Is there any way of cleaning the excess resin off parts without using IPA or Acetone? We are looking to get a few different printers (Form 1+, Pegasus Touch and Titan 1) and will have a fume hood to do all the cleaning but health and safety are afraid we’ll blow the place up because 90% IPA has a flash point of 18 degrees(64.4C).
Is there any other options out there?
You’re going to need some sort of solvent. You could thoroughly scrub the surfaces in water - a light soapy water won’t damage the part - but you’re going to be scrubbing a lot.
Hi @Donal_O_Donohoe,
I’ve been experimenting with a water-based cleaner called Yellow Magic from Bradley Systems. It specifically for UV-cured printer inks and claims to work well in ultrasonic cleaning systems. Once my data are a bit more complete, I’ll make a forum post about it. I know @KenCitron and I are working with Yellow Magic… not sure if anyone else has experience with it.
Like you I’m not too thrilled about having multiple liters of 90+ IPA hanging about.
-JD Davison
The Lab Partners
At this time I don’t believe you can completely eliminate the need for IPA in the cleaning process without extensive cleaning, rinsing and heavy uv post cure.
What has worked for me is to do the majority of the cleaning in a solution like Yellow Magic in an ultrasonic cleaner (8 min room temp) then after a rinse and blast of air to dry it I use a quick rinse in IPA with the assist of a chip brush followed by an immediate blast of air so the IPA doesn’t soak into the part.
So far I don’t have the warping and parts are pretty good dimensionally. Yellow Magic does work better on Formlabs gray and clear resins than 3rd party resins that seem to be oily. I would be interested if others have similar results.
Thanks @KenCitron and @The_Lab_Partners , have you ever considered using TPM? it seems to be what 3D systems uses to clean off their SLA prints. Its expensive and still hazardous but not explosive (not as explosive as IPA).
@The_Lab_Partners do you finish off with an alcohol wash as well?
I think people want to get away from the hazardous aspects especially for those that use the printers in their homes.
That might be a good option for people that have the machines out of their homes.
This topic was automatically closed 14 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.