Hey there, I was told that when you don’t intend to use your printer for a while, it is best to get the resin tank (still with resin inside) out of the printer, put the lid on it and put it somewhere dark with a good temperature. Kinda the same place where you put resin cartridge when you store it for a while. I was wondering what are your thoughts about it?
Also, when you do that, I guess you also have to wash the wiper right? Can’t leave it full of resin in a bag right? What’s the best way to wash the wiper and losing the least amount of resin?
Last question. What happens if you don’t shake the resin cartridge or the resin-tank (assuming it’s full of resin) for a while? I heard you have to do it every 2 weeks, but what if I don’t do it for like a month or 2 or 6?
Good questions. I’ve washed the wiper in IPA without problems. But it would be handy to know how to hibernate the printer’s consumables.
If it were me I’d pour the tank’s resin back into the cartridge using a paint filter. But how best to clean the tank since Formlabs doesn’t recommend using IPA to clean the tank. My guess is that a quick wipe down will be OK; but soaking it would be Bad Juju. That’s what I did, and I’ll find out if that I have problems. Crossing my fingers that I don’t.
It is probably best practice to store your tanks, with the lid on in a cool dark place. Note that as long as there is nothing structurally wrong with the resin tank, it can sit in the printer indefinitely…although if it were out of commission for many months I would take it out of the printer.
I have washed the wiper with a paper towel and IPA (allowing it to dry before putting it back in the tank). It’s important to note, however that the tank and cover are designed to store the wiper in the tank. No need to remove, wash and store the wiper separately.
After a few days all resins except clear tend to have the colorants separate from the resin. In the tank you can use the wiper or the spatula to mix for a few mins. Same goes for the cartridge…i just gently turn mine on its sides and upside down for several turns and pop it in. The actual act of dispensing and the wiper will finish the job of mixing.
Also worth noting the life expectancy of a cartridge of resin is approximately 1 yr.
I have a towel over the print to hide it from the sun and it’s in a standard temperature (not hot at all) room. I’m considering using it every 2-3 weeks max, shaking the cartridges every week and using the wiper to stir the resin in the resin tank every week too.
Does that sounds like a good idea to you or something here is not good as an habit you think?
If you have the time to waste, the wiper will hook/balance vertically on the edge of the raised build platform and drip into the resin tray, minimizing the resin that gets wasted in the IPA cleaning.
If you aren’t printing for a day or more then you need to shake the cartridge and stir the resin in the tray, it can settle that fast and I’ve had prints fail because of not doing that.
I am pretty disappointed with the resin trays. I stored 3 different trays of resins (white, grey, clear), full, with lids and swiper and placed back in the box. The boxes were then stacked into a closed cabinet for a few months in a fairly cool, definitely dark place.
When i went to use them again the resin ate its way through the trays. The silicon window had separated from the tray and resin leaked out on all 3 stored trays.
Has anyone else had this problem? Im not sure what i did wrong but for it to happen to all 3 trays seems odd.