When it comes to designing the Form 3 can we please have a much more robust, preferably non-mechanical, system for detecting the tray?
At the moment I can wiggle the tray until the ‘Tray Inserted’ banner flashes up only to be replaced with ‘Tray Removed’ as soon as I let go of the tray.
I agree- the contacts on the Form 2 are simply to flimsy- they can be damaged just by inserting a tank, or cleaning up a spill.
Seems to me that an RFID chip and a near field sensor would work as well…
Or even something simpler, like a sticker or printed bar code that an optical sensor could read.
Or- here’s an idea that might be retroactive for existing Form 2s- would it be possible to place an ID sticker or chip in the rear tank wall that the RESIN SENSOR could read? ( but would not interfere with its ability to read resin levels ) For example- when inserting a tank- the carrier would shift to the extreme right as if peeling so the chip would line up with the resin sensor at one edge- but when the form 2 wants to “sense” and dispense resin, the tank carrier could move back so the chip would be out of the effective range of the sensor?
If this was possible- then you could simply come out with new tank designs and new firmware for the Form 2 that would access the sensor for this function.
It might be something as simple as a sticker printed with metallic paint in a pattern that is reasonably unique. Or even a laser etched pattern that would affect the resin sensor’s response due to the changes in tank thickness at that spot.
Given the lifespan of the tanks… you could repeat patterns over the course of a year’s production and count on the fact that it was statistically unlikely that anyone would get two tanks with the same serial number… and the software could “retire” tanks’ assigned IDs when each tank was no longer being used.