How long do you leave resin in tank?

Hi, how long do you leave your resin (in my case standard-resin) in the tank/ tray? I am only printing small parts, every week or so. Therefore, I do not use a lot resin. Now, my tank is filled and in use with standard resin since 6 weeks. If not used for printing, I am storing the tank in a dark and cold place.

Edit: I have read a lot of horror-stories of leaking tanks, which results in a horrible situation if this happens while printing. But following the official instructions of leaving resin in a tank for only less than 4 weeks is not that easy if you are not printing a lot volume per part.

I’ve left it in there for months, but if you have the LT tank then it seems there’s a chance that over time the non stick material on the bottom can start to come off.

I am using the standard-tanks. Now I am curious if I just should stick with the standard-tanks rather that with LT tanks, if there is a chance of leakage. But filling the resin in a bottle and cleaning out the tank (with some kind of special cleaner) seems way to messy in my opinion.

This is a terrific question!! Our basic guideline is that resins should be OK in the tank for 2-3 months without any worries.

People have reported leaks in standard tanks as well. We have gone through dozens of standard and maybe a dozen LT tanks and have not had any issues. The LT tanks is a way better investment in my opinion, we have yet to throw out one because the tank was beginning to become opaque like the standard ones, we only throw them out when after several liters the FEP film starts to show small waves on the surface and it reflects in the prints… still, we would have gone through at LEAST 4 or more standard tanks before doing that.

In the same situation as you, not making tons of prints I’ve kept the white in a standard tank for 6+ months. It started to leak between the PDMS and acrylic bottom. Fortunately nothing leaked.
I’ve done the same with LT and did not hold better.
The resin degrades the tanks.
The best advice I can tell is when you know you won’t print for 1+ week is to buy UV opaque bottles and just pour the resin in (use a syringe for the first 100 mL). Scratch with a silicone spatula as much as you can. In total it takes 10min but you are puting yourself in a safer place than leaving the resin in the tank. Moreover, you can check the tank everytime you do this.

I had a thread about this lately: