I am in the middle of a printing sprint of large parts with tough resin, and my “Tough V4” cartridge is nearly empty.
I put in a new cartridge to be sure that the print will not be interrupted because this would probably screw up my print ; tough resin warps like hell.
But I realised the new cartridge is “Tough V5”, and the Form 2 will not let me use it.
I checked on the “Master list” and read that V5 is just a change of supplier and that the resins are mixable.
So here is my question :
Why does Formlabs make my life more difficult for no reason ?
Now I need to remain close to the printer (this is a 15 hour print) until I get the dreaded “low resin” message that I will override so that the print is not interrupted, hoping and praying that the remaining resin will be enough to finish my precious part.
One buys an official 260€ goddamn resin cartridge and still has to hustle and wrestle to get the job done, like in “Open” mode
This is just plain silly and annoying
I feel you… rare but annoying occurrence. I remember this happening once and I just poured some of the new resin in the old cartridge, even though that’s usually not a good idea since the printer isn’t aware there’s more resin, but it worked.
As previously discussed, Formlabs should really implement a notion of Revision and Version in their resins. Revision for minor changes without impacting compatibility, and version for major changes. I understand the need for tracking resin usage for troubleshooting and statistics purposes but it shouldn’t uselessly hinder the user.
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If they are mixable- I agree with Jon and would just pour some v5 into the old cartridge.
I had a cartridge of durable that started reading as “expired”- even tho it wasn’t- Formlabs sent me a replacement cartridge- and I just poured the resin from the expired cartridge into the replacement as I had room to add more.
Just pointing out one caveat with this method, mostly for other readers to see as I’m sure you’re well aware of this : the printer doesn’t measure the resin level in the cartridge, it only knows for how long it has kept the bottom valve open. This means that if you top-off the cartridge with new resin, the “resin low” warning message that is so annoying to most users will appear despite the cartridge having enough resin.
I would only top-off in cases where I have no choice, like Olivier’s situation. When I have a near-empty cartridge with a low warning message on an overnight print, I prefer to put in a new cartridge and keep the “near empty” one for a print during the day, rather than topping off the old or new cartridge with the other’s content.
I find it ironic that these cartridges are such a source of head scratching and annoyance.
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