
Regards,
Friedl.
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Completely understandable - thanks again for the insights and don’t hesitate with more questions or feedback as it comes up!
Hot off the press for update 1.7.0 firmware (update literally just happened, today 8/29 and I just got it on my printer, have not played with it yet):
If this reads like it I think it does and works like I think it works this is a big deal and takes a big step towards fixing a problem I do not believe in the history of Formlabs that has ever worked. I’ll check this out and see how it performs, if it does work huge bravo to the software team. Doesn’t read like Dashboard nor preform is updated (which is arguably more important), but if the promise is there I’ll definite take it. Nice job!
edit: I am however slightly baffled Form 4 did not employ this from launch with load cell and hardware there…
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Hi -
This is great news indeed!! I have some prints coming up, will use this opportunity to test it out!!
Regards,
Friedl
