IT'S ALIVE! Mirrors Cleaned, Printing Fine!

Jim. The Ultraviolet Sterilizer Cabinet is this one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007ROD0ZE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And I learned this from the amazing Robert Vignone. Check his webpage, Mold3D: http://www.mold3d.com

Tons of information about sculpting and 3D Printing. Tips, tricks and all sorts of references, like this Ultraviolet Sterilizer Cabinet!

Good luck and patience!

Frank J Guthrie
frank@710films.com
www.710films.com

Courtland,

Donā€™t waste your money and time on the airbrush compressor and the computer vacuum: they are overkill and you may damage the printer!

The Rocker Blaster is more than enough, trust me. The cleaning of the BIG mirror and the small Galvanometersā€™ mirror you will do once or twice per year, thatā€™s all. Then you will only use the Rocket Blaster to ā€œpushā€ the dust off the mirrors, since you will always have dust in the printer, since its not enclosed in a vacuumā€¦

I do this for every print: I check the mirrors before every print, and if I see any dust on the mirrors I use the Rocket Blaster to blow the dust off the big mirror and I also blow towards the ā€œholeā€ where the small Galvanometersā€™ mirrors are. What I showed in this simple tutorial was my first ā€œopen-surgeryā€ on the Form # 1, to get to the small Galvanometersā€™ mirrors - since the assembly is located in the back of the Form # 1, but ever since then, Iā€™ve not had to open the printer, just check the big mirror, blow and thatā€™s it!

I clean the big mirror every three to five prints with Isopropyl Alcohol and Sensor Swap. I use these swabs:

The material is the same as what FormLabs recommends we use to clean the mirrors - Pec-Pads Non-Abrassive Wipes. You can find them in Amazonā€¦

Good luck and patience!

Frank J Guthrie
frank@710films.com
www.710films.com

How do you avoid streaks with those narrow little pads / swabs?

i think my mirror needs contact cleaning, but its a tricky a job.

@Frank_Guthrie How did it go with the Sylgard 184 kit?? Where did you buy it?

I ordered a new tank and did a large print on it (which failed) and ghosted most of the tank. 1 Print, so crazy. Its just to expensive to be replacing these tanks all the time.

Anyone have any luck using the black resign on the gray setting? I read somewhere that the gray will not ghost up the resign tank as much?

Love this thread by the way, I keep coming back to it. I ordered everything I knew I would need to clean it before I even got the printer.

Hello Formlabs Forum,

I realize this post will revive this thread but I think the information is good and it gave me a place to start.

Iā€™ve been having a string of failures and have been putting off (in a state of denial perhaps) cleaning my mirrors. I do have a ticket open with support and they are of course great to work with.

But just wanted to shareā€¦having worked in the camera business beforeā€¦the process for cleaning optics (lenses) and camera sensors is the same / very very very similar to caring for your printer.

As mentionedā€¦never ever use the Air-In-A-Can stuff. The ā€˜Rocketā€™ blasters move more than enough airā€¦remember, weā€™re working at the micron scale.

One technique that I havenā€™t read anywhere (not to say it hasnā€™t been mentioned, I just havenā€™t seen it mentioned)ā€¦the first step I do when cleaning a camera lens or sensor (and will apply to the Form1+ printer mirrors)ā€¦using a Lens Pen (they have a retractable brush on one end and ā€˜feltā€™ pad on the other)ā€¦itā€™s best not to ā€˜brushā€™ or ā€˜wipeā€™ā€¦the static of the bristles or pad will lift dust particles off the surface. Just ever so lightly ā€˜dabā€™ or touch the dust speck and lift away. Then move away from the machine and use the Rocket blaster to blow off the brush/felt pad.

Also, when using Pec Padsā€¦donā€™t just pull them apartā€¦that can create ā€˜fuzzā€™ that will cling to the surface. If you carefully ā€˜peelā€™ them apart youā€™ll have better luck.

The ā€˜lolipopsā€™ mentioned in this thread are good but honestly I prefer using my finger (as long as youā€™re careful to make sure your finger doesnā€™t overhang the pad and create a smudge. I fold the Pec Pads into 1/4ā€™sā€¦and then make one pass per 1/4ā€¦making sure that each pass slightly overlapsā€¦donā€™t be shy to use up Pec Padsā€¦seems wasteful but you want a clean square each pass (the logic behind only one pass is that you could potentially redeposit debris from the previous passā€¦or worse, damage the optic / sensor by scratching it). All passes should be mead in the same directionā€¦then I usually go back and do passes 90 degrees to the first set (more Pec Pads). Also, it doesnā€™t take much pressureā€¦better to make lots and lots of light passes than pushing too hard.

I know Formlabs recommends rubbing alcohol and Iā€™m waiting to hear back what their thoughts are on ā€˜Eclipse Optic Cleaning Fluidā€™ā€¦I have used that product for years with my cameras and have had great results (I have no affiliation to them, just a product I like using). The key is how quickly it evaporatesā€¦only takes a few drops per Pec Pad 1/4.

Thank you to the OP for this threadā€¦the information is still relevant and solid advice.

I use eclipse fluid on my mirrors when needed. Much less streaking to deal with. Formlabs may not recommend it but if itā€™s good enough for the sensor on my Nikon itā€™s good enough for an instrument mirror.

I would never used canned air or a compressor. The rocket type blowers are by far the best bet and theyā€™re pretty cheap.

Hi there,

I had exactly the same Problems. Flakes and defects all over the part. The higher the part was the worse it gets. So I startet a few test.
Clear resin resolution 0.1mm
(new Tank / new Bottle resin)
Result:

as you can see bad quality. So i tried a new print with resolution 0.025mm
Result:

even bader. New try with:
Black resin resolution 0.1mm
Result:

The best result so far but far away from perfect and far away from the results which I made when the printer was new (May-June) So i started to search here in this forum and found this and a lot more topics. I tested the laser and saw big halos around the laserpoint. So i cleaned all Mirrors and Galvanometer mirrors as @Frank_Guthrie described. After the cleaning the laserspot was much more focused as you can see on the pictures:
Before:


After:

So far it looked realy promising.
After the Cleaning I printed the same part again andā€¦

Unbelivable good quality! Really thank you for the good instruction.

Some of my findings:

  • black resin is less fragil against a dusty laser than the clear resin because it absorbes more energy
  • if you have printing problems check the laser first (I tried a lot of prints in diffrent materials cleaned the tanks ectā€¦ )

PS: Iā€™m now prinintg the model with 0.05mm resolution and clear resin again Iā€™ll keep you up to date.

Pascal