Hola peeps! I’m cleaning after a failed print and there are tiny fragments of resin left inside the tank and on the wiper. How do I clean them? I removed the failed print. The website only shows how to clean the outside and glass optical window.
You can clean the wiper with a soak in IPA.
For the resin in the tank, you’re going to need to filter it. I use a fine mesh stainless steel screen I stole from my wife’s kitchen paraphernalia.
It was a “flour sifter” before I got my hands on it. 
They are microfragments that are still left in the bottom of my tank after pouring out the resin. Will that hurt my next print?
When you put new resin back in the tray, those micro fragments are going to be in the resin again. So yeah, they’ll hurt your next print.
You need to get rid of those micro fragments. Using the plastic scraper tool that came with the printer to “squeegee” the face of the resin tank bottom until most/all of those particles have been removed, too.
This is bad advice as the wiper could potentially get damaged by the IPA depending on plastic type and a strainer for food is going to have too big of openings to properly filter the smaller particulates in the resin.
A better option is to use a paint filter, which I’ve used myself when I had a failed print fall into the tank.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/TRIMACO-5-3-4-in-Cone-Strainers-4-Pack-11101/202061357
You can’t use IPA on the film surface inside the tray, for sure, but you can use it on the exterior of the tray. I think the wiper arm is made from the same plastic as the tray.
I’ve never used IPA to clean a Form3 wiper arm, but I had done it a few times in the past with failures that happened on my Form2. I’d be surprised if it’d be a problem for the Form3’s. It’s a molded part, and most thermoplastics will tolerate IPA quite well (some won’t, like Nylon, but there’s no reason I can think of for the wiper arm to be made from that more expensive kind of material, it doesn’t see a lot of stress in operation).
A “Flour Sifter” screen is actually an excellent choice. It’s a very fine stainless steel mesh, similar to the screen you might find in the aerator for a water faucet. Paint filters have similar sized screens, but they’re not reusable. I’ve been printing with FL printers since 2015 and this hijacked kitchen appliance is what I’ve always used (the first time I had to filter resin in my Form1+). And I’m still using the same screen I started with in 2015. Rinse it out with IPA when done and it’s ready for the next time. Less hazardous waste.
To my knowledge the tray is made of acrylic based on my chats with Formlabs and IPA WILL RUIN IT over time so please do not suggest doing this to others.
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Form2 trays are orange acrylic. Using IPA on them is definitely a no-no. Same for the printer’s orange cover. If you clean it off with something that has Alcohol in it, it will start to crack and craze. Form3 trays appear to be something else that’s grey opaque colored plastic that’s not at all like Acrylic. And if you read the FL instructions for cleaning a Form3 tray, they say to use IPA on the underside to clean the plastic sheet that’s there. The only caution about IPA for a Form3 tray is “do not use it on the inside bottom of the tank”.
So yeah, you’re right. For Form2 don’t use IPA on the tank. For Form3 it’s OK. And the wiper for a Form2 tray is not Acrylic. From direct experience, IPA doesn’t hurt it.
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Thank you!!
Thanks!!