I placed a cartridge in the printer and something obstructed the valve so instead of flowing straight into the tray it went down the back and into the printer. I noticed this when resin was pooling at the base of the printer on the table. I tried to drain out the resin (have not opened the printer yet). The printer now thinks that it is unlevel. I have to angle it almost 15 degrees before it thinks it is level. Now I am not able to print anything. I fear that the resin is screwing with the mother board and particularly the accelerometer. All the other parts of the electronics seem to be working fine.
This happened to me as well. It seems like a crazy design to make it so easy for resin to flow into the printer. I spent two weeks cleaning out the resin very carefully, but when I tried to turn it on, nothing. I get green LED’s on all boards, but the galvanometer board has one solid LED and one blinking one. I’m still hoping I can get some guidance from Formlabs about fixing it, since it is out of warranty and will be about $900 to send in. Good luck to you.
Thanks,
I was able to clean out the resin from inside and clean off the mother board with 91% alcohol. When I put it back together it seemed to fix the printer leveling issue. But now i’m running into issues with the lead screw. It didn’t realize the build plate was at the top and it kept rising and you could hear the screw skipping. So I canceled the print and rebooted and now the lead screw doesn’t turn at all even though I can hear the motors trying. So now gotta figure out whats going on with this.
It was amazing how much resin I pulled out of the machine! At least 350 ml!
Good Luck!
Could you tell me the LED’s that light up on your board? Maybe send me a photo? I am completely stuck at this point with my printer not even turning on, and I didn’t have nearly as much resin spilled in mine as you. Did the resin get on the circuit boards a lot? I have no idea why this printer isn’t even turning on.
Thanks,
ALEX
Hey there Alex,
There are five green LEDs and two red LEDs. and yes the circuit board was pretty covered. I had to clean it out quite thoroughly. Lots of 91 percent alcohol and paper towels. I then let it air dry for a few hours then wash it again with alcohol. Did this process 3-4 times really making sure to get it all clean. Maybe check the power box. Maybe a wire connection got loose from disassembly. I actually took my printer apart again today and removed the z axis part from the printer and found that the wire going into the motor for the lead screw had fallen loose. I put it all back together and now it is printing nicely.
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Thank you for the info. I am going to have to bite the bullet and send in the printer. It hurts financially, but I could be working on this till the cows come home and still not have a working unit. The tech support back-and-forth has been slow, but I’ve finally gotten enough information to make a decision. Good luck to you, and I hope you get it all put together and working.
Thanks for the post, Eleventyplex, it’s helped me a lot.
I bought a secondhand printer, but it turned out it had been shipped on it’s side /and/ still had a resin tank in it. Black resin everywhere. It wouldn’t level, and as you note some severe processor cleaning was in order.
So I stuck the control boards in the Form Wash with clean IPA for 30 mins, left it to dry for a few hours, and Presto it works again. I’m an electronic engineer and I know IPA is used in cleaning electronics anyway, so I reckoned it was safe to use it on the boards.
Note to anyone who tries this: make sure the IPA really is clean, use new if you can otherwise there’ll be some resin deposits on the board. I can only assume it’s a bit conductive so messes up some of the circuitry.
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Hi @nwalker,
That’s a great technique! For anyone else that experiences a major resin spill, be sure to check out our official support article, and reach out to our support team if you ever need any help. They’ll be happy to help you clean your printer as safely and efficiently as possible.