Loaded a brand new White V4 cartridge before leaving work for a 20H print and have just arrived this morning to see a massive overflow into my tank. I see floating around in the resin the bite valve from the cartridge.
The entire new cartridge has emptied into the resin tank and overflowed into the printer.
RIP my entire morning cleaning all this up.
Any tips for cleaning out the surrounding area? I believe its possible to clean up the black catch tray area from the top without opening the printer body right??
you need to know if it leaked inside the printer itself.
And if it fouled the glass under the tank.
How it most likely leaks into the printer interior is if the catchbasin at the left front of the carrier tray overflows.
It can hold a certain amount of resin… but not enough to always save you.
First take the cartridge out. Use a small paper cup to scoop enough resin out of the tank that you feel you can remove the tank without resin sloshing out all over everything.
Then check the glass window… is it fouled with resin? If so… you might have resin inside the optical bay.
The machine is designed to try and direct such a spill away from the optical window… the grey plastic try under the tank carrier is fixed to the carrier, and moves with it.
with the tank out… slide the carrier all the way to the right and shine a light down into the hidden catchbasin at the left front corner… does it look like it over lowed?
If so then you got resin inside the machine.
You are gonna want to get as much resin out of the catch basin as you can after you sop it up from the readily accessible upper tray. Formlabs recommends rolling or tightly folding a paper towel to stick it down in there to soak it up… but mine was so full I was more worried about the paper towel displacing the resin over the side… so I rigged a simple suction pipette and drew most of it out that way.
Also- under the cartridge valve is a second- separate catchbasin… its probably full, too.
Scoop out what you can… but be sure to cover the optical window so as not to smudge it or spill on it…
You can pull it out to clean it and check under it- but its held in place with a wad of rubber cement. So you’'t have to pull pretty steadily on it and its fragile… and you don’t want it to suddenly come free and fling resin out… so be careful.
Beyond that, Contact Formlabs- they will send you a link to a white paper that details the process of cleaning it up.
And they probably send you a free cartridge of white resin.
If you can filter and salvage the resin in the tank… you can pour it into the new cartridge as you use it up to get more prints.
Thanks a lot @Sculptingman, very useful info here. I believe I am now getting issues with the resin tray sensor as now (at least for the last 2 hours until I gave up) I am getting constant Resin Sensor Errors, asking me to reseat the resin tray. I have tried two brand new LT trays and still receive the same error so I think the spill may have damaged the PCB under the tray carrier
@Formlabs Are you able to send me this white paper? (will also file a ticket)
on the tray carrier there is a set of three or four gold metal contacts the detect the tray.
When cleaning the resin up it is really easy to bend one or more of these contacts.Look at them closely and see if one is bent down or to the side.
Then if you are really careful and deft with a set of tiny needle nose pliers you may be able to straighten it back out.
But I don’t think its that. Resin Sensor error mean the resin sensor can’t see any resin. You might have resin on the sensor.
But you really need to contact them thru the support side. they will give you a step by step for assessing how bad the spill is. A full cartridge spill is GOING to require you to open the bezel to check inside for spillage.
