While working at the Formlabs printer farm at HQ, we’ve noticed that there’s always a bit of resin left in a nearly-empty bottle. It’s almost impossible to get that resin into a Form 1 for printing, but throwing it away would be a shame!
After thinking about how restaurants deal with nearly-empty containers, our designer Will modified the design of a ketchup-bottle joiner and printed the model on our Form 1s. The Form Funnel helps safely transfer that last bit of resin into a new bottle, so you can get more out of each bottle of resin. Here's how to make your own:
- Download the .form file here.
- Print the Form Funnel and clean it up like you would with any other Form 1 model.
- Wait until you have a bottle that no longer easily pours, but still contains a bit of resin.
- Place the Form Funnel on a fresh bottle of resin with the arrows pointing down.
- Quickly turn the nearly empty bottle over and nest it in the Form Funnel.
- After approximately 20 minutes, your remaining resin will have drained into the fresh bottle, and you’re ready to go!
More information about the funnel's design and use is posted in this article on our support site. If you have a new invention or design that helps streamline the Form 1 printing process - makes it easier, cleaner, thriftier, or just plain better - let us know in the comments, and post your ideas in the forums!
Formlabs White Paper: Post-Curing Prints
We set out to study the post-cure process in detail in order to optimize final mechanical properties of printed parts. Download the white paper to learn more.