Antifoaming agent for new resins

Could we get an antifoaming agent for the new resins? I’ve had some issues where foam is getting on finished surfaces and leaving artifacts in the finish.

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I have had the resin foam so badly that the wiper arm flung foamed resin against the inside of the lid… So I second this request.

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What sort of artifacts are you seeing in your prints from the foam? We’ve worked to ensure that the foaming doesn’t impact print quality, and any pictures that demonstrate otherwise would be helpful.

@Sculptingman is it possible that the tank was overfilled? At normal fill, there should be a bit of space between the maximum height of the resin and edge of the tank.

No overfill- it was the only spill I have experienced… but that was the printer that also started having motor coordination issues… the platform would not lift entirely and the wiper arm would strike the model… stuff like that.

But the spill occured on a print that had only 1 motor out of bounds error in a 20 hour print… and it was very hard to even gauge the resin level because the foam had covered the entire tank surface- it was that bad.

When I pulled the final part out- all its fine detail was obscured by foam- even the support structure was filled in to the point of being unable to see the model… and I was loathe to even let it be exposed to daylight for fear that foamy uncured resin would cure on the surface… SO I cleaned it by literally IPA BLASTING the foamed resin off with the squirt bottle- refilling the bottle a couple of times.

The print came out okay- but I had been careful to pull it out of the machine at night when the ambient UV flux was at its lowest.

I watched and when the wiper would sweep across the tank, it would pile foam up to the left side of the tank all the way to the top of the tank or even higher.

I have not seen anything even remotely like this with Durable or Clear resin.- the Grey V4 seems to froth up like a well tapped beer.

Frew,

I’ve used all the parts that have had artifacts/bubble marks. If you leave a print hanging for a long period of time the area at the edge of the bubble can effect the surface finish.

It’s not that big of a deal to clean up but could be avoided by having material that doesn’t turn into sea foam.

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Your print shouldn’t be affected by any foam unless you expose a print with foam on it to UV light. During printing, the foam won’t be in any area where it can be cured by indirect lighting, after printing it should be fine underneath the cover if you don’t take it out for a bit.

Hi frew,

Some of our companies chemists were working with stopping foaming in uv cured materials 25 years before Formlabs came into existence. Why not contact us (off forum) and let the experience resolve your issues?

Fred Flintstone had square wheels. Why not seek the support of experts in this field rather than trying to reinvent the wheel.

We have over 100 different 3d printing materials in our current portfolio (some are only supplied to specific customers for them to rebrand and sell under their own brands - they are refined to work exceptionally well with that customers specific process or printer) 52 different resins are available to anyone.

It’s no coincidence that NONE of our resins foam.

The offer is there - its up to you guys.

Our email address is info@3dresyns.com

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Here I thought the foaming issue was just me… I kept filtering the resin trying to knock it down a bit.

I’m finding my prints using V4 grey end up with very small micro pits on smooth areas due to the increased foaming. Should we be straining between every print, because after each one the remaining resin is very frothy and full of tiny air bubbles. V3 did not have this issue at all, so I’m a little upset that V4 has introduced such problems. I can send photos to show the artifacts.

Besides straining, anything else that we can do to reduce the foam and froth?