How long can you leave resin in a tank?

What is the best way to mix resin that is in the tank before printing, after it has been sitting for a couple of months?

The resin is only good for a couple of weeks sitting in the tank. Clean out the tank and pour in some fresh stuff. If you use it very little I would suggest getting some light blocking bottles to keep the used stuff in between prints. It should stay good for a few months in one of those.

Uh oh… how do you “clean it out”? Can you just pour the resin with a funnel back into the bottle?

Would this explain the “frothing” I see a lot of…? We only use our printer once a month or so… it wasn’t full of bubbles when I started this print, but when I went back an hour or two later it was covered with them.

@Iain_Hendry I have never seen bubbling like that. I have left the resin in the tank in the printer for a long time (weeks). If you mix it up a bit things are typically fine. You also want to filter it to remove the crud from past print jobs.

@Iain_Hendry, I have that too occasionally, however it does not affect the print (at least, it didn’t affect mine). I don’t know why it happens, something to do with the resin getting mixed during the peel. Why it doesn’t do that all the time is a mystery to me though.

To add to this topic, if you know that you wont have any print jobs for a while (say a couple of weeks to a month) is it beneficial to place the black resin tank cover on the resin tank while it is inside the machine for added protection? Or is that just unnecessary paranoia?

@Anthony_Huczek, if dust can get to your mirrors, I’m positive it will get in your resin too ;).