With all the topics here about resin spill, any ideas/tips how to get over this fear that I will wake up one day with a disastrous resin spill on my form 2?
I know… stop reading the forums is one advise. any others?
Get new lt tanks.
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If you’re really worried, check your tank’s bottom regularly to see if there are any changes.
Also get the LT Tank as soon as it’s available again, FL supposedly took measures to make a better bond between the tank and the optical components.
I personally think the catastrophic spills aren’t all that common. I’m not worried about encountering one since I treat my hardware correctly and thus consider that the chances of a failure are slim.
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Don’t leave vats w/ resin in your Form 2 (even tho you can) does not mean you have to.
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Currently I print while i’m within reach of the machine. constantly baby sitting due to fear that something might get stuck or fall in the tank and cause the wiper to spill resin. Also due to issues with the Resin Level Sensor that it might fail to detect the correct level and over fill. I’m monitoring how the tray performs since I’ve seen frequent post about resin tanks leaking also constantly checking the resin cartridge’s bite valve to ensure it’s not dispensing more than it should. I’ve read about the form 2 being a dream come true when it came delivered brand new and then quickly turned in to nightmare when it starts to spill resin.
I guess I should stay from the forums and stop reading all this horror stories. but i can’t help and think about it.
I’ve been using my form 1+ for several years, put enough resin for the night, press the start button and sleep. wake up the next morning either with a beautiful 3D-printed part or a chunk of cured resin stuck in the vat,. But never the fear of a damaged machine or a nightmare of recovering from a resin spill. (to think that the Form 1+ has an exposed mirror directly at the bottom of the tray)
I’ve watched a video advertisement of the form 2 being subjected to a barrage of talcum powder and it kept on working. But who works in an environment with an equivalent amount of dust? I have yet to see them pour the same amount of resin outside the tank and test if it prints acceptable parts.
I would buy the Resin LT tank if they are available now. But waiting until May or April for some peace of mind is just too long.
I like my form 2, I love it when it works. but I can’t leave it running overnight or to step out to buy lunch.
Is it just me who has this fear? if not, how did you overcome it?
It sounds like you are overly concerned and riddled with anxiety over something that hasn’t even happened to you yet?
From what I’ve read- the Form 2 is Far LESS susceptible to damage from a resin spill that is the Form1. The optics bay is sealed, and there is a catch tray that will help contain any spill. This catchtray literally routes the flow of any major spill and I can only think they routed the spill away from any component likely to be damaged by the resin.
I have had 2 spills. One was caused by the wiper arm flinging foamy grey resin over the side.
It took literally 8 minutes to clean up… thanks to the catchtray.
The other spill I had was not even in the machine- I had a cartridge of resin that would not dispense… I took it out to squeeze the rubber valve to see if I could get the pre-cut rubber to split open like it was supposed to… It split open and I went to put it back in the machine… but I had forgotten to close the top air release cap- and so I managed to dribble a thin trail of resin across the office floor.
That took longer to clean up- but did not affect the machine.
overall- NEITHER spill I have experienced was actually as messy as the NORMAL operation of removing the print from its platform and rinsing it of in the IPA tanks.
My machine was such a lemon that I got only 4 truly good prints out of 15… and they ultimately replaced it- yet I never felt the slightest qualm about allowing it to run unmonitored or overnight.
I think you should relax. A resin spill is annoying and uses up some paper towels and gloves- but its not a catastrophe.
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Great thanks for the response. yes nothing major yet aside from the occasional droplets out of the resin tank caused by the wiper action. The wiper is something new, too much liquid action from what I expected (coming from using a Form 1+) hence the fear. Also I don’t think its unfounded, since most of the horror stories in this forum happened when they least expect it. But I guess you are correct. I should relax and a major spill could just be a couple of gloves, paper towels and a little bit of loss time.
The only thing you really need to worry about is if the valve on the cartridge starts leaking–it’s not common though. You can avoid that by removing the cartridge when you’re not printing, while it’s printing it will have a sensor checking the levels so it will know if it’s overfilling, so after you’re done just remove the cartridge.
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I haven’t tested it very seriously but I think closing the top vent is enough to prevent the resin from leaking due to a faulty valve. I’m mostly saying that because when trying to transfer the bit of resin left in a cartridge to another by pinching the valve, I often can’t get anything out because I forget to open the vent in advance.
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I have had a MAJOR spill and a not-so-bad spill during print jobs. I print dental models directly on the build platform. In both instances, I had a model fall off the build platform into the tank during the print job. With the major spill, the job carried through to completion, and the wiper sloshed resin out of the tank every time it hit the loose model. It took me 2 weeks and a case of paper towels to clean that mess. The resin went into every conceivable crevice internally.
With the second spill, the print job halted when the wiper hit the dislodged model, so just a bit of resin spilled out from the tank, and was caught by the catch tray.
So, why did the models separate from the build platform?
On the major spill, it was most probably due to the dislodged model not being completely flat on the platform when setting up the print job on Preform. At that time I did not know about the ability to check the job layer by layer on the right hand of the screen. So there was very little base to adhere to the platform, and gravity eventually won out. Now I know to check that first layer to be sure it is fully on the platform.
On the second spill I was having problems with models coming out poorly due to delamination. It turns out the laser was not curing each layer sufficiently. The incompletely cured models would stick to the tank instead of the platform, or break off the platform and float in the tank. I did a Hot Swap with that machine. But I’m curious as to why the laser was insufficient.