Hi, people I’m naturally cautious but love an opportunity for a full overhaul clean. I’m currently cleaning up 2 build chambers after a Perimeter melt, 2 yes 2 chambers turns out the Build chamber wasn’t the issue. Anyway, with the screw do I need to scrub it or degrease it. I see we have part of the cleaning kit well a thread clip cleaner thing. The kit is (£/$)20 could I print the part off using nylon instead of resin tough? or use a brush to apply as the Magnalube is only £5. I have the other tools except straw but I can get a straw quite easily. Any advise or tips?
My top tip is using Powder credit card edge with ethanol soaked cloth and using it on optical cassette. I also printed an IR cone sensor holder so no need to unplug cable.
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I cleaned and lubricated lead screws on 2 of my chambers without the kit. I wish I had bought or printed that tool because it would’ve made the process much easier. I can’t see any reason why you couldn’t print that part (unless all your chambers are currently disassembled 
) and I believe Formlabs Support would be willing to provide you the STL file.
With that said, here’s how I cleaned it: I took a thin wire and wrapped a paper towel around it. I wrapped that wire around the lead screw so that it sat in the thread valley. Then I manually turned the lead screw to advance that wire up/down, replacing the paper towel often. I applied the Magnalube with the plastic end of a cleaning swab and didn’t have much trouble.
Some advice…
- The build chamber shell bolts can be difficult to remove. I didn’t think I needed the 2mm ball-end hex driver but I absolutely did. I found out after stripping a couple of bolts. When reinstalling the shell, loosely install all the bolts before giving them a final torque.
- Be careful when removing the baffle screws. I accidentally dropped one through the slot in the chamber and it was tough to get out.
- I wouldn’t worry about using a brush to apply the grease, you’ll have to spread it out using your fingers anyways.
- The Magnalube is messy. After you squeeze some grease out of the tube, it will keep coming out for a couple seconds. Keep plenty of paper towels around to set it down on.
Do you have a post about the IR cone sensor holder? I would love to add that to my printer.
Thanks for the advice. Sounds messy. But very informative. I tried sharing file my company firewall blocked it so sorry.
@Mrammills You can perform the cleaning yourself. Feel free to reach out to Support with any questions while you get into this.