How best to clean glass under tank? How much does streaking matter?

[fcrls]

Hi everyone,

I had a failed print the other day. While filtering & cleaning the tank, I made the rookie mistake of leaving the print head installed w/ freshly cancelled prints hanging. Of course, they dripped a little droplet of resin onto the glass.

I wiped gently with an IPA-soaked kimwipe and then cleaned lightly with windex. In retrospect, I should have first looked into whether or not there are any coatings on that glass, but the cleaning worked fine and I have produced perfect prints since then.

There is a small bit of streaking from the windex on the glass, but it’s almost nothing.

Does that streaking matter at all, if the prints are coming out perfect? Could it cause issues down the line? Are there better solutions?

Thank you,
Carlos

edit: should have used the search function, oops… For anyone that stumbles upon this in the future, here are proper directions: https://support.formlabs.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000016204. tl;dr: do not use cleaning solutions, only use 90% IPA in order to protect the ARC, use a dry wipe first, then 90% IPA wet wipe, then dry wipe to remove streaks.

[Zachary_Brackin]

Anything that can distort the laser or reduce its brightness can affect the print. IPA should be fine on the glass but it’s best to use PecPads to wipe it with.

[Walter_Gillespie]

I use eye glass cleaner and a pecpad. Just wet the pecpad and wipe the entire surface. Then using a dry pecpad buff the bottom dry. DON’T allow it to air dry. I did this with both the tank and the glass of the optics and haven’t had to clean it since. I’ve been getting prefect prints with no issues what so ever.

[TheJubbez]

Just got done cleaning my form2 glass after resin spill with pec pads and 91% isopropyl 0 streaks! best tip i have for everyone is to wear gloves and go slow around 20 seconds per wipe. start from left and go right, ive included a quick diagram on how i use my pec-pads.

[Frew]

This is a pretty awesome diagram and this is also exactly the technique we use to clean glass here.