Is there a way to figure out how much resin is left in the tank? Does the Form2 keep track of the amount of resin used after a new tank is installed? I cant find anything on the forum that answers this or any setting no the Form2 that tells me this.It does give an error message if there is not enough resin to print an object.How does it know that?
There is a resin level sensor on the black PCB just behind the tank on the left side of the tower (as viewed from the front). It varies from printer to printer, but generally it keeps the tank filled to about 150mL of resin.
From what Formlabs has communicated, the “not enough resin” error gets thrown when there’s not enough resin in the tank (EDIT : wrong, that’s “in the cartridge”, see @CraigBroady’s answer below) o complete the print. I found that to be somewhat inaccurate as I have had this error when starting <50ml prints with a full tank.
As for the resin left in the cartridge, I think it keeps track of how long a cartridge’s valve has been left open and estimates how much resin if left in the cartridge this way. AFAIK there are no resin level sensors on the cartridge, only a chip to identify the cartridge itself.
You’re correct here, John, and your two points are connected. There is a chip for the cartridge to identify itself, but there are no level sensors for the cartridge. So the estimate for resin is based upon how much resin the printer thinks has been dispensed. This information is stored on the chip, but it is not terribly accurate.
You receive the “not enough warning” message if the most conservative estimate suggests that there may not be enough resin remaining in the cartridge to complete the print. Often times there is. Note that it does not include the amount of resin in the tank, though once the cartridge is drained, you can opt to continue the print with the resin remaining in the tank.
thanks everyone
I assume you mean the build tank here
Craig what would happen if you ignore the low resin warning and continue the print, but there is insufficient resin in the build tank to finish the print.Does the printer stop when the resin level drops below a certain level in the tank or would it continue to print even though the tank is empty.
If you hit continue, the printer will continue until the print is complete. At that point, it cannot detect whether there is sufficient resin in the tank to complete.