Having started the switch to Tough 2000 V2 on Form4, I have noticed that it seems significantly more viscous than V1.1. This partly affects the time it takes to wait for drips to run off before I wash. But the main impact is that it seems much less likely to wash effectively in a single wash. I am using the Form Wash V2, for 10 mins with speed high, in a basket rather than on the build plate. I estimate we are around 15 C which isn’t an unreasonably low temperature for a workshop in winter. In summer it is unlikely to be much above 20 C.
I have had several recessed parts that were no problem with V1.1 take 2-3 washes with V2. We can change some parts to perhaps clear out a little more but that usually means using more resin to fill voids in, which seems wrong when there is no other reason to add material.
We have yet to qualify the V2 for our production parts and I’m expecting them to pass with flying colours but this is an unwelcome and time/material costly aspect of the change at this point.
We always wash the Tough Materials twice once on build platform to remove excess resin from platform and part, Then We wash it a second time after removing it from supports
We usually drip-drain the build plate at an angle, back into the tank, to get rid of that first round of excess uncured resin and then remove the parts into the basket to prevent the remaining resin around the flex build plate from contaminating the wash IPA. I couldn’t quantify the difference between that method and yours but I think it would cost in IPA/solvent recycling time and resin to do a plate wash first and basket wash second. Might try with some of our trickier parts as a test for effectiveness of that approach though. Thanks for the idea.
We use a 55 gallons of IPA like average ever 6 months (along with using it for other stuff like cleaning) and recycle maybe once a year not very costly at all. and 90% of the time we dont wait for the resin to drip off we stopped using the flex build plate because of the time consuming of cleaning it as we run almost all the materials Formlabs offers as well as Loctite materials so I just use 4 platforms and constantly clean one so its ready for the next run and material.
We have been using an ultrasonic to clean our Tough 1500 parts for a long time now and it’s a great first step. After a 10minute sonicate, we let it air dry and then into a clean IPA bath on high speed. Things come out beautifully!
Do you use IPA in the ultrasonic cleaner? I assume so but just checking. And what temperature is your workshop normally? I don’t recall having any issues with Tough 1500, just Tough 2000 V2 but I haven’t done any Tough 1500 prints recently.
we do but we put the IPA in a separate container with the parts and fill the ultrasonic with water and works great with silicone parts especially just get fresh IPA every run
Yes, we do put IPA in the ultrasonic and use it to clean parts. The IPA is changed each month as well. I’ve done a LOT of research on the pros and cons of using IPA in an ultrasonic as well, and honestly, we have had no issues whatsoever. It does an AWESOME cleaning job.
We run Tough 2000 on our Form3b but I’m sure the formulation is different for the Form4, but cleaning has been stellar on both.
We got one of those huge Vevor fume extractor fans (something around 3.5k cubic feet of air per minute) which sits right above the ultrasonic and pulls out all the fumes. We require anyone using the ultrasonic to have all the PPE and of course LOTS of fire extinguishers nearby.
I do not have the 4 yet. I have my 3L but it looks like this will not work with it. I do have a Heygears machine I wonder if it works with that. I’m intrigued by this resin.
